Kitchen worktops in Queensbury

Yes. Uniform 1930s semis laid out around the circus, with kitchens still in their original back-of-house position in a good share of the stock and only a modest rear extension added. The common job is a straight replacement across an L of about 3m plus 1.8m where the owner keeps solid oak or beech units and swaps only the tops. A front drive is the best thing that can happen to a fitting day, because the tail lift comes down within a few metres of the door and nothing is on a clock. 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.

1930s semi, 1930s parade flat above shops and 1970s townhouse. The back door frequently opens straight into the kitchen, which is the best carry route in the house and the one people forget to mention. The junction between the old floor and the extension floor is where a run crossing it needs packing before stone goes on. What is under the old top is the real question.

Very wide roads with verges and consistent dropped kerbs, so the van gets onto the drive on most jobs. Flats above the shopping parades are the exception and mean a narrow rear stair with a tight turn. Stone goes up on edge, and it is the half-landing turn rather than the flight itself that sets the maximum piece. 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 templating and worktop installation, 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 units stay and only the surface changes, so the whole job is one day rather than a kitchen refit. Sound carcasses or it does not go ahead. This is repeat like-for-like territory, so template around retained units and check the old top was not hiding a packed-out, out-of-level base run.

An L can be mitred at the corner for a continuous look or butt-jointed over the gable, and the two are different money and different risk. A layout that has been packed and levelled run by run instead of to one datum shows as a step where two pieces meet. The join is the last thing finished. Legs bottoming out on hard concrete or an uneven screed mean the tops of the carcasses are not one plane, and that is picked up at template rather than on fitting day. 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.

An owner living in the house makes the decisions and lives with them, so the specification tends to go towards the material rather than towards the lowest total. A plumber disconnects before we arrive and reconnects after we leave, and that is worth booking early. 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.