Every one of the vanity tops we quote in Lower Morden starts with the same conversation about what is already in the kitchen and what is staying. Generous plots at the borough edge mean wide rear extensions are common, and kitchens here often carry a full island plus a separate breakfast peninsula. Bungalow stock takes wide U-shapes with worktops on three walls and no upper-floor constraint. Plenty of kitchens do not match either description exactly, which is what the measured survey is there to sort out.
Rear extensions on these sit on shallow foundations, and the crack at the junction with the original wall tells you which way it has moved. A short piece carries an overflow, a waste and a sealant line, and any one of the three can spoil it. The bridge of stone behind the basin is the part that matters.
The rear wall now carries french or folding doors across most of its width, so a whole side of the room opens and a long piece comes straight in off the garden. The original bathroom in these houses is the small room over the hall, and a vanity in it is short, shallow and hard against a wall at each end, so both ends are scribed and there is no tolerance left between them. An original bathroom is usually the smallest room upstairs.
What the street keeps repeating is Interwar semi, 1930s bungalow and 1960s detached. Each carries its own carry problem before it carries a worktop.
Figures cover the statistical area (MSOA) Lower Morden shares with its neighbours| Figure | Lower Morden | Against London | What it means for the job |
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| homes built before 1919 | 1% | pre-1919 share lower than 91% of the 723 areas we cover | Corners tend to come in close to square. |
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| homes built 1919 to 1939 | 91% | inter-war share higher than 100% of the 723 areas we cover | The inter-war kitchen repeats street to street. |
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| homes built since 2010 | 2% | post-2010 share lower than 89% of the 723 areas we cover | No two kitchens are set out alike. |
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Sources: VOA Council Tax Stock of Properties 2025 and ONS Census 2021 for MSOA E02000713. Open Government Licence v3.0.