Kitchen worktops in Hackney Downs

Yes. Long Victorian terraces facing the park, many split into flats, with rear-addition kitchens of about 3m, while the Edwardian blocks have a fixed kitchen off a central hall. Whole-house jobs are increasing and usually mean a rear extension with a peninsula rather than a full side return. Without a bay the van ends up on a single yellow with a crew member watching it, which takes a pair of hands off the carry. The templating visit needs somewhere to stop for two or three hours, which is a different problem from unloading for twenty minutes. The templater needs a proper stop, not a pause.

Victorian terrace, Edwardian mansion block, post-war estate and conversion flat. The flat entrance door and the internal doorways are usually tighter than the communal stairs, which is the opposite of what most people assume. We measure the front door, the hall width and the turn into the kitchen before anything comes off the van, because a 3m piece has to swing through that corner on edge and stone does not bend to help you. The slow parts are slow for a reason.

The railway lines split the area so the direct route is often blocked and you go the long way round, and the streets are permit-only with filters. The mansion blocks are walk-ups with communal stairs and no lift at all. Weight tells on a staircase more than anywhere else, because there is nowhere to set a piece down mid-flight and no way to change your grip once it is moving. We walk the route with a tape and protect it end to end before the first piece is lifted. None of it is worked out on the doorstep.

Worktop replacement, worktop templating and worktop installation, in that order. Party-wall and lease conditions in a converted building set when noisy work can happen, which shapes the fitting day more than the kitchen does. The fitting day is scheduled to suit that rather than to suit the diary. The prep list is not optional. In the Edwardian blocks the kitchen doorway and the hall corner are the pinch point rather than the stairs, so measure the door opening and the corner swing together.

A peninsula is an island with one end tied to a run, which means the join between them has to be planned rather than allowed to happen. A layout templated off one wall instead of one datum will not sit right once all the pieces are down together. One datum for the whole room. Walls that bow along their length are the normal condition rather than the exception, and a straight-cut back edge will show a shadow gap at one end and touch at the other. The laser plots it as it is, at the exact height the worktop will sit, and the drawing carries that through. 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.

Where ownership is split across a building, the common parts belong to someone else and the carry route is negotiated rather than assumed. The fitting day is arranged with whoever can actually give us access for the whole slot. Access for the whole slot, or a different day. 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.