Kitchen worktops in Latchmere

Yes. Small Victorian model cottages with kitchens under 8 square metres take a single wall run and a fridge alcove, nothing more. The interwar and postwar blocks have separate kitchens with a fixed sink position under the window and boxed services in one corner. Enforcement zones rarely accept a trade van unloading stone as an exemption, so this gets sorted before the date is confirmed rather than argued about afterwards. 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.

Victorian model-dwelling terrace, Interwar council block, Postwar estate housing and 1990s infill. Cottage terraces have no hall to speak of and the front door opens almost straight into the room, which makes the carry easier and the protection harder. The day is planned backwards from the hall. That is the shape of the day.

Estate blocks have controlled entry and shared stairs; the older ones have balcony access along the front, which means a long horizontal carry past neighbours' doors. Parking bays on the estate are permit-allocated and enforced. A walk-up with winders at every half-landing means the piece is rested and re-gripped on the way, so the crew size goes up before the piece size comes down. We walk the route with a tape and protect it end to end before the first piece is lifted. That is what the morning is planned around.

Worktop replacement, worktop splashbacks & upstands and worktop installation, in that order. The junction between the original room and the extension is the point to watch, because the two floors rarely sit at the same height. One visit, with the sink and hob seated and sealed before we leave. Sealed before we leave. In these blocks the waste position is fixed and often high in the wall, so the sink cutout cannot be moved more than a few centimetres without re-plumbing.

A galley puts the sink on one side and the hob on the other, which spreads the cut-outs across two pieces instead of weakening one. Upstands follow the run exactly, so every internal and external corner is a separate mitred or butted piece. Joint placement is a decision, not an accident. A notch around a boxed stack is machined with a radius at the internal corner, because a square inside corner there is exactly where a top will crack. On the day it means dry-laying, marking, and cutting the scribe on site before anything is bonded. Dry-lay, mark, cut, then bond. 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.

Consent for the work sits with the freeholder or the managing body, and getting it in writing first avoids a crew arriving to a locked door. Floors and units are protected before anything comes through the door, communal or otherwise. One visit, our own installers. 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.