Kitchen worktops in Kilburn

Yes. Dense flat-conversion territory where kitchens are small, often windowless internal rooms or one end of a through-lounge, so a 2.4m single run with a slim breakfast bar is the standard. Landlord-driven refurbishments are frequent, which means durable, plain material and quick turnaround rather than statement stone. A red route means no stopping, and no stopping means exactly that, so the stone comes in from a side street or from a bay behind the property. Panels come off the van in one trip where possible, since a tall piece handled repeatedly is a piece asking to be chipped. Handling is where these pieces get damaged.

Victorian terrace, Edwardian mansion flat and 1960s-70s council block. The flat entrance door and the internal doorways are usually tighter than the communal stairs, which is the opposite of what most people assume. Where a client wants a full-height piece behind the hob, it usually sits in the old chimney recess, and that recess is rarely square top to bottom or side to side, so it has to be templated as a trapezium rather than a rectangle. The wall makes that decision, not the brochure.

Kilburn High Road is red-routed with no stopping in daytime, side streets are permit-only and full, and most flats are up one or two flights of a shared Victorian staircase. Loading dispensations and early starts do most of the work here. Communal stairs get boarded and the handrail padded, and we walk the route with a tape before the first piece leaves the van. Splashback panels are lighter than a worktop and far more awkward, because a tall thin piece has to be carried on edge and cannot be tilted to clear a turn. Joint positions follow from that.

Worktop replacement, worktop templating and worktop splashbacks & upstands, in that order. In a converted house the flat entrance and the internal doorway are usually tighter than the communal stairs, and that is easy to overlook. The template visit is booked once the units are genuinely in, not when they are nearly in. Units fitted, fixed and level first. Nothing longer than about 2.4m gets round the staircase turns in these conversions, so design the joint into the sink run before the slab is cut.

Because a peninsula is seen from both sides, the underside of any overhang gets the same edge treatment as the top, which is easy to leave out of a spec. 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 ownership is split across a building, the common parts belong to someone else and the carry route is negotiated rather than assumed. A template booked hopefully around another trade is the commonest cause of a wasted visit. Fitted, fixed and level, then we come. 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.