Kitchen worktops in Goodmayes

Yes. A lot of family houses running knock-through kitchen-diners where the old scullery wall has come out and the kitchen now wraps around two or three walls with a large sink run under the rear window. Big appliances are the norm, so we see wide American fridge gaps, range cookers up to 110cm and worktops cut with generous clearance either side of the hob. Gravel and block paving both look like hard standing and neither takes a loaded trolley, so the run from tail lift to door gets boarded. 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. It is why the arrival time is what it is.

Edwardian terrace, 1930s semi and post-war infill. The bay at the front and the back addition at the rear were built to different standards, and the kitchen is nearly always in the weaker of the two. What the old top has been hiding is usually a floor that settled towards the back and units that were never fixed back to the wall. Sound carcasses are the one condition.

Mixed: terraces on the south side with kerbside-only unloading, and 1930s roads to the north where most houses have a crossover and a hardstanding to park on. Rear extensions usually leave a usable side alley of around a metre. A side gate and a back door mean the stone never goes through the house at all, which keeps the dust and most of the risk outside. Worth remembering that the old tops have to come out the way the new ones come in, and a laminate run is easier to remove in one length than to carry in one. The strip-out is planned around it.

Worktop replacement, worktop installation and worktop templating, in that order. A new extension slab is not automatically level, and that wants checking before templating rather than after the stone is cut. The fitting day is scheduled to suit that rather than to suit the diary. One visit, done properly. Range cookers dominate here and the cut-outs sit close to end walls, so we check the actual cooker width on site instead of working off the plan measurement.

Three runs means two internal corners, and each corner is a decision about mitre or butt joint before anything is nested. The existing layout is being kept, so the question is whether the old carcasses will take stone in that shape without more support. Carcasses have to be sound first. A low sill over the sink run is what decides between an upstand and stone dying into a window board, and there is often less clearance than an upstand is tall. The template plots it as it is, at the exact height the worktop will sit, and the drawing carries that through. Plotted, not estimated. 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 householder is normally on site at template, and that is the right time to settle sink position, tap centres and overhang rather than agree them by email. The fitting day is arranged with whoever can actually give us access for the whole slot. Protection goes down first. 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.