Richmond upon Thames · TW10
Worktop replacement in Ham
Taking out a tired laminate worktop and fitting stone on the units you already have, in a single day.
Ham kitchens
What the kitchens here are actually like
Small, roughly square kitchens with a back door and a window in the middle of the run: short lengths, few joins, and a lot to work around. Old top out in the morning, new stone down and sealed the same afternoon, with a plumber either side of us. Sound carcasses are the one condition.
The Span and Wates estates give a very particular job - modular 1950s and 1960s houses with a compact kitchen on a fixed grid, often opened to the dining area with a 2.7m run and a slim peninsula, and the original units replaced within the same footprint; the Georgian houses on the common are a different scale entirely with large rear kitchens.
Post-war terraces have a short straight hall to the kitchen, which is a good deal kinder than the houses they replaced. Chipboard carcasses under the sink swollen from a slow leak will not take stone and get replaced before fit day. What is under the old top is the real question.
What we are usually templating in is Georgian house around the common, 1950s and 1960s Span estate, postwar Wates housing and modern infill. The differences between them show up at template, not at enquiry.
True everywhere
Worktop replacement, in short
- The units stay. Only the surface changes.
- Old tops come out in the morning, new stone is down and sealed the same day.
- A plumber disconnects the tap and waste before we arrive and reconnects at the end of the day.
- The carcasses have to be sound: stone is far heavier than laminate.
Covered from the New Malden patch. Fitted 3–7 working days from template.
period detached houses and villas
Getting stone into the room
Estate roads with communal parking courts set back from the houses so the carry is 20 to 30 metres, and pedestrian-only paths between blocks that a trolley handles but a van cannot follow.
period detached houses and villas
The building, and what it does to the job
The estate houses have thin partition walls and lightweight carcasses, so weight matters - 20mm quartz or porcelain rather than 30mm granite.
Where a partition has been built off the floor screed rather than off the slab, it moves, and a mitre bonded across that corner is the first thing to open. The old top has been hiding it, so the first honest look at it happens when the laminate comes off. Found at template, not on fit day.
period detached houses and villas
What gets asked for here
Of everything we do around here, this is the one that comes up most, with worktop installation and worktop design & quotation behind it.
Access
Getting stone into a Ham kitchen
Estate roads with communal parking courts set back from the houses so the carry is 20 to 30 metres, and pedestrian-only paths between blocks that a trolley handles but a van cannot follow.
Tell us what the approach looks like when you book the template and it gets built into the day rather than discovered on it. Where the route is genuinely tight, it changes how the pieces are cut, which is a fabrication decision rather than a delivery one.
3–7 working days
From template to fitted, working days from template. The same on this patch as every other.
New Malden patch
Ham is worked from our New Malden run, covering South West London & Surrey.
We come to you
Templated in your kitchen, cut in our workshop, fitted by our own installers.
Access told straight
If the route forces an extra join, you hear that at quote stage, not on the day.
Questions
Worktop replacement in Ham
If yours is not here, ring and ask. You get a straight answer rather than a call-back from a salesperson.
Do you actually work in Ham, or just list it?
Yes. Ham is on the patch, and the postcodes we work here are TW10. It is run from the New Malden side, covering South West London & Surrey. Where the van can pull up level with the gate the pieces are handled the fewest times, which is what actually protects them. A replacement is a two-way job, with old tops going out and new stone coming in, so the van needs to stay put across the whole day. Old tops out and new stone in, both through the same gap. We template in your kitchen and fit in your kitchen, so there is nothing to visit and nothing to collect.
What is different about worktop replacement in Ham?
Base units from the seventies and eighties are often only 500mm deep, so a 600mm stone top overhangs at the front and the doors want checking against it. Chipboard carcasses under the sink swollen from a slow leak will not take stone and get replaced before fit day. Units kept, surface changed, one day. The estate houses have thin partition walls and lightweight carcasses, so weight matters - 20mm quartz or porcelain rather than 30mm granite.
Is access a problem in Ham?
Estate roads with communal parking courts set back from the houses so the carry is 20 to 30 metres, and pedestrian-only paths between blocks that a trolley handles but a van cannot follow. The barrier, the entry code and the estate rules decide when a van can get near the door, and none of that is negotiable on the day. Worth remembering that the old tops have to come out the way the new ones come in, and a laminate run is easier to remove in one length than to carry in one. The strip-out is planned around it. Tell us what the approach looks like when you book the template and it gets built into the day rather than discovered on it.
Is worktop replacement the job you do most in Ham?
Yes. On the research for this patch it is the first of the three jobs listed, ahead of worktop installation and worktop design & quotation. Rear and side-return extensions are where the islands appear, and an island is the piece that decides whether one slab does the kitchen or two. Old tops out in the morning, new stone down and sealed the same afternoon. A plumber either side of us. Rear and side-return extensions are where the islands appear, and an island is the piece that decides whether one slab does the kitchen or two. The units stay and only the surface changes, so the whole job is one day rather than a kitchen refit. A day, not a project.
What decides the price of a worktop in Ham?
The free end is what needs deciding early: square edge, mitred apron down the end, or a full waterfall to the floor, and a waterfall is cut in sequence off the same part of the slab. Going from a 38mm laminate to 20mm or 30mm stone drops the surface, which shows against tiles, a window board and any freestanding appliance. Height change is checked before we cut. Material is £110-£550 per square metre supply only, and templating, fabrication and fitting are quoted on their own lines.
What do I need to sort out first?
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. This is the commonest reason a replacement turns out to need more than a straight swap. The laminate has been covering it up. Empty the base units completely and have a plumber disconnect the sink, tap and any washing machine plumbed in under the worktop before we arrive. Where someone is living in the house through the work, the strip-out and the fit are planned so the kitchen is out of use for a day and not a week. If the carcasses are tired the honest answer is that stone will find that out, and it is better said before than after. Sound carcasses are the condition.
Related
More around Ham
Other work we do in Ham
Next step
Worktop replacement in Ham, priced properly
Plans, a sketch or photographs with rough run lengths is enough to start. You get an itemised written quote and the template dates we can offer on this patch.
25-year material warranty and a 5-year workmanship guarantee, both stated on your quote.