Kitchen worktops in Willesden Green

Yes. Big late-Victorian and Edwardian houses, many in conservation areas, where the side return infill is the defining job and produces a wide rear kitchen with a 3.5m to 4.5m run plus a proper island. Whole-house owners often want a separate utility carved out of the old scullery, which means a second, smaller stone top in a different room. Off-street parking means the van stays put all day, so tools, packers and the offcut we would rather have than not are all within reach. It sits in the fitting line as time on site rather than as anything to do with the stone. It is one line among the others, and it is honest.

late Victorian villa, Edwardian double-fronted house and purpose-built 1930s flat. Where the side return has been filled in, the old external wall is now an internal one and still carries its render, its gutter line and its old fixings. Alcoves either side of the breast are rarely the same width and rarely parallel, so each one is templated as its own piece with its own scribe. Recorded as it is, not as it was drawn.

Wide streets but heavily parked, no off-street parking on most of the villas, and the fastest route to a rear extension is usually through the front door and the knocked-through reception because side alleys are shared with the neighbour. A side gate and a back door mean the stone never goes through the house at all, which keeps the dust and most of the risk outside. The templater measures that route on the same visit, so the drawing leaves site already knowing the maximum piece. That is part of what the visit is for.

Worktop installation, worktop design & quotation and worktop templating, 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. One visit, with the sink and hob seated and sealed before we leave. One visit, done properly. Conservation-area houses often keep original floor levels, so the extension floor and the old kitchen floor differ by 15mm to 30mm and the unit legs have to be levelled properly before templating.

On a heavily veined stone the island and the run behind it are nested off the same area of slab so the movement relates across the room. Join positions and vein direction are marked on the template drawing before it leaves site. The drawing leaves site complete. Level has to hold across the whole room rather than along one wall, or a floor that falls end to end shows as a step where two pieces meet. Rushing that is what leaves a gap you look at every morning for fifteen years. Eased in, never forced. 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.

Mixed ownership means the decision-maker is not always the person who lets us in, so it is worth being clear early about who signs the quote off. Floors and units are protected before anything comes through the door, communal or otherwise. Protection goes down first. 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.