Kitchen worktops in High Wycombe, the Chilterns and east Berkshire

Yes. Beaconsfield, Marlow, Amersham, Gerrards Cross, Maidenhead, Slough, Aylesbury and Windsor are all on this patch, and it is the same team across the lot. Those towns are where we work regularly rather than a boundary line. A lot of this area is villages between them, so if yours is not listed, send the postcode and we will confirm it in writing.

We plan the route in and the join positions together at the template visit, before anything is cut. If a piece cannot physically get through the door, the answer is a join put somewhere sensible (typically 2–3mm, colour-matched and sanded flush) rather than a fitting day with the stone stuck in the hall. Low ceilings and a tight turn at the foot of the stairs matter for the same reason, so mention those on the day too.

The sink installed and in its final position before we template. The worktop is cut around the actual sink rather than a specification sheet, and the height it sits at changes the drawing. If it is sitting out of level we will tell you at template, because a straight stone edge above an out-of-level sink shows it up, and that is far easier to correct before the stone is cut than after.

A mitred edge. The slab is cut at 45 degrees and folded down to form an apron, so what you see at the edge is 40mm or 60mm of stone with the pattern running round the corner. It only works if the pieces are cut in sequence and dry-assembled on our bench first. A cut-out two millimetres tight is a fifteen minute fix in the workshop and a lost day in your kitchen.

Sometimes. It depends on the slab size of the material you have chosen and on whether a piece that large can physically get into the room. Both are answered at quotation and confirmed at template rather than on fitting day, and if a single piece is not going to work we tell you before you set your heart on it.

It is a planning problem rather than a stopping problem. Gravel, a steep or single-track approach and a long walk from the road all change how we break the job into pieces and how many people we bring. Tell us what the last hundred metres looks like when you book the template and it gets built into the day instead of discovered on it.

Mainly for how the colour reads rather than anything technical. A bright room shows veining and sparkle far more strongly than a showroom does, and a white that looked warm under shop lights can look flat under a rooflight. Order the samples and leave them on your own units for a couple of days before you decide.

It can. In the compact flats and 1960s and 1970s kitchens around Slough and Maidenhead, a 20mm top with a slim square edge usually reads better than a chunky apron: less shadow line, and the run looks longer. Sintered surfaces suit that job because they are strong at a thin section. Worth deciding the edge against the units themselves rather than from a photograph.

Two to three hours for a typical kitchen, and longer for an island with several returns or a full-height splashback. Somebody who can make decisions has to be there, because join positions, overhang depths, tap hole placement and the edge profile are all agreed and signed off on the day. Once it is signed off the drawing goes to the workshop and you are 5–10 working days from a fitted worktop.