Kitchen worktops in Clerkenwell

Yes. Loft conversions of print, watchmaking and light-industrial buildings, where the kitchen is a run and an island in one large open space with exposed brick, steel and timber floors. Runs of 4m plus a 2.5-3m island are common and clients often want a single stone carried across island, worktops and splashback. A red route means no stopping, and no stopping means exactly that, so the stone comes in from a side street or from a bay behind the property. It sits in the fitting line as time on site rather than as anything to do with the stone. You are told before you commit to a date.

former industrial warehouse conversion, Georgian terrace, Victorian model-dwelling block and modern apartment. The goods lift is generous and the flat entrance often is not, so the tightest point on the route is inside the flat rather than in the building. The second driver is getting stone into the building: often a single goods lift, a long carry from the loading area, and occasionally a hoist through an opening, all of which sit in the fitting line as men and time rather than square metres. You see it before you commit to anything.

Inside the Congestion Charge zone with narrow one-way streets, loading bans through the busiest hours and traffic filters on several residential blocks. Many converted buildings retain a goods lift, which is the difference between a one-piece island and a jointed one. The lift has to be booked and blanketed before anything moves, and that booking needs to cover the old tops coming out as well as the new stone going in. That is why the fitting line on a quote reflects manpower and time rather than square metres. You see that figure before we template, not after.

Worktop fabrication, worktop installation and worktop design & quotation, 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. Pieces are dry-assembled and checked on the bench before anything is loaded. Nested for the job in front of us. The floors in these conversions are old timber over long spans and are rarely flat, so level and pack the island carcass properly before setting stone or a 3m top will telegraph every dip.

Seating overhangs past roughly 300mm will not carry on the carcass alone, so flat steel bar or a plywood substrate has to be built into the units first. Each run is priced on its own line against the supply rate, with the join count and the reason for each join stated. The join count is stated with its reason. 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. On the day it means dry-laying, marking, and cutting the scribe on site before anything is bonded. It is the slow part of the day and it should be. 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.

Access in a tenanted flat depends on the tenant, so the template and fitting dates are agreed with whoever actually holds the keys. Changing an appliance after the nest is set means recutting the piece, not adjusting it. Dry-assembled before it leaves. 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.