Kitchen worktops in Blackfriars

Yes. Riverside flats put the living space against the glazing and the kitchen against the core, so the run is 3-3.5m with a peninsula facing the river and one polished exposed end on show. Older commercial conversions here have thick masonry cross-walls, meaning the kitchen sits in a defined bay and long single pieces are actually easier than in a modern open plan. A red route means no stopping, and no stopping means exactly that, so the stone comes in from a side street or from a bay behind the property. Waste is the part people forget: the old laminate or tired granite has to be walked back to the van and it does not get lighter. Old tops out and new stone in, both through the same gap.

riverside apartment block, 1990s-2000s conversion of commercial building, modern mixed-use tower and small period flat above offices. These buildings have firm rules about what can be propped open, left in a lobby or carried through the residents entrance. Piece size is set by the lift car, not by the slab. Every join over a gable, clear of every cut-out.

Queen Victoria Street and the Embankment approaches are red route and bus-heavy with no stopping, so unloading is into a building's own basement bay or a booked side-street window, not the main road. Most buildings run a security desk with contractor sign-in, and the goods lift needs booking a few days ahead. Where the lift will not take the longest run we design a join in rather than gamble, because a piece that will not go up has to go back on the van. Getting that wrong leaves a finished, machined piece that cannot reach the room, which is a remake rather than a trim. Once the cut-outs are machined there is no going back on it.

Worktop installation, worktop fabrication and worktop replacement, in that order. A new extension slab is not automatically level, and that wants checking before templating rather than after the stone is cut. One visit, with the sink and hob seated and sealed before we leave. Sealed before we leave. Riverside peninsulas are seen from three sides, so pay for the extra polished edge and end profile rather than leaving a sawn edge facing the room.

Because a peninsula is seen from both sides, the underside of any overhang gets the same edge treatment as the top, which is easy to leave out of a spec. The existing layout is being kept, so the question is whether the old carcasses will take stone in that shape without more support. The units stay, the surface changes. Dot-and-dab plasterboard sounds solid and is hollow behind, so anything fixed through it has to hit a dab or a batten rather than a void. Rushing that is what leaves a gap you look at every morning for fifteen years. Eased in, never forced. Material runs from £110 per square metre supply only, and templating, fabrication and fitting are quoted on their own lines rather than rolled into one figure.

The same building type can arrive as a careful one-off kitchen or as a fast turnaround, and the honest answer is that they are priced differently. The fitting day is arranged with whoever can actually give us access for the whole slot. Protection goes down first. Tell us the building when you book and the lift, the stair turn and any freeholder notice get built into the day rather than found on it.