Kitchen worktops in Limehouse

Yes. Around the basin the flats have open-plan kitchens along one wall with a peninsula facing the water, and the balcony door usually restricts one end of the run. In the older terraces the kitchen is a narrow back room, typically 2.4m, with a chimney breast to work around. 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. We stage the strip-out so the old tops leave in one trip rather than trickling out across the afternoon. It is a full day at the kerb, not a delivery.

Georgian and Victorian terrace, canal basin apartment block, wharf conversion and post-war estate. Floor-to-ceiling glazing lights the worktop from one side all day, which shows every ripple in a polished surface and every gap at a scribe. The template records that corner as it is, so the mitre closes tight instead of being cut to a theoretical 90 degrees. No stone is ever cut from a plan.

The main east-west road is a red route with a tunnel approach, so all loading happens on the residential side streets which are CPZ-controlled with tight bays. Basin-side buildings have secure gates and some blocks are only reachable across pedestrian bridges, which rules out trolleying and makes it a carry. Rear access usually lets us fit longer pieces whole, so the join count ends up decided by the slab rather than by the building. A template taken without walking the route produces a drawing that cuts beautifully and will not go in. It goes on the drawing with the run dimensions.

Worktop installation, worktop templating and worktop replacement, 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. The carcasses have to be sound, because stone is several times the weight of what is coming off. A day, not a project. Waterside flats have balcony thresholds and glazing right at the end of the run, so the last 300mm of the top usually needs a bespoke cut rather than a square end.

Two parallel runs with a walkway between them is the most efficient shape there is on a slab, because both pieces nest as straight lengths with almost no waste. A layout templated off one wall instead of one datum will not sit right once all the pieces are down together. Real angles, not plan angles. Alcove pieces get cut oversize on both scribe edges, with the true wall angles carried on the template drawing rather than assumed. It is recorded on the drawing with the run dimensions so the workshop is not guessing. Measured at worktop height, nowhere else. 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. A replacement keeps the units and changes the surface, which is the least disruptive way to do this in an occupied property. Sound carcasses are the condition. 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.