Kitchen worktops in Lower Sydenham

Yes. Flatter ground by the river with postwar estate housing and interwar semis; kitchens are modest rear rooms with a back door, standard 600mm units and runs around 2.4m to 3m, and the work is straight replacement rather than redesign. On a street with no restrictions the constraint is other residents rather than a warden, so it is worth putting a cone or a car out early. 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.

postwar estate housing, 1930s semi, Victorian cottage terrace and industrial-edge conversion. Walls are dense block or in-situ concrete with a bonded plaster, so the bottom course of tiles brings plaster with it when the old top comes off. The plaster is bonded straight onto the concrete, so the bottom course of tiles tends to bring plaster with it when the old top comes off, leaving a rough band behind the upstand. What is under the old top is the real question.

Wide roads, industrial estate access and genuine turning space for a long van — one of the easier parts of Lewisham to deliver into, though estate parking courts get blocked. Where the parking court sits behind the block the carry crosses open ground and gets boarded, because loaded trolleys and block paving do not agree. We plan the strip-out and the carry as one movement so the kitchen is only out of use for a single day. It sets what the day actually looks like.

Worktop replacement, worktop fabrication and worktop installation, in that order. Landlord work is scheduled around void periods, so the whole thing is a fixed window and the template date matters as much as the fitting date. One visit, with the sink and hob seated and sealed before we leave. Sealed before we leave. Simple rectangular rooms and easy parking, so the only real catch is 1970s carcasses that have gone out of level.

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. Pieces are dry-assembled on the bench before dispatch so the corners are known to close before they leave the workshop. Every join sits over a gable. Floors settle, and once base units are packed and levelled properly the stone sits true while everything else in the room admits it is not. Internal corners are machined with a radius and polished, and kept well clear of any join or cut-out. Machined to the real line. 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.

These kitchens tend to be compact and reasonably square, so the fixed template, fabrication and fitting lines are a larger share of the total than the stone is. Sink and hob are dry-fitted on the bench before dispatch, whoever supplied them. Changes cost a piece, not a tweak. 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.