Bespoke fitted furniture — alcove units, handle-less cabinetry, painted or sprayed runs — is priced on labour and material choices that are invisible once the doors are closed. That's exactly why the written specification matters: you're paying for what's inside the carcass as much as what you see.
A good spec reads almost like an assembly instruction. A weak one just describes the finished look and leaves construction to guesswork.
Carcass material and thickness
Carcasses are usually 18mm MFC (melamine-faced chipboard) or 18mm veneered MDF; some quotes drop to 15mm to save cost, which shows up as flex in wide shelves and drawer boxes over time. The quote should state carcass thickness and board type explicitly.
Back panels matter too — a full 8-12mm back panel gives real rigidity against a wall, while some cheaper builds use a thin hardboard back or rely on the wall itself for stiffness, which is a problem on stud walls.
Scribing and site-fit allowance
No wall or ceiling in an older Kent property is perfectly flat or square, so the specification should confirm the unit will be scribed to walls, floor and any coving or skirting rather than fitted with visible gaps and filler beads. Scribing allowance is usually built into the design as extra material at the sides and top.
Ask whether the units are built in the workshop to a template taken on site, or built to drawing-only dimensions with adjustment done on the day — templating adds a visit but reduces on-site surprises considerably.
Hardware grade and soft-close mechanisms
Named hinge and runner brands (Blum, Hettich) with soft-close specified are a meaningful cost line, not a nice-to-have extra — budget hinges and runners fail or sag well before the carcass does. The quote should state the hardware brand, not just 'soft-close hinges included'.
Shelving support — whether adjustable pegs, fixed rebates or metal standards — should also be named, since fixed shelves in a unit meant to hold books or files long-term is a common mismatch between quote and use.
Finish and spray-shop detail
Sprayed finishes should state whether the spraying happens off-site in a dust-controlled spray booth or on-site with a fine-finish sprayer — off-site spraying gives a harder, more even finish but adds lead time for collection and delivery.
The number of coats and whether a keyed undercoat is applied to MDF edges (which otherwise soak up paint unevenly) should be in writing, as unsealed MDF edges are one of the most common causes of a patchy painted finish.
What a cheap quote leaves out
Electrics for integrated lighting — transformer location, switch position, cable routing through the carcass — is frequently priced as a vague allowance rather than a proper first-fix and second-fix sequence with an electrician. Skirting and coving removal and making good around the new units is another common gap.
Delivery and installation access (can the finished carcass actually get up the stairs or through the door in one piece, or does it need to be built in sections on site) should be confirmed at survey stage, not discovered on delivery day.
Common questions
What carcass thickness should fitted furniture use?+
18mm is the standard for load-bearing carcass panels in fitted furniture; anything thinner tends to flex under load on wide shelves or drawer fronts. Ask your joiner to confirm this in writing rather than assuming it.
Should fitted units be scribed to the wall or have a filler strip?+
A proper scribe follows the exact line of the wall, floor and ceiling with no visible gap, and it's the mark of a well-fitted job in an older property. A filler strip or beading covering a gap is a lower-cost shortcut and usually looks it.
Does off-site spraying cost more than painting on site?+
Usually yes, because the components have to be built, sprayed in a controlled booth, cured and then delivered for assembly, adding both cost and lead time. The trade-off is a harder, more durable, more even finish than most site-applied paint jobs achieve.
Is Blum or Hettich hardware worth specifying by name?+
Yes — named hardware brands give you a known quality and lifespan, whereas generic 'soft-close hinges' can be a much lower grade that sags or fails within a couple of years of daily use.
Ask for a fully itemised fitted furniture quote
We'll template your room, name every board, hinge and finish, and quote it in writing before we start.