A fitted cupboard job runs as a survey, then a workshop build, then a day or two on site, and knowing that order is most of what people want to know before they ring.
The Short Version
- The first visit records sizes, services and access, and drawings come back for approval before anything is cut.
- Carcasses and doors are made and sprayed off site, so the cutting and the finishing never happen in your house.
- Floor protection and dust sheets go down before anything is carried in.
- Alcoves, stair voids and landings are measured at three heights, because walls in older Tranent housing are rarely parallel.
- Meters, stopcocks and consumer units stay reachable behind removable panels.
George Herkes & Son Joinery has worked across East Lothian since 1989, holds East Lothian Trading Standards Trusted Trader accreditation and is rated 5.0 from 62 reviews, and the carpentry services in Tranent that build these cupboards are the same small family run team from survey to handover.
Send through a photo of the recess and the rough sizes, and George will come out and measure it.
Bespoke Fitted Wardrobes
An alcove in an interwar Tranent house is rarely plumb and almost never the same width at floor and cornice. A carcass built square to the drawing will show a tapering gap down one stile.
Measuring the recess
The opening is measured at three heights and at both depths, and the smallest dimension governs the carcass. Everything else is taken up in the scribe, which is why the carcass is built narrower than the opening rather than to it.
Building to the wall as found
Face frames are made oversize and cut back on site against the plaster. The result reads square from the doorway even where the wall is not. A packer behind a face frame is invisible. A tapering gap down a stile is the first thing a visitor sees.
George Herkes & Son Joinery gives free quotes on Fitted Cupboards throughout Tranent. Ask George what your job involves.
Manufacturing and Installation Process in Tranent
The disruption people picture is a room full of dust for a fortnight. What actually happens is a survey, a workshop build and one or two days on site, and the sequence is arranged that way on purpose.
Survey and drawings
The first visit records the sizes, the services and the access. Drawings come back for approval before any board is cut.
Built off site
Carcasses, doors and drawers are made and sprayed in the workshop, which keeps the cutting and the finishing out of the house entirely. The same workshop stage sits behind every bespoke joinery in Tranent job.
Fitting day
Floor protection and dust sheets go down before anything comes in. The room is usable again the evening the fitting finishes, and nothing is left curing in the house.
Room Types and Custom Joinery
Cupboards get asked for in the awkward parts of a house rather than the easy ones. Under a stair, in a boxroom, either side of a flue. Those are the spaces a freestanding unit cannot take, and they are the spaces that hold the most once they are built into.
Under stair and hallway
A stair void takes graduated pull outs rather than one deep cupboard nobody can empty. Shoe storage goes at the shallow end, where the headroom runs out and a hanging rail would be useless.
Boxrooms and landings
A landing cupboard is usually shallower than a wardrobe and takes a full height door to keep the line of the wall. The same drawings serve built cupboards in Elphinstone, where the stock is a different age and the recesses are a different shape.
Made-to-Measure Storage Solutions
Storage bought by the metre fits the showroom and not the wall. The gap it leaves is where the dust and the boxes end up. Filling a recess properly means the carcass is made to the recess, not trimmed to it afterwards.
Interiors that match the contents
Shelf spacing is set from what goes on them, so a linen cupboard gets deeper shelves than a boot cupboard. Adjustable pins allow for a change of mind later, since what a cupboard holds in its first year is rarely what it holds in its fifth.
Working around services
Meters, stopcocks and consumer units stay reachable. Panels are made removable rather than fixed over anything that will need a hand on it, and that is settled on the drawing rather than improvised on fitting day.
Materials, Finishes and Hardware
A cupboard door in daily use is opened more often than any other piece of joinery in a house, and the hardware is what fails first.
Boards and doors
Carcasses are eighteen millimetre board, dowelled and glue blocked. Hand painted MDF holds a crisp arris on a shaker door and stays flat in a solid walled room.
Hinges, runners and handles
Soft close hinges and runners are standard. Handles are set out from a rod so they line through along the run rather than being measured door by door. Hardware is the part that gets used, so it is specified once and specified properly.
George Herkes & Son Joinery gives free quotes on Fitted Cupboards throughout Tranent. Ask George what your job involves.
Fitted Cupboards in Tranent FAQs
How long will my house be disrupted by a fitted cupboard job in Tranent?
Most of the work happens in the workshop rather than in your house. On site it is usually a day or two for a single run, with floor protection and dust sheets down before anything is carried in, and the room is usable again the evening the fitting finishes.
Do you cut and spray in the house?
No. Carcasses, doors and drawers are made and finished off site, which is what keeps the dust and the smell out of the room. Only the scribing and the fixing happen on site.
Can you fit cupboards under the stairs or on a landing?
Yes, and those are the two places they earn the most space. A stair void takes graduated pull outs rather than one deep cupboard, and a landing cupboard is usually shallower with a full height door to keep the line of the wall.
Will the cupboards fit the alcoves in an older Tranent house?
They are built to the recess as found. The opening is measured at three heights and both depths, the smallest dimension governs the carcass, and the difference is taken up in the scribe so it reads square from the doorway.
How much do fitted cupboards cost?
It depends on the run, the interior and the finish, so the figure comes from the survey rather than a price list. The quote is written and itemised before anything is booked. We answer How much for a joiner to make fitted wardrobes? in full in a separate guide.
What happens to the meter or the stopcock inside the cupboard?
They stay reachable. Panels over anything that needs a hand on it are made removable rather than fixed, and that is settled at drawing stage.
