Kitchen worktops in Hendon

Yes. Interwar semis with the usual rear extension pattern sit alongside a large stock of 1930s mansion blocks where kitchens are compact, north-facing and structurally fixed. Kosher provision is widespread, so twin sinks, twin dishwashers and clearly separated worktop zones are routine, and Shabbat hot-plate space has to be planned into the run. Off-street parking means the van stays put all day, so tools, packers and the offcut we would rather have than not are all within reach. 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. The waste run is planned, not improvised.

1930s semi, 1930s mansion block, Victorian houses near the old village and student and campus accommodation. Permitted works hours are commonly weekdays with a late start and an early finish, so a one-day fit is planned around the porter and the lift. This is the most managed day we do. Walked, measured, protected, then lifted.

Suburban streets with drives on the semis, but the mansion blocks have narrow original lifts, half-landings and stone communal stairs, and parking around Hendon Central and Brent Street is tight through the day. Stone goes up on edge, and it is the half-landing turn rather than the flight itself that sets the maximum piece. Finding it out on the morning costs the whole slot, because there is no second route to fall back on. That is what the morning is planned around.

Worktop installation, worktop replacement and worktop templating, in that order. A new extension slab is not automatically level, and that wants checking before templating rather than after the stone is cut. The template visit is booked once the units are genuinely in, not when they are nearly in. The room as it is, not as it was drawn. Mansion block lifts are the limiting factor, and where a slab will not fit the lift a stone staircase carry needs proper protection to the treads and the handrail.

The catch with a galley is that both runs are seen end-on from the doorway, so any difference in overhang between the two reads immediately. Old laminate has often been holding a run square for years, and taking it off shows what the units were really doing. Carcasses have to be sound first. A low sill over the sink run is what decides between an upstand and stone dying into a window board, and there is often less clearance than an upstand is tall. The laser plots it as it is, at the exact height the worktop will sit, and the drawing carries that through. Plotted, not estimated. 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.

Mixed ownership means the decision-maker is not always the person who lets us in, so it is worth being clear early about who signs the quote off. A template booked hopefully around another trade is the commonest cause of a wasted visit. No stone is cut from a plan. 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.