Kitchen worktops in Ilford

Yes. Two very different jobs sit side by side here: deep Victorian and Edwardian terraces off the main roads where the kitchen has been pushed into a full-width rear extension and runs 3.5-4m along one wall with a peninsula, and new-build flats near the station where the developer's laminate is being swapped for stone in a compact L. Larger family houses frequently want a second prep kitchen or a separate hob run behind a door, so we are often templating two areas in one house. A dedicated loading bay or service yard is the easiest arrangement in a managed building, provided the slot is booked and someone has the key to the shutter. A templater circling for a space arrives late into a slot that was already tight, and the drawing is what suffers. It goes on the job sheet for the fitting crew.

Victorian terrace, Edwardian bay-fronted terrace, 1930s mansion block and 2010s-2020s new-build flat. The rear extension is frequently original rather than added, which means it is solidly built and just as far out of square as the rest of the house. The day is planned backwards from the hall. That is the shape of the day.

Ilford Lane and the roads off Cranbrook Road are permit-controlled and parked solid both sides, so a slab often comes in on foot from a suspended bay round the corner. New-build blocks mean lift access, booked loading bays and a building manager who wants notice in writing. Piece length is set by the internal diagonal of the lift car, not by the length of the slab. The fitting day is planned backwards from that point, before anything comes off the van. That is what the morning is planned around.

Worktop templating, worktop installation 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 template visit is booked once the units are genuinely in, not when they are nearly in. Units fitted, fixed and level first. Assume no kerbside parking outside the door, we plan Ilford jobs around a suspension or an early start, and anything over 3m gets checked against the hallway dogleg before it is cut.

Two parallel runs with a walkway between them is the most efficient shape there is on a slab, because both pieces nest as straight lengths with almost no waste. The existing layout is being kept, so the question is whether the old carcasses will take stone in that shape without more support. The units stay, the surface changes. The stone carries the scribe because the wall cannot be persuaded, so back edges are cut oversize and eased in rather than dropped straight down. The old top has been hiding it, so the first honest look at it happens when the laminate comes off. The laminate has been covering it up. 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. The template happens when the units are in, fixed and level, whoever is fitting them. No stone is cut from a plan. 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.