Kensington and Chelsea · London
Under-Stairs Storage in Kensington
Thinking about under-stairs storage in Kensington? We start with a design visit and a written quote, before anything is made.
- A tired under-stairs cupboard that stands out
- Nowhere to put coats, shoes and bags
- Wanting a quiet corner for paperwork
Under-stairs storage for your home in Kensington
Under-stairs storage in Kensington
Where a staircase is open to a living space, the storage under it becomes part of the room. Here the doors, drawer fronts and finish matter as much as the storage behind them. We can make plain or panelled fronts, painted to sit with the walls or to stand out. The result should look like part of the house, not an afterthought. If your home has a vacuum cleaner that has nowhere to go and open space under the stairs that collects clutter, that’s what under-stairs cupboards are for, made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, spray-painted or hand-painted.
Original features like shutters, cupboard doors and panelling are worth keeping where they survive. With a large share of the homes around Kensington built before 1919, fitted storage can be designed to sit alongside them. Panel details can be drawn to suit the house. For a listed home, fixing into original joinery can need consent, so check first.
Where other trades are needed, for instance an electrician to move a socket, we point that out, so it can be arranged before fitting day. The quote itself covers our work, from the design to the materials and finish.
- Place
- Kensington (W11, W8, W14, SW7)
- Area
- Kensington and Chelsea
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- Design visit, then a quote in writing
- Made
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Made from
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- Fitting days
- Weekdays (Saturdays if arranged)
- Get in touch
- Send us a message
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
FAQs: under-stairs storage in Kensington
My home in Kensington is a flat. How do you get the furniture in?
We measure the route in not just the room: the stairs, landings, lift and doors. Under-stairs cupboards 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 parking be tricky on fitting day in Kensington?
It can be, as controlled parking zones cover much of inner London. A van may need a visitor’s permit, a paid parking bay or a bay suspension, which the council arranges, often with notice. It’s useful to tell us about parking at the measuring visit, and we’ll plan around it.
Do you move sockets or add lighting?
No. Sockets, switches and lighting are for your electrician. We will design around them.
Does fitted furniture need planning permission?
Not normally. Fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission, even in a conservation area. Listed buildings can require listed building consent for works that affect their character, so ask the council’s conservation officer.
What finishes do you offer?
There are two ways to finish it: by spray or by hand. Spray painting gives a smooth, even finish, and hand painting is easy to touch up.
Do I choose the paint colour?
You choose it. The paint colour is agreed with you.
Also near Kensington
Also in Kensington
Fitted storage in Kensington
In the neighbourhood around Kensington, the largest groups of homes date from before 1919 (about 69%) and between 1973 and 1999 (about 10%), based on the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax data. Each era brings its own kind of wall, ceiling height and floor, so it shapes the design from the first measurement. Kensington is partly covered by the Holland Park Conservation Area, one of the conservation areas recorded by Historic England. The controls in a conservation area are mostly about the outside of buildings, so furniture fitted inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission. Your council can advise if you are unsure. About 69% of homes in the streets around Kensington were built before 1919, going by the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax figures. In terraced houses of that age, the space under the stairs often holds the gas meter, electricity meter or fuse board, and they must stay reachable.
If your home is one of the older houses near Church of St Barnabas, pull-out drawers can reach right to the back of a deep under-stairs space. For a family home near St Barnabas and St Philip's CofE Primary School, a place for each person’s coat and shoes stops the hallway filling up.
Kensington is part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Anywhere in Kensington, it works the same way: a design visit, a quote in writing, furniture built in our workshop and fitting in your home. Across Kensington and Chelsea, we cover Kensington, along with the rest of the borough.
We work across W11, W8, W14 and SW7. If your home is on a street such as Kensington High Street, Edwardes Square and Somerset Square, or close by, we can arrange a design visit for under-stairs storage. Kensington is near the A402 and B316, so if your home is on a main road, mention it when you get in touch. Close by, we also work in Holland Park (1 mile north), Notting Hill (1 mile north), Shepherd's Bush (1 mile west), Notting Dale (1 mile north) and White City (1 mile north-west). Across the rest of Kensington and Chelsea, our area takes in Brompton (2 miles east), Chelsea (2 miles south-east), World's End (2 miles south-east) and North Kensington (2 miles north-west).
