Bespoke Joinery Cost in London 2026: Fitted Wardrobes, Kitchens and Built-ins
Bespoke joinery costs in London for 2026: £1,800–£3,500 per linear metre. Fitted wardrobes, alcove shelving, media walls and kitchens, with what drives each price.
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Bespoke fitted joinery in London is priced at £1,800–£3,500 per linear metre in 2026, depending on specification. A floor-to-ceiling fitted wardrobe 2.4m wide comes in at £4,000–£8,500. Our joinery page shows how a piece is drawn and made, the delivered projects show the finish at each tier, and the estimator prices joinery inside a wider project.
Bespoke joinery transforms a room. A set of floor-to-ceiling fitted wardrobes, an alcove library, a media wall with integrated storage, or a fully bespoke kitchen — each one is made precisely for the room, in the materials you choose, in any colour.
This guide sets out what bespoke joinery costs in London in 2026.
Bespoke Joinery Costs at a Glance (London 2026)
| Joinery Type | Typical Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Alcove shelving (open, per alcove) | £1,200 – £2,200 | MDF painted, fixed shelves |
| Alcove unit (shelves + cupboards below, per alcove) | £2,800 – £5,500 | With doors, painted |
| Fitted wardrobe (per 1m width, floor–ceiling) | £1,800 – £3,500/lm | Includes hanging rail, shelves, doors |
| Walk-in wardrobe (dressing room) | £6,500 – £18,000 | Depends on size and internal spec |
| Media wall with integrated storage | £4,500 – £12,000 | Cable management, shelving, TV recess |
| Staircase refurb (handrail + balustrade) | £3,500 – £8,500 | For a standard 3-bed terrace staircase |
| New staircase | £8,000 – £18,000 | Straight or L-shaped; hardwood or painted |
| Bespoke kitchen carcasses (per linear metre) | £2,200 – £4,500/lm | Made-to-measure; excludes appliances |
What Drives Bespoke Joinery Costs?
Material specification
MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard) is the standard substrate for painted joinery — it takes paint beautifully, is dimensionally stable and is lower cost than solid timber. Most London fitted wardrobes and alcove units are built from MDF.
Solid hardwood (oak, ash, walnut) is used for furniture faces, visible drawer fronts and exposed shelf edges. It adds 20–40% to the cost of a joinery piece.
Engineered timber (finger-jointed, multi-ply) sits between MDF and solid hardwood — more dimensionally stable than solid timber in heated London homes, typically used for bespoke kitchen carcasses.
Door and hardware specification
The door specification is often the biggest variable:
- Simple slab doors (no detailing): low cost, typically £120–£220 per door
- Shaker/frame-and-panel doors: £200–£380 per door
- Fluted or reeded fronts: £280–£520 per door
- Integrated push-to-open (handle-free): add £45–£90 per door
Hardware (hinges, soft-close drawers, pull-out organisers) from Blum, Häfele or Hettich adds £80–£180 per unit.
Complexity of the room
Victorian London homes are never square. Sloping ceilings, alcoves that aren’t parallel, chimney breast returns, and walls that are out of plumb all add to the making and fitting time. Every 2VP joinery piece is scribed on site to fit the room precisely.
Paint finish
All 2VP joinery is painted in our workshop (primer + undercoat) and finished with a final coat on site after installation. Farrow & Ball or Little Greene colours are standard. A premium high-build gloss finish adds £200–£500 to a typical wardrobe.
Fitted Wardrobes: What You Get
A standard 2VP fitted wardrobe (2.4m wide, floor-to-ceiling, painted white) includes:
- MDF carcass, scribed to ceiling and side walls
- Hanging rail (double-hang or single with shelf above)
- 4 internal shelves, adjustable
- 4 painted MDF doors (slab or shaker — your choice)
- Soft-close Blum hinges
- Finished in Farrow & Ball or equivalent (colour of your choice)
Typical cost: £6,500–£9,000 installed (includes making, delivery and 1-day installation).
What it does not include: internal drawer units (add £180–£320 each), mirror-fronted doors (add £120–£250 per door), built-in lighting.
Alcove Units: The Most Common Request
Almost every Victorian terrace in London has two alcoves flanking the chimney breast in the front reception room. An alcove unit — shelves above, cupboards below — fills the space beautifully and makes the room look considered.
Per alcove (standard, painted):
- Open shelves only: £1,200–£2,200
- Shelves + cupboards with doors: £2,800–£4,500
- With integrated lighting and feature moulding: £3,500–£6,000
Both alcoves together — the most common specification — typically cost £5,500–£9,000.
Can Bespoke Joinery Be Added During a Renovation?
Yes — and it’s often better value to have joinery made and installed as part of a wider renovation, because:
- The walls are plastered and painted to a fresh standard before installation
- Electrical first fix can route cables to alcove units before boarding
- The joinery maker can work to the finished-plaster dimensions rather than the raw structural dimensions
2VP coordinates joinery as part of our full renovation and extension projects. If you want joinery only (no building works), we can take that on as a standalone commission.
Get a Joinery Estimate
Contact us with your room dimensions and a rough brief — we’ll give you a ballpark cost within 48 hours. For a detailed itemised quotation, we’ll arrange a site visit to measure and discuss the specification.
Straight answers
The home you actually want, finished on the date in the contract — and you watch every day of it happen from your phone.
You answer 3 questions. We do the drawings, planning, party wall, trades and snagging.
- 10% to mobilise, then weekly against work already done — with 5% held past handover: 2.5% released at practical completion and 2.5% at the end of the 12-month defects period
- £550 survey fee credited in full against your contract
- Every variation priced and signed before a penny is spent
No email needed to see your range. Quotes hold for 21 days, then materials re-price.
We are not the cheapest. If price is the only factor, we may not be the right fit — and that is fine.
Keep reading
- The Budget Kitchen Trap: What We Found on the IKEA-Carcass Kitchens We BuiltFlat-pack boxes with bespoke fronts look the part. On the kitchens we built that way, the hardware went first — and three suppliers meant nobody to call.
- A Seamless Kitchen Worktop, Formed in Place: One Material Over the Tiles You HaveWorktop, island, splashback and floor in one continuous surface, bonded over what is already there. Three metres with no join, and curves cost nothing extra.
- New Build Cost in London 2026: What to Budget Per m²New build house costs in London for 2026: £1,800–£3,200 per m². Cost by specification tier, what's included, planning essentials and how it differs from renovation.
- Full House Renovation Cost London 2026: What to BudgetPlanning a full house renovation in London? Here's what it actually costs in 2026 — room by room, finish tier by tier, with real numbers from completed projects.