Kitchen worktops in Gallions Reach

Yes. New-build houses here have a kitchen-diner across the rear with a 3m run plus a 1.5m island, generally already square and level, which makes the templating straightforward. Apartments have small single-wall kitchens with the washing machine inside the run. A step up from the drive to the threshold turns the last two metres into a lift, and a lift is where two pairs of hands become the minimum. 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. Where there is no space, the plan starts the night before.

2000s new-build house, recent apartment block and 1990s estate housing. Floors are chipboard deck on timber joists, which moves enough that level is taken with the units loaded rather than empty. Everything comes up in the lift, so we measure the lift car's internal diagonal before the piece is loaded, because a car that takes 2.4m on the diagonal will not take a 3m worktop no matter how you stand it. The slow parts are slow for a reason.

Wide modern roads, retail park loading and driveways on most houses mean a full-size van can park at the door with no permit issues. Newer blocks have modern lifts of a usable size, but gated parking courts need a resident to let the van in. Where the parking court sits behind the block the carry crosses open ground and gets boarded, because loaded trolleys and block paving do not agree. The fitting day is planned backwards from that point, before anything comes off the van. The way in is walked with a tape before the van is opened.

Worktop installation, in that order. Developer-fitted kitchens come with thin cam-lock carcasses, which are fine under laminate and want bracing before stone goes on them. The fitting day is scheduled to suit that rather than to suit the diary. Handover day is a hard stop. Modern square rooms make this the closest thing to a drawing-office job in the borough, though the island's overhang still needs proper brackets, not just adhesive.

Galley runs are usually short enough to come out of a single slab, so the material band you choose does more to the total than the room shape does. On the day that means dry-laying the whole layout first and only then pulling and bonding the joins. Waterfall legs are set before the top is bonded down. An unsupported overhang off a stud wall wants noggins fixed between the studs before the boarding goes on, and once it is boarded and skimmed that option has gone. On the day it means dry-laying, marking, and cutting the scribe on site before anything is bonded. Carcasses get packed level before anything is offered up. Material is from £110 per square metre supply only, and the templating, the fabrication and the fitting are each quoted on their own line.

A leaseholder paying for their own kitchen inside managed stock still needs the freeholder to consent, and that consent is about the building and the common parts rather than about the worktop. The fitting day is arranged with whoever can actually give us access for the whole slot. A cleared crew arrives with its paperwork done. If we know the building when you book, the lift, the stair turn and any freeholder notice are worked into the day rather than found on it.

They read strongly across a dark stone and are nearly invisible on a pale one, so look before deciding. The grooves sit inside the depth of the top with stone left either side, so a shallow run limits them. Developer carcasses are thin cam-lock chipboard, which is entirely adequate under laminate and wants bracing before stone. The fitting day is planned backwards from all of it, before the first piece comes off the van. The last piece down is the one nearest the door.

No maintenance visit is built into the job. Soap, water, and on the porous stones a seal. Quartz carries resin, so a hot pan wants a trivet, while granite and sintered stone will take one without complaint. Topping a seal up is a wipe-on job with a cloth. A gated development controls when a van gets in, where it can stand and for how long, and none of that gets decided on the morning. The lift is measured before the piece is loaded, and once inside the flat the fitting is quick by comparison. The house sets the order of work.

Tiling and stone can meet, but where they meet is decided before the template rather than after. The joint between splashback and worktop is siliconed, never grouted, so it can move a little without cracking. Estate roads are narrow with parking courts behind the blocks, so the carry crosses open ground rather than a pavement. Communal areas are protected from the entrance to the flat door, because the building notices a mark long before the client does. Levelled first, then set, then sealed.

If your own slab breaks there is no matching replacement to hand, and that is the real difference. The quote is itemised, so a job where you already hold the slab is the same job with the material line taken off it. Housings and integrated appliances are set out for a 38mm laminate top, so dropping to 20mm or 30mm stone changes the clearances and needs checking before anything is cut. One visit, with the sink and hob seated and sealed before we leave. The annexe and the main kitchen go in together.