Kitchen worktops in Earl's Court

Yes. The huge stucco terraces here were cut into flats and bedsits decades ago, so most kitchens are small rooms carved out of former bedrooms or landings, taking a 2.0-2.8m run with an integrated washing machine eating a bay. Where flats have been reconverted into larger units the kitchen usually opens into the reception, which brings a peninsula with a 300mm overhang and the need for a supported cantilever. A controlled parking zone means either a visitor permit sorted in advance or a suspended bay, and a suspension is applied for days ahead rather than on the morning. 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. It is a full day at the kerb, not a delivery.

1860s-70s stucco terrace subdivided into flats, purpose-built Edwardian block, former hotel converted back to residential and garden square terrace. The flat entrance door and the internal doorways are usually tighter than the communal stairs, which is the opposite of what most people assume. What the old top has been hiding is usually a floor that settled towards the back and units that were never fixed back to the wall. What is under the old top is the real question.

High density of flats above shops and above each other means communal front doors, no lift in most stucco conversions, and steep original stairs with a half-landing window that dictates the maximum length you can swing. Kerbside is under permit and CPZ control with heavy competition, and the one-way system around the old exhibition site adds a long approach. Communal stairs get boarded and the handrail padded, and we walk the route with a tape before the first piece leaves the van. We plan the strip-out and the carry as one movement so the kitchen is only out of use for a single day. That is agreed before a plumber is booked.

Worktop replacement, worktop templating and worktop installation, in that order. A licensed shared house has fire-door and escape-route rules that decide how and when stone can be carried through the common parts. One visit, with the sink and hob seated and sealed before we leave. One visit, done properly. Expect a fifth or sixth-floor walk-up with no lift at least once a month here, and price the labour honestly rather than discovering it at delivery.

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. A layout templated off one wall instead of one datum will not sit right once all the pieces are down together. The drawing leaves site complete. Taped internal angles in plasterboard belly at the corner, so the run picks up a few millimetres over the last 300mm and a plan-angle mitre will not close. It is recorded on the drawing with the run dimensions so the workshop is not guessing. That is why the visit takes two or three hours. 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.

Quartz is the sensible default in a rental: nothing to seal, nothing to maintain, and nothing an incoming tenant needs briefing on. A half-day of access is not a fitting day, and it is better to say so at booking than to find out at eleven. 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.