Kitchen worktops in White City

Yes. Two extremes on the same postcode: 1930s estate flats with small closed kitchens of 2.0-2.6m and original ventilated larder recesses, and brand-new tower apartments with open-plan islands of 2.4-3m over a fixed services box. In the estate blocks the kitchen window is deep-set in a thick wall, so the worktop needs a generous scribe at the sill end. Where the bay sits some distance from the core, the carry across the car park is the longest leg of the day and gets boarded and lit. We stage the strip-out so the old tops leave in one trip rather than trickling out across the afternoon. Old tops out and new stone in, both through the same gap.

1930s balcony-access estate block, postwar maisonette, 2010s-2020s high-rise apartment tower and former television studio conversion. Entry-phone access, a booked lift and a parking bay near the entrance all have to be arranged before a date is confirmed. Ex-council flats and maisonettes are built in dense concrete and blockwork, so anything that has to be fixed back, such as brackets under a peninsula or support for an end panel, goes in with proper anchors and an SDS rather than plasterboard fixings. What is under the old top is the real question.

The older blocks are balcony access, which means the last leg is an open external walkway with a handrail on one side and front doors on the other - a slab on edge has to be walked, not wheeled, and wind on the upper decks is a genuine factor. New towers are the opposite: booked bay, goods lift, protection kit, and a security desk that will not let you past without a sign-in. Where the lift will not take the longest run we design a join in rather than gamble, because a piece that will not go up has to go back on the van. We plan the strip-out and the carry as one movement so the kitchen is only out of use for a single day. That is agreed before a plumber is booked.

Worktop replacement, worktop installation and worktop fabrication, 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. Where the window is fixed there is no second day to fall back on, so the prep list matters more than usual. One visit, done properly. On the 1930s decks the wind will catch a slab on edge above the third floor, so carry it flat to the door and stand it up inside.

If the island is a few hundred millimetres longer than the usable length of a slab, a second slab gets bought to gain that overhang, and the whole slab is paid for rather than the part used. Going from a 38mm laminate to 20mm or 30mm stone drops the surface, which shows against tiles, a window board and any freestanding appliance. Carcasses have to be sound first. The returns into a breast recess are the tightest scribes in the room, and they are eased in rather than forced. This is the commonest reason a replacement turns out to need more than a straight swap. The laminate has been covering it up. 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. Floors and units are protected before anything comes through the door, communal or otherwise. Access for the whole slot, or a different day. 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.