Bespoke Alcove Units in Four Oaks

Many of Four Oaks's detached houses have ceilings well above the height a standard piece of furniture is built for, and a low bookcase either side of a chimney breast can look lost against that scale rather than considered. We design alcove cabinetry to the actual height of the room, carrying shelving or a run of glazed doors up towards the cornice rather than stopping at a conventional bookcase height and leaving a band of bare wall above it.

A taller unit changes how the internal layout needs to be thought through. The lowest shelves within easy reach usually take the books or objects in regular use, with less frequently needed storage placed higher, behind a door where dust and access are less of a concern. We plan this hierarchy with you at design stage, rather than treating every shelf in a floor-to-ceiling run as interchangeable.

Four Oaks's period chimney breasts often carry their own detailing, from a run of original cornice to a picture rail that continues across the alcove wall. We record these features at survey and design the cabinetry to work with them, returning the top of the unit into an existing cornice where one is present, and setting shelf heights to sit sensibly below a picture rail rather than crossing awkwardly through it.

Where a household wants the alcoves to function as a small library or study wall rather than simple display shelving, we introduce closed cupboards at the base for less presentable storage, open shelving through the main body of the unit, and a glazed upper section where books or objects benefit from being kept dust-free and visible at the same time. Lighting can be built into individual shelves so a tall run does not rely solely on the room's general lighting to be seen clearly.

All cabinetry is made in our Derbyshire workshop and installed by the same team that carried out the original survey, following the process at the process page.