Kitchen worktops in Brick Lane

Yes. Residential kitchens above the shops are narrow and long, squeezed into the back of a first-floor flat with runs of 2m to 2.6m and a single sash window. Brewery and warehouse conversions are the opposite, with open-plan kitchens along one flank wall and a bar-height peninsula. Where the van can pull up level with the gate the pieces are handled the fewest times, which is what actually protects them. It is noted on the job sheet at template so the fitting crew inherit the answer rather than rediscovering it. The templater needs a proper stop, not a pause.

flat over shop or restaurant, former brewery and warehouse conversion and Victorian terrace. The structure below is commercial, so the floor is often timber over a shop ceiling and the load path under an island is worth thinking about. The scribe at worktop height differs from the one at plinth level, and only the worktop line matters. Two to three hours, once the units are in.

The street itself has heavy footfall from late morning until late at night, so realistically deliveries happen early and the van cannot sit for long. Flats above commercial units are reached by a separate side door and a very steep single-width stair, with no lift and no chance of turning a long piece at the top. 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. Door widths, turn diagonals and any change of level are recorded on the drawing alongside the run dimensions. It goes on the drawing with the run dimensions.

Worktop replacement, worktop templating and worktop splashbacks & upstands, in that order. A new extension slab is not automatically level, and that wants checking before templating rather than after the stone is cut. Socket and switch positions have to be final before templating, because a cut-out in the wrong place means a new piece. Siliconed to the worktop, never grouted. Above-shop flats mean everything gets planned in short jointed sections, and the stair, not the kitchen, sets the maximum piece size.

Peninsulas frequently land on a lightweight partition or on units that were never fixed down, and stone needs proper support under it before it goes on. A layout templated off one wall instead of one datum will not sit right once all the pieces are down together. The drawing leaves site complete. 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. We would rather find it at template than on the morning, which is why the templater looks behind the units. 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.

The same building type can arrive as a careful one-off kitchen or as a fast turnaround, and the honest answer is that they are priced differently. A template booked hopefully around another trade is the commonest cause of a wasted visit. No stone is cut from a plan. 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.