Landmarks near Kensington
We fit furniture in homes around Kensington School, Holland Park School and Abdus Salam Library, among other places. There’s a railway station in Kensington itself: Kensington Olympia station. Other landmarks nearby include Kensington Arcade (close by, under half a mile east) and St Mary Abbot's Hospital (0.5 miles east). Open spaces near Kensington include The Long Water and Campden Hill.
Made for the room, or bought in a box?
Off-the-shelf units are made for flat walls and square corners, and the space under a staircase is neither. A ready-made unit tends to leave gaps at the slope and wasted space at the back. Storage made for the space follows the angle of the stairs and uses its full depth. It costs more than something off the shelf, and what you gain is the space a standard unit can’t reach. Standard units assume square rooms, and period homes seldom have them, so you end up with gaps, wobbles and units that do not meet the skirting. Fitted furniture is scribed to the wall instead.
The finish affects the cost: spray painting happens in the workshop, and hand painting can be done in your home. The written quote reflects your choice, along with the size and fittings.
What you get with us
- Made in our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Designed for the room you have
- Every quote follows a design visit
- Moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood
Read how bespoke compares with ready-made or how to compare quotes.
Caring for painted furniture
Most of what helps is simple. Here’s what we suggest:
- Let us know about anything bulky that needs to fit
- Empty the cupboard so we can measure every corner
- Consider the colour of the hall, the stairs and the skirting
- Make a list of what you want to store before the design visit
If you chose a hand-painted finish, small marks can be touched in. Keep a little of the paint, or a note of the colour, for later. A spray-painted finish is smooth and even, and small marks often clean off with a damp cloth.
Keep the doors and drawers closed when the space is not in use. Overfilled drawers put strain on the runners, so it pays to sort them now and then. Deal with any wet shoes or umbrellas before they mark the base.
How fitting works for under-stairs storage
On the morning of the fitting, the first job is covering the floors and protecting the way in from the front door. The sections built in our workshop come in next, a piece at a time. The time the fitting takes depends on the size of the space and the design, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. In houses converted into flats, the route in may include a shared hall and stairs, so it helps to let neighbours know about fitting day. Each section is sized for the tightest door or turn. Saturdays can be arranged.
- It starts when you get in touch about the space under your stairs.
- At the design visit, we look at the stairs, the hall and what you need to store, and check where the meters and fuse board sit.
- Your quote sets out the design, the materials and the finish.
- Your storage is made in our workshop, cut to the angle of your stairs.
- The storage is fitted and set level, ready for the first coats and shoes, with the finish sprayed beforehand or painted by hand on site.
How to prepare
- Mention any parking restrictions on your street
- Take down pictures, mirrors and shelves from the wall
- Let us know where the boiler and meters are
How to get a quote
To get a quote, tell us about the room on our contact form and let us know which room you have in mind and what you want the furniture to do. We then arrange a design visit to measure and talk through the design, and a quote in writing follows.
Read more
Is it time for under-stairs storage?
After a hallway is redecorated, an old, tired cupboard under the stairs can stand out. Storage made for the space and painted to suit the hall finishes the job. If decorating is planned, it’s worth mentioning during the design visit so the work can be timed sensibly.
A few of the things people ask us to solve include:
- Open space under the stairs that collects clutter
- A meter or fuse board buried behind clutter
- Nowhere to put coats, shoes and bags
- An under-stairs cupboard full of clutter
Leighton House, about 0.1 miles south, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. For a period home anywhere nearby, the triangle under an old staircase is often deeper than it looks.
Before you hire any carpenter
- How the furniture will be finished, and where
- Whether the quote follows a visit to your home
- How the doors are hung and adjusted
- Do they scribe the furniture to the walls?
Flats, blocks and rented homes
We also make and fit furniture for landlords furnishing a let, often to make the most of a small or awkward room. The materials are the same as for any home: moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
Mansion blocks and purpose-built blocks often have house rules about lifts, entry systems and when trades can come in. Let us know about them at the design visit, so fitting day is planned around them.