Bespoke AV Cabinets

Most media furniture is designed around the television. An AV cabinet is designed around everything behind it — the receiver, games consoles, streaming boxes, router and whatever else has accumulated over the years. That equipment has real dimensions, generates real heat, and needs cables running to and from it, all of which shape the cabinet's interior before we think about how the doors look.

We start by measuring the equipment you actually own, not a generic AV rack. Receivers vary considerably in depth and height between brands, consoles need clearance for disc trays and controller cables, and routers are often an awkward shape that gets shoved to one side if there isn't a proper home for them. We build shelves and compartments sized to what you have, with a little tolerance for future upgrades.

Ventilation is the detail that gets AV cabinets wrong when it is skipped. Equipment left in an enclosed cabinet without airflow will run hotter than it should, which shortens its working life and can trigger thermal shutdowns during use. We plan ventilated panels, gaps or discreet fan provision depending on how much equipment is stacked together and how enclosed the cabinet needs to look.

Cable management inside an AV cabinet is more involved than in most furniture, simply because of the number of leads involved — HDMI, power, network, aerial, speaker cable — often for four or five separate devices. We fit cable channels and access points so leads can be routed, labelled and reached again later without unscrewing the back of the unit.

Remote-control operation is worth discussing before doors are finalised. Infrared signals need a line of sight or an IR receiver and emitter system if the equipment sits behind a closed door; some households prefer glazed or slatted fronts specifically so remotes still work without any extra kit. We will talk through what your equipment needs and what you would rather not see.

Access matters as much as concealment. Equipment gets swapped, added to or serviced more often than most furniture, so we design doors, removable panels or drawer-mounted shelves that let you get to connections and units without dismantling the cabinet. A cabinet that looks tidy but is a struggle to access in practice is not doing its job.

Power provision is checked at survey rather than assumed. Multiple devices usually mean more sockets or a well-placed extension than the room currently has, and we would rather identify that early than discover it once the equipment is already in place.

Finally, we design with future equipment changes in mind. Technology moves faster than furniture, so shelves are usually adjustable and openings sized with some spare capacity, so a new receiver or console in a few years' time does not mean the cabinet has to be rebuilt.

Part of our media walls collection