Kitchen worktops in Alexandra Park

Yes. Edwardian terraces on the slopes below the Palace, most with the kitchen in the rear addition and a growing number opened into the dining room to make a 3.5m L with a compact island. Rooms are tall, so full-height stone splashbacks behind the hob are a common ask. A controlled parking zone means either a visitor permit sorted in advance or a suspended bay, and a suspension is applied for days ahead rather than on the morning. A van that has to move mid-fit costs the best part of an hour and takes a man off the tools to do it. The day is built around that window.

Edwardian terrace, Victorian villa and 1930s semi. The rear wall is usually a single brick thick and has been rendered, patched and re-rendered, so it bows in and out along the length of the run. 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.

The gradient up towards the Palace and Palace Gates is the main issue - several streets are steep enough that you cannot leave a loaded trolley unattended. Parking is permit-controlled with narrow carriageways. 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. A template taken without walking the route produces a drawing that cuts beautifully and will not go in. It goes on the drawing with the run dimensions.

Worktop splashbacks & upstands, worktop templating and worktop installation, in that order. The junction between the original room and the extension is the point to watch, because the two floors rarely sit at the same height. Ordered later from a different batch, the match is not reliable exactly where the pieces meet. Same batch, same run, same day. Full-height splashbacks in these tall rooms mean a single large piece with cut-outs for sockets - confirm socket positions before fabrication because they cannot be moved afterwards.

Two runs meeting at an internal corner is the most common shape we fit, and the corner is where the decisions are. On the day that means dry-laying the whole layout first and only then pulling and bonding the joins. Dry-lay first, always. A run can measure dead right at both ends and still belly out in the middle, which only appears once the template plots the intermediate points. A tall panel that fits at the worktop will stand off the wall at the top unless the wall is dubbed out or the panel is scribed. Make the wall good first, or accept the detail. 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.

Where ownership is split across a building, the common parts belong to someone else and the carry route is negotiated rather than assumed. A 100mm upstand is the low-maintenance answer, and full-height stone is the one that has to be committed to early. Decided before fabrication, not after. 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.