Kitchen worktops in Arsenal

Yes. Tight Edwardian terraces with small rear kitchens of 2.4-3m sitting a few hundred metres from converted stadium apartments with modern open-plan kitchens, fitted islands and square walls. Two completely different fits, and the terraces rarely have room to change the layout at all. Streets near a ground or a venue have restrictions that come and go with the fixture list rather than with the time of 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.

Edwardian terrace, converted stadium apartment, Victorian terrace and post-war block. Edwardian terraces are wider and taller than the Victorian houses next to them, so the kitchen usually takes a full-width rear room rather than a narrow outrigger. We measure the front door, the hall width and the turn into the kitchen before anything comes off the van, because a 3m piece has to swing through that corner on edge and stone does not bend to help you. That is the shape of the day.

Matchday road closures and residents-only enforcement make scheduling the real problem, since anything booked on a fixture day is effectively lost. The apartment blocks have controlled underground parking and service lifts that need booking in advance. 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. Finding it out on the morning costs the whole slot, because there is no second route to fall back on. That is what the morning is planned around.

Worktop replacement, worktop installation and worktop templating, in that order. 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 units stay and only the surface changes, so the whole job is one day rather than a kitchen refit. A day, not a project. Book template and fit dates around the fixture list, because a closed road on the day wastes the whole slot and the material comes straight back on the van.

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. A layout templated off one wall instead of one datum will not sit right once all the pieces are down together. Real angles, not plan angles. The stone carries the scribe because the wall cannot be persuaded, so back edges are cut oversize and eased in rather than dropped straight down. The old top has been hiding it, so the first honest look at it happens when the laminate comes off. Found at template, not on fit day. 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 replacement keeps the units and changes the surface, which is the least disruptive way to do this in an occupied property. Units kept, surface changed. 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.