Kitchen worktops in Northumberland Heath

Yes. Interwar and postwar housing between Erith and Bexleyheath with modest rear kitchens of 2.4m to 3m, and a lot of ex-council stock where the kitchen keeps its original position and only the units and worktop change. A front drive is the best thing that can happen to a fitting day, because the tail lift comes down within a few metres of the door and nothing is on a clock. A replacement is a two-way job, with old tops going out and new stone coming in, so the van needs to stay put across the whole day. Old tops out and new stone in, both through the same gap.

interwar semi, postwar council estate, 1960s terrace and Victorian cottage. Walls are dense block or in-situ concrete with a bonded plaster, so the bottom course of tiles brings plaster with it when the old top comes off. The carry is the constraint. Walked, measured, protected, then lifted.

Straightforward residential streets with a mix of drives and on-street parking; the hill down toward Erith is steep but the roads are wide. The van gets close to the door and the stone comes off the tail lift onto a trolley, which is about the shortest carry we ever get. Finding it out on the morning costs the whole slot, because there is no second route to fall back on. It gets checked before the first piece is lifted.

Worktop replacement, worktop fabrication and worktop installation, in that order. Quartz suits let property well: no sealing, no annual maintenance, and nothing an incoming tenant has to be told to look after. So the nesting is planned around it rather than around a standard kitchen. Proven on the bench before dispatch. Ex-council kitchens often have the meter cupboard inside the run, so the worktop has to be cut around or stop short of an access panel.

A galley puts the sink on one side and the hob on the other, which spreads the cut-outs across two pieces instead of weakening one. 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. Boxing is rarely the same depth at worktop height as it is at floor level, so measuring it low down is the usual reason a top will not sit back. Cut it square where it should be radiused and the piece will fail on the lift, not in the kitchen. Radiused, polished, and clear of the joins. 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.

Managed stock usually comes with its own rules about working hours, waste, and who is allowed on site. The workshop works from the approved drawing, so whoever signs it off is signing off the join positions too. Dry-assembled before it leaves. 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.