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Original poster

Alcove shelves and cupboard

15 replies

Jtoriordan · 10/09/2013 09:41

We want to get some shelves ams cupboards built in the alcoves either side of the fireplace. I guess they need to be built by a joiner? Anyone done this, got any ideas and info about cost?

OP posts:
CatAmongThePigeons · 10/09/2013 11:17

We have a cupboard that was built in when we bought it. It's acually not too difficult to do, as are shelving in alcoves, we were on a budget but DH made 15 shelves for various alcoves for about £40.

Depends on the style and materials you want as to how much it would cost to make.

Mandy21 · 10/09/2013 21:26

My husband has also done this. He's very good at DIY by the way so that helps. Three chunky shelves on the top part of the alcove, cupboard at the bottom. Bought doors (solid wood, I think they were kitchen unit doors) off Ebay, sanded and painted them (F&B All White), added silver knobs, and they look lovely!

Original poster
Jtoriordan · 12/09/2013 20:43

Thanks both. Not sure either of us have the DIY skills so I think we'll just go ahead and get quotes.

OP posts:
LadyKooKoo · 12/09/2013 20:55

Just had ours done, solid oak with wooden doors at bottom and top and a larger glass door in the middle section with shelves behind. The back of the cupboard is also solid oak. We paid £800 to have them made and fitted.

AllabouttheE · 13/09/2013 11:17

I paid a joiner £150 a day, think it took about 3 days to do both sides of alcove. (We did bedroom too so can't quite remember) They are floating shelves. Will. Attempt a pic on my profile.

We painted them to save money.

AllabouttheE · 13/09/2013 11:21

MM has turned pic sideways and I moved my photos so it looks a little odd. Obviously when the cupboard doors are shut, it's all tidy BUT the DVD remote doesn't work through wood!

wonkylegs · 13/09/2013 13:01

We had two large alcoves in our Edwardian living room. We had two built in cabinets made. Both with cabinets at low level (one very complicated one which had the DVD player, virgin box etc in that had doors that folded in out of the way hard to describe but very useful) , and shelves above. With hidden cable runs for speaker/electrical cable. They were very tall and deep, with beautiful mouldings to match the room. It cost us just under 1K for the pair.
We used a fab joiner who we'd been recommended by a friend. Joiners should be able to show you past work if you want to see how good they are.

Fermin · 14/09/2013 07:50

We used a company called Jali www.jali.co.uk/ They were fantastic and very cheap compared to a joiner. You use their online planner to design your furniture (lots of different designs, finishes etc) then they cut it out and deliver to you as flatpack in a few weeks with really simple instructions on how to assemble. We didnt trust ourselves with the measuring so we got our handyman (my brother) to do it for us and when it all arrived he fitted them together with no problems at all. My friend managed to do the whole thing by herself though, it was that easy. Our alcoves were transformed and the cupboards look like they have always been there.

SilverSixpence · 20/01/2014 22:21

Bumping as I am planning to do similar and want to use Jali too. Any chance you could upload any photos Fermin? Can't get an idea of what the final thing will look like. Also did you paint it yourself or get it primed?

Fermin · 22/01/2014 09:05

Sorry, SilverSixpence, I've only just see your post! We are currently in the middle of selling so I can link you to our Rightmove page where there are several pics of the alcoves. We got them primed and the coverage was so good we didn't need to bother painting over them. They've been in a year now and there are a few marks so we prob would have got round to glossing them if we were staying. www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-28305132.html

Rooble · 22/01/2014 09:16

We just got cupboards done by a local joiner - approx £1000. Victorian house and they look as though they've always been here, beautifully made and a perfect fit. My DH made shelves for our back room and they look a bit rubbish TBH. None of our walls are even, so his measurements were inaccurate throughout (I mean, the width at the front of the alcove is different to the width at the back; the width at different heights up the alcove is different) and neither of us had the DIY skills of experience to make the shelves look right.
There were other joiners who gave us far cheaper quotes (about £500), but we went with the one who had a good portfolio and challenged what I asked him to do - I knew he 100% understood what we wanted when he did it.

SilverSixpence · 23/01/2014 08:48

Thank you Fermin! Am I right in thinking you just had cabinets done and added the shelving separately! Are they flowing shelves?

Fermin · 23/01/2014 21:41

Yes, just had the cabinets done by Jali and my brother fitted the shelves separately which we did have to paint. The shelves aren't floating, they're fixed with battens but he nailed a larger strip of wood to the front of each shelf to so it overhangs slightly and covers up the battens and joinery underneath. It took him very little time to knock them up so if you did get a carpenter to fit the Jali cabinets I'm sure they could do something similar quite easily. We would have gone with ready made shelves but our walls are so uneven and we wanted heavy things on the shelves so made more sense to have them made and fixed properly.

littlecrystal · 01/04/2014 14:45

Please, could someone recommend a good carpenter in Croydon/South London area? Though I must admit if I hear the price of > 500 per plain alcove shelving, I may faint!

Blackeyez09 · 01/04/2014 22:24

Hi
Fermin... Where did you get your garden set
Looking for something just like it!
Thanks

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