Kitchen worktops in Bunhill

Yes. Predominantly flats in tall blocks with compact galley kitchens of 2.4-2.8m against a fixed services wall. The newer developments have open-plan kitchen-living rooms, but the floorplates favour a peninsula return over a freestanding island. 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. Panels come off the van in one trip where possible, since a tall piece handled repeatedly is a piece asking to be chipped. One trip is always better than three.

post-war estate block, modern tower, warehouse conversion and Victorian block. Poured screed over steel decking can fall away across a long run, so level is checked across the whole room before anything is packed. Exposed brick is the defining issue: the face is uneven by 10mm or more across a bay, so a stone splashback either scribes to it, which means the back of the panel has to be relieved, or it is deliberately set proud on a subframe with a shadow reveal all round. Decided before fabrication starts.

Congestion Charge zone with red routes on City Road and Old Street, plus a low-traffic scheme covering the residential streets behind. Tower access runs through a booked service lift and an agreed delivery window with the managing agent. A car that takes 2.4m on the diagonal will not take a three-metre worktop however it is stood, and there is no trimming it on the landing. Where the route is tight we break a long splashback at a natural vertical joint instead of forcing one panel through. That is agreed at template, not on fitting day.

Worktop replacement, worktop installation and worktop splashbacks & upstands, in that order. A new extension slab is not automatically level, and that wants checking before templating rather than after the stone is cut. Old tops out in the morning, new stone down and sealed the same afternoon. A day, not a project. Managing agents here run tight access rules, so confirm lift dimensions and protection requirements in writing at template stage rather than turning up with a full van.

An island is a single visible piece with four finished edges and no wall to hide against, so it is the piece the whole kitchen is judged on. The same shape decides where splashback pieces break, and a joint in a corner reads as a detail while one in a clear run reads as a mistake. Joint placement is a decision, not an accident. A deep scribe comes out of the nest, so how far the stone has to be relieved changes which part of the slab the piece is cut from. The back edge is eased in progressively rather than offered up once and forced. Dry-lay, mark, cut, then bond. 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.

Access in a tenanted flat depends on the tenant, so the template and fitting dates are agreed with whoever actually holds the keys. A plumber disconnects before we arrive and reconnects after we leave, and that is worth booking early. Sound carcasses are the condition. 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.