kitchen cabinet inserts
Easy fit — if you can take a cupboard door off, you can fit one
Built to standard UK cabinet sizes, so it slides into a unit already screwed to your wall. Nothing cut, nothing drilled — and it lifts back out whenever you want.
1. Unscrew the doors and hinges. Remove the Shelves.
2. Build the insert — one screwdriver, video included.
3. Slide it in, done.
Kitchen Cabinet Inserts
Two inserts so far, both built to slide into the kitchen cabinets you already own.
The Portofino Coffee Bar turns a larder unit into an open coffee station, machine, cups and jars on display, lit, and everything off your worktop. The Kitchen Cabinet Dog Bed turns a base unit into a den at floor level, with or without a drawer above for leads and towels.
Both are made to order in our Greater Manchester workshop, arrive flat-packed, and go in with one screwdriver. Nothing is cut or drilled, so both lift straight back out whenever you want.
Why we make them
Nobody was making these, so we did
Every built-in dog bed and coffee larder in Britain comes from a kitchen company. Which means a survey, a designer, a fitting team and a bill in the thousands.
We're a joinery workshop — we make the cabinets those companies fit. So we asked a simpler question: why replace a cabinet when you could change what's inside it?
That's what an insert is. All of the built-in look, none of the rebuild.
Why an insert instead of a new kitchen
It costs a fraction
A bespoke coffee larder or built-in dog bed from a kitchen designer runs into the thousands. An insert is a few hundred, and you've already paid for the cabinet.
It takes an afternoon
No survey, no fitters, no twelve-week lead time.
It's completely reversible — and renter friendly
Nothing is cut or drilled. Keep your original doors and the kitchen returns to standard in minutes, which makes a cabinet insert one of the very few reversible kitchen upgrades open to renters.
It's flat-packed
Arrives by standard courier and comes through the door and up the stairs. No pallet, no tail-lift, no day waiting in.
It's made in Britain
Cut, edged and finished in our own workshop in Greater Manchester on CNC and industrial edgebanding equipment. A working joinery and panel manufacturer with over fourteen years in the trade, not a reseller.
Will a cabinet insert fit my kitchen?
UK kitchens are built from standard modules. That's the whole trick.
Base units
600mm, 700mm, 800mm, 900mm and 1000mm wide, around 560–570mm deep.
Larder and tall units
1920mm, 1945mm, 1970mm and 2150mm high.
If your kitchen came from Howdens, Wren, Wickes, B&Q, Magnet or almost any UK supplier, it's built to these sizes.
Measure the internal width and depth of the cabinet you want to use. If you're between sizes or unsure, message us with the measurements and we'll confirm the fit before you order. Made-to-measure is available on every insert.
Considering a breakfast larder instead?
A bi-fold or pocket-door breakfast larder closes everything away behind doors, and it's a lovely thing — but it's a new cabinet, fitted by a kitchen company, usually from £2,000 and several weeks of work.
The Portofino takes the opposite approach and uses the larder you already own. The doors come off and the coffee station becomes something you look at rather than something you shut. It costs a fraction, arrives flat-packed, and goes in the same afternoon it turns up.
If concealment is what you're after, a breakfast larder is the right answer and we'd say so. If what you actually want is the coffee station without the rebuild, this is it.
Delivery, lead times and fitting
Made to order
Each insert is built to the size and finish you select. Typical lead times are one to three weeks.
Flat-packed by courier
Sent by standard courier to UK mainland addresses. Comes through the door and up the stairs — no pallet, no tail-lift, no day waiting in.
Fitting
Remove the existing doors and hinges, slide the insert in. Around half an hour with one screwdriver, and no joinery skills needed.
Collection
Available from our workshop at Alma Works, Station Yard, Dukinfield SK16 4SE, near Manchester.
Questions we get asked
What is a kitchen cabinet insert?
A finished unit built to slide into an existing kitchen cabinet, converting it to a new purpose — a coffee station, a built-in dog bed — without replacing any cabinetry.
Do I need a joiner or a kitchen fitter?
No. Remove the existing doors and slide the insert in. Around half an hour with one screwdriver.
Can I take it out again?
Yes. Nothing is cut or drilled, so the kitchen reverses to standard in minutes. This is why our inserts suit rented homes.
Can you colour match my existing kitchen?
Often, yes. Send us a photo and the range name and we'll tell you what's possible.
My cabinet isn't a standard size
Send us the internal width, depth and height and we'll quote for a made-to-measure version.
Our own designs
Our cabinet inserts are the subject of UK registered design filings at the Intellectual Property Office. Developed and manufactured here in Britain — not sourced, not copied.
Not sure which insert, or which size?
Send us the internal measurements of your cabinet and we'll tell you what fits.
You'll speak to the workshop, not a call centre.
