Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Kingston upon Thames · London
Surbiton Alcove Units
Cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast, for homes in Surbiton. Every piece is built in our workshop and fitted in your home, with a spray or hand-painted finish.
- Worn or badly fitted alcove units
- Standard units leaving gaps at the sides
- Toys and paperwork with no proper home
Need alcove units in Surbiton?
How we make alcove units for Surbiton
Many people choose cupboards at low level and shelves above them. The cupboards take the things you’d rather not see, and the shelves are for books and favourite objects. The cupboard top gives you a ledge for a lamp, a speaker or a plant. We set the heights to suit the room and what you’ll store. We make alcove units from MDF made to resist moisture and birch plywood, then spray-painted or hand-painted, and people most often get in touch about worn or badly fitted alcove units and units that sit well with original features.
Across London, neighbouring streets can be decades apart in age, and a wall might be brick, lath and plaster, blockwork or plasterboard. We check what the walls are made of at the measuring visit, then choose the fixings. With a chimney breast, alcove units typically fill the alcoves; without one, they can run along a whole wall.
The quote names the materials: moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, each used where it suits the job. It also says how the furniture will be finished: spray painted or hand painted.
- Where
- Surbiton (KT6, KT5, KT1)
- Area
- Kingston upon Thames
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- Design visit, then a quote in writing
- Making
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Boards and paint
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- Fitting days
- Weekdays, and Saturdays by arrangement
- Contact
- The contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Bespoke or off-the-shelf?
The depth of an alcove is set by the chimney breast. A shop-bought cabinet may stick out past the chimney breast or leave a deep gap behind it. Bespoke units are made to the depth you want. Walls and floors are seldom perfectly flat in any home, and standalone units show it with gaps and wobbles. Fitted furniture is scribed and levelled on site.
In London, parking can affect the price. Much of London is covered by controlled parking zones, so a van may need a visitor permit, a paid bay or a bay suspension. Tell us about parking at the design visit.
Why work with us in Surbiton
- Built around your room
- Workshop-made and fitted by us
- Every London borough and the City of London covered
- More than 300 projects completed
See our comparison of bespoke and off-the-shelf and what to look for in a quote.
Nearby places to Surbiton
More for homes in Surbiton
Flats, leases and landlords
Many London terraces have been converted into flats, and that often means a shared hallway and a tight turn on the stairs. Each section is sized with that in mind, after measuring the route during the design visit.
For flats on red routes or busy main roads, unloading takes some planning. Red routes are run by TfL and have strict stopping rules, so it’s worth raising during the design visit.
Pricing alcove units in Surbiton
The price reflects the time and materials the job needs. The main factors are:
- The number of doors and drawers
- The internal fittings
- Tricky walls, sloping ceilings and uneven floors
- The overall size of the piece
The price comes in a written quote, worked out from the measurements and the design you choose. Size, the number of doors and drawers and the internal fittings make the biggest difference to the price.
What we need to know
What helps most when you first contact us:
- Any ideas or images you’ve saved
- What you’d like to store or use the space for
- Where you live, with the postcode
- Approximate measurements of the space
The design visit is where every quote starts. We take full measurements, see how true the walls and floors are and work through the design together. A quote in writing follows the visit, so you can take your time with it. To book one, fill in our short enquiry form.
What happens on fitting day
When the fitting is done, we tidy the room and take up the floor coverings. Before we leave, we go over the finished piece together and answer any questions. The time the fitting takes depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and your quote sets out the fitting days. We measure the hall, stairs, doors and any lift as well as the room, so the furniture comes in sections sized for the route. Floors and doorways are protected while the pieces come in.
- To begin, send us a few details through our contact form; a brief note on the alcoves is plenty, and mention if you live in a flat or up a few flights of stairs.
- At the design visit we measure the alcoves and also the way in: the front door, the hall and any stair turns. Parking is worth mentioning too, since a van often needs a permit or a paid bay in London.
- Your written quote sets out the design, materials and finish.
- In our workshop we build the units from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, sized so each piece gets up the stairs and round the corners.
- We carry the sections in, assemble them in the alcoves and scribe them to the walls.
