Barnet · NW11
Worktop templating in Temple Fortune
A digital template plotting the room as it really is, taken once your units are fitted, fixed and level.
Temple Fortune kitchens
What the kitchens here are actually like
These kitchens have usually been retiled twice and knocked through once, and both of those leave marks the worktop has to deal with. No stone is ever cut from a plan, which is why the visit happens after the units are in and not before. The room as it is, to the millimetre.
The surrounding houses are comfortable interwar semis where the kitchen is knocked through to the dining room for a 3.6m run and a peninsula.
Sloping ceilings over part of the run mean the slab cannot be tilted upright at that end, so it has to enter the room already close to horizontal. Flats above the distinctive shopping parades have small, awkwardly shaped kitchens set into the roof and gable spaces with sloping ceilings that rule out wall units above part of the run.
The chimney breast in the corner has usually been left in place, so the run gains a return and two scribed ends. Where the room has been knocked through to the dining room or opened into a later extension, the two floors rarely sit at the same level and the laser has to be shot across the whole opening from one datum. No stone is ever cut from a plan.
The stock behind these kitchens runs to Arts and Crafts style parade with flats above, 1920s-30s semi and purpose-built mansion block. A quote that ignores which one you have is guessing.
True everywhere
Worktop templating, in short
- Two to three hours on site for a typical kitchen.
- Units must be fitted, fixed and level first. No stone is ever cut from a plan.
- Sink, tap and hob must be physically on site, not just ordered.
- A Belfast or butler sink must be installed and at its final height.
Covered from the Watford patch. Fitted 3–7 working days from template.
period detached houses and villas
What gets asked for here
This is one of the three jobs that come up most here, behind worktop replacement. It is the same template visit, the same workshop and the same installers either way.
period detached houses and villas
Getting stone into the room
Flats over the parades are reached by narrow shared stairs from the rear yards, with no lift and a turn at each landing; Finchley Road frontage has loading restrictions and constant bus traffic.
Bay bookings are usually an hour or two, which is fine for unloading and no use at all as a place to leave the van for a day. The templating visit needs somewhere to stop for two or three hours, which is a different problem from unloading for twenty minutes. The templater needs a proper stop, not a pause.
Access
Getting stone into a Temple Fortune kitchen
Flats over the parades are reached by narrow shared stairs from the rear yards, with no lift and a turn at each landing; Finchley Road frontage has loading restrictions and constant bus traffic.
Tell us what the approach looks like when you book the template and it gets built into the day rather than discovered on it. Where the route is genuinely tight, it changes how the pieces are cut, which is a fabrication decision rather than a delivery one.
3–7 working days
From template to fitted, working days from template. The same on this patch as every other.
Watford patch
Temple Fortune is worked from our Watford run, covering Hertfordshire & North London.
We come to you
Templated in your kitchen, cut in our workshop, fitted by our own installers.
Access told straight
If the route forces an extra join, you hear that at quote stage, not on the day.
Questions
Worktop templating in Temple Fortune
If yours is not here, ring and ask. You get a straight answer rather than a call-back from a salesperson.
Do you actually work in Temple Fortune, or just list it?
Yes. Temple Fortune is on the patch, and the postcodes we work here are NW11. It is run from the Watford side, covering Hertfordshire & North London. Underground loading has a height restriction, and a van with an A-frame on it is taller than the driver remembers. The templating visit needs somewhere to stop for two or three hours, which is a different problem from unloading for twenty minutes. The templater needs a proper stop, not a pause. We template in your kitchen and fit in your kitchen, so there is nothing to visit and nothing to collect.
What is different about worktop templating in Temple Fortune?
A side alley and a back door mean most pieces go in whole, and it is the alley width rather than the front door that decides it. Where the room has been knocked through to the dining room or opened into a later extension, the two floors rarely sit at the same level and the laser has to be shot across the whole opening from one datum. Two to three hours, once the units are in. Sloping ceilings over part of the run mean the slab cannot be tilted upright at that end, so it has to enter the room already close to horizontal.
Is access a problem in Temple Fortune?
Flats over the parades are reached by narrow shared stairs from the rear yards, with no lift and a turn at each landing; Finchley Road frontage has loading restrictions and constant bus traffic. Weight tells on a staircase more than anywhere else, because there is nowhere to set a piece down mid-flight and no way to change your grip once it is moving. The templater measures that route on the same visit, so the drawing leaves site already knowing the maximum piece. The laser records it along with everything else. Tell us what the approach looks like when you book the template and it gets built into the day rather than discovered on it.
Do you do much worktop templating around Temple Fortune?
It is one of the three we do most here, behind worktop replacement. Same template visit, same workshop, same installers either way. Extension kitchens are usually specified long before they are buildable, so the run lengths on the drawing and the run lengths in the room are different numbers. The template visit is booked once the units are genuinely in, not when they are nearly in. The room as it is, not as it was drawn. A new extension slab is not automatically level, and that wants checking before templating rather than after the stone is cut. No stone is ever cut from a plan, which is inconvenient exactly when a programme is tight. The room as it is, not as it was drawn.
What decides the price of a worktop in Temple Fortune?
A peninsula is an island with one end tied to a run, which means the join between them has to be planned rather than allowed to happen. The template records every angle in that shape as it actually is rather than as the plan drew it. One datum for the whole room. Material is £110-£550 per square metre supply only, and templating, fabrication and fitting are quoted on their own lines.
What do I need to sort out first?
Sill height gets settled with the template on site, because it is one of the few dimensions nobody has measured before we arrive. It is recorded on the drawing with the run dimensions so the workshop is not guessing. Measured at worktop height, nowhere else. All base units in, including anything standing on the later extension slab, walls skimmed to final thickness, and the sink, tap and hob delivered so cut-outs and tap centres are set from the actual items. Owner-occupied kitchens are usually being done once, which is why the edge profile, the vein direction and where a join falls are worth the conversation. The templater needs the sink, tap and hob on site, and a Belfast sink installed at its final height. Appliances on site, not on order.
Related
More around Temple Fortune
Other work we do in Temple Fortune
Next step
Worktop templating in Temple Fortune, priced properly
Plans, a sketch or photographs with rough run lengths is enough to start. You get an itemised written quote and the template dates we can offer on this patch.
25-year material warranty and a 5-year workmanship guarantee, both stated on your quote.