Kitchen worktops in Furzedown

Yes. A quiet grid of Edwardian and interwar houses where extensions are usually single-storey rear rather than side-return, giving a squarer kitchen that suits a U-shape with a short peninsula. Utility rooms partitioned off the back of the kitchen are common. 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. We aim for the first slot of the day where parking is tight, because that is when the street is emptiest. We would rather ask than guess.

Edwardian terrace, Interwar semi and 1930s terrace. There is usually a shared rear alley, and whether the gate onto it is unlocked decides whether long pieces come in from the back. What does drive the bench work is the knocked-through kitchen-diner: the return worktop and any peninsula are seen end-on from the dining side, so we nest the pieces so the veining carries across the internal corner in the same direction rather than turning through ninety degrees. Every join over a gable, clear of every cut-out.

The area sits inside a loop of main roads with limited through routes, so satnav approaches often fail and the van has to come in from Mitcham Lane or Tooting Bec Road. Once inside, parking pressure is moderate and most houses have a front path. Door width, hall width and the diagonal at the turn are three separate measurements, and it is the diagonal that catches people out. The maximum piece length is fixed at drawing stage and every join is placed over a cabinet gable from there. The drawing carries that decision through to the saw.

Worktop installation, worktop fabrication and worktop replacement, 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 carcasses have to be sound, because stone is several times the weight of what is coming off. Sound carcasses or it does not go ahead. Where a utility is partitioned off, the two rooms usually want the same material but different thicknesses — confirm which side takes the offcuts before the slab is laid out.

With three walls in play the chance of one of them being out of square is high, and the template has to carry all three angles. The nest is laid out around that, with joins placed over cabinet gables and kept clear of every cut-out. The bench proves it before the van does. The returns into a breast recess are the tightest scribes in the room, and they are eased in rather than forced. The template drawing carries the real geometry through to the saw, and the piece is machined to it rather than trimmed to it later. Machined to the real line. 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 someone is living in the house through the work, the strip-out and the fit are planned so the kitchen is out of use for a day and not a week. If the carcasses are tired the honest answer is that stone will find that out, and it is better said before than after. Plumber either side of us. 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.