Kitchen worktops in Keston

Yes. Semi-rural plots with very large kitchens, frequently a full knock-through with an island over 3m, a range cooker recess and a separate utility and pantry. A fair number are full rebuilds where the kitchen is specified from plan rather than replaced. 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 van that has to move mid-fit costs the best part of an hour and takes a man off the tools to do it. It is why the arrival time is what it is.

large detached, 1930s country-style detached, modern replacement house and converted cottage. A range or an Aga in an original recess is usually immovable, so the run is designed around it and the clearances come from the appliance. An island a few hundred millimetres over the usable slab length costs a whole second slab, which is worth knowing before the layout is fixed. You see it before you commit to anything.

Long private drives, deep gravel and unlit lanes off the Westerham Road. Gravel is the real problem, because a loaded A-frame trolley sinks in it and everything has to be carried. A short hard approach with no steps means a full-length piece can be walked in flat by two people rather than turned up on edge. We price the carry from what you tell us about the route, so photographs of the approach are worth more to us than a floor plan. You see that figure before we template, not after.

Worktop design & quotation, worktop fabrication and worktop installation, in that order. 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. Comparing quotes only works when they itemise the same things, and this is where the differences usually hide. Itemised, so it can be compared honestly. On gravel drives we ask for boards down or park on the lane and carry, and we allow for the extra time in the fit rather than rushing it.

On a heavily veined stone the island and the run behind it are nested off the same area of slab so the movement relates across the room. On the day that means dry-laying the whole layout first and only then pulling and bonding the joins. Nothing is bonded until the whole run sits flat. Where a breast interrupts a long wall the join can often go there, so it reads as a natural break rather than a line in the middle of a worktop. Send photographs of every corner of the room and it gets priced properly first time. Better on the quote than in a variation. 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.

The householder is normally on site at template, and that is the right time to settle sink position, tap centres and overhang rather than agree them by email. Nothing is payable until we template, so a quote can sit while consents and decisions catch up. Every line has a reason next to it. 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.