Getting ready for fitting day
- Keep pets in another room while we work
- Take down pictures, mirrors and shelves from the wall
- Have your electrician move any sockets or switches beforehand
Starting with a design visit
Pictures help us understand the room before we visit. A few pictures showing the walls, the corners and where the ceiling meets them tell us a lot about the space. To send them over, fill in our short enquiry form, and we will suggest a time for a design visit.
Advice
What we do not do
We do not treat damp or carry out building work, and there are a few other limits too:
- Painting the walls, ceiling and woodwork around the units
- Any structural work on the chimney breast
- Curing damp, which needs the right specialist
If in doubt, you can tell us about the room on our contact form and describe the room. Our process from visit to fitting.
What it is made from
- Adjustable shelves
- Hand-painted finish
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Birch plywood
- Panelled or flat doors
- Scribed side panels
- Spray-painted finish
FAQs: alcove units in Surbiton
How do you fit alcove units in a flat in Surbiton?
We measure the route in as well as the room: the stairs, landings, lift and doors. Alcove units are made at our workshop in sections sized to fit that route, then assembled in your flat. It is useful to check any building rules and your lease before fitting day.
Can you fit furniture in a home close to Surbiton station?
Yes. We cover all of Kingston upon Thames and the rest of London. To get started, you can drop us a line using the contact form with a few details about the room.
Should I send photos?
Yes, they help. A few pictures of the room, from floor to ceiling, tell us a lot. To send them, message us from the contact page.
How do I get a quote for alcove units in Surbiton?
Just use our contact form. Rough sizes and a few pictures help, and we will arrange a design visit.
What do you do at the measuring visit?
We measure the room, check how level the walls and floors are and discuss the design with you. Access and parking are worth talking about too, and a quote in writing follows.
Does someone need to be home during the fitting?
We need access, so someone has to let us in. You don’t need to watch us work, though we like to go over the furniture with you at the end.
Living-room carpentry in Surbiton: local notes
About 31% of the homes in the neighbourhood around Surbiton went up before 1919, and about 19% between 1945 and 1972, going by the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax figures. For carpentry, the era of a house is a useful clue to how square its rooms are and what its walls are made of. There are 20 entries on the National Heritage List within half a mile of the centre of Surbiton. Original fireplaces, shutters and panelling are worth keeping where they survive, and the furniture can be designed around them rather than over them. About 48% of households in the neighbourhood around Surbiton live in purpose-built flats, based on Census 2021. In a block, each section is sized to get up the stairs or into the lift and through the door. Many blocks have rules on lift booking and working hours, so check with the managing agent before fitting day.
Near listed buildings like Horner Cottage, under half a mile east of the centre of Surbiton, older homes may keep original joinery that alcove units can be designed around. For a listed home, fixing into original features can require listed building consent. The wider area includes historic houses such as Hampton Court Palace, about 1.8 miles north-west. If your own home is a period one, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at. If you live near Stokes Field, a room that looks out on trees deserves a design that leaves the window alone.
Surbiton is part of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, about 2 miles north of Kingston upon Thames. Surbiton is part of the area we cover, and the process is the same everywhere we work. Our work takes in places right across Kingston upon Thames.
We work across KT6, KT5 and KT1. You’ll find streets here like St Andrew's Square, South Bank and Hazelwood Court, and we cover homes on all of them for alcove units. The A240 and A3210 run close to Surbiton; on busy main roads, unloading alcove units takes a little planning. If you are just outside Surbiton, we also cover Berrylands (1 mile east), Tolworth (1 mile south-east) and Chessington (2 miles south). Other parts of Kingston upon Thames we cover include Kingston upon Thames (2 miles north), New Malden (2 miles north-east), Norbiton (2 miles north-east), Hook (2 miles south), Motspur Park (2 miles north-east) and Coombe (2 miles north-east). As one of the bigger places in Kingston upon Thames, Surbiton is covered for alcove units and everything else we make.
What’s near Surbiton
Around Surbiton, we cover homes near The Hollyfield School and Sixth Form Centre, Shrewsbury House School and Coronation Hall pub, among other places. Surbiton has its own railway station: Surbiton station. A little further out are Bentall Centre (1.4 miles north) and Tolworth Hospital (1 mile south-east). For a walk, there is The Wood.