Tower Hamlets · E3
Worktop installation in Old Ford
Fitting day: protected route, back edges scribed to the real wall line, joins pulled flush, sink and hob sealed.
Old Ford kitchens
What the kitchens here are actually like
The kitchen normally sits in the back addition or a later side return, which puts the run against the oldest and least straight wall in the building. The fitting day is planned backwards from all of it, before the first piece comes off the van. The route is walked before the first lift.
Almost every renovated house here has a rear extension running to the boundary, which turns the old kitchen and scullery into one room with a 3m to 3.5m run under a flat rooflight and a separate island. Un-extended houses still have the kitchen at the very back with a door straight into the garden.
Several canal-facing properties have no vehicle frontage at all and the only route in is a towpath walk with a bridge ramp. Streets on the park side are broken up by modal filters and planters, so the van has to approach from the correct end or it will be reversing a long way back out.
These were built with a scullery that has since been swallowed by an extension, leaving a change of floor level roughly where the run crosses. We measure the front door, the hall width and the turn into the kitchen before anything comes off the van, because a 3m piece has to swing through that corner on edge and stone does not bend to help you. The slow parts are slow for a reason.
On these streets the housing is Victorian terrace, interwar cottage estate and canal-side new-build. Each of those behaves differently once the old top comes off.
True everywhere
Worktop installation, in short
- One visit. A straightforward run is a morning; an island and splashbacks take most of the day.
- Every piece is carried in by hand, and stone does not bend.
- We seat and seal the sink and hob. We do not connect water, waste, gas or electrics.
- Floors and units are protected before anything comes through the door.
Covered from the Essex patch. Fitted 3–7 working days from template.
Victorian and Edwardian terraces
The building, and what it does to the job
Rear extensions here are usually finished before the kitchen goes in, so the template date slips with the plasterer and the levels across a 6m room need checking properly.
Victorian and Edwardian terraces
What gets asked for here
The junction between the original room and the extension is the point to watch, because the two floors rarely sit at the same height. Where the window is fixed there is no second day to fall back on, so the prep list matters more than usual. The prep list is not optional.
This is one of the three jobs that come up most here, behind worktop templating. It is the same template visit, the same workshop and the same installers either way.
Access
Getting stone into a Old Ford kitchen
Streets on the park side are broken up by modal filters and planters, so the van has to approach from the correct end or it will be reversing a long way back out. Several canal-facing properties have no vehicle frontage at all and the only route in is a towpath walk with a bridge ramp.
Tell us what the approach looks like when you book the template and it gets built into the day rather than discovered on it. Where the route is genuinely tight, it changes how the pieces are cut, which is a fabrication decision rather than a delivery one.
3–7 working days
From template to fitted, working days from template. The same on this patch as every other.
Essex patch
Old Ford is worked from our Essex run, covering Essex & East London.
We come to you
Templated in your kitchen, cut in our workshop, fitted by our own installers.
Access told straight
If the route forces an extra join, you hear that at quote stage, not on the day.
Questions
Worktop installation in Old Ford
If yours is not here, ring and ask. You get a straight answer rather than a call-back from a salesperson.
Do you cover Old Ford?
Yes. Old Ford is on the patch, and the postcodes we work here are E3. It is run from the Essex side, covering Essex & East London. Where the van can pull up level with the gate the pieces are handled the fewest times, which is what actually protects them. The fitting slot is set around it, which is why we ask about it when the date is booked and not before we leave the yard. We would rather ask than guess. We template in your kitchen and fit in your kitchen, so there is nothing to visit and nothing to collect.
Does the housing in Old Ford change how worktop installation works?
The party wall is the straightest surface in the house and everything else has moved away from it over a century. We measure the front door, the hall width and the turn into the kitchen before anything comes off the van, because a 3m piece has to swing through that corner on edge and stone does not bend to help you. The slow parts are slow for a reason. Rear extensions here are usually finished before the kitchen goes in, so the template date slips with the plasterer and the levels across a 6m room need checking properly.
How does the stone actually reach a kitchen in Old Ford?
Streets on the park side are broken up by modal filters and planters, so the van has to approach from the correct end or it will be reversing a long way back out. Several canal-facing properties have no vehicle frontage at all and the only route in is a towpath walk with a bridge ramp. Door width, hall width and the diagonal at the turn are three separate measurements, and it is the diagonal that catches people out. We walk the route with a tape and protect it end to end before the first piece is lifted. None of it is worked out on the doorstep. Tell us what the approach looks like when you book the template and it gets built into the day rather than discovered on it.
Is worktop installation common in Old Ford?
It is one of the three we do most here, behind worktop templating. Same template visit, same workshop, same installers either way. The junction between the original room and the extension is the point to watch, because the two floors rarely sit at the same height. The fitting day is scheduled to suit that rather than to suit the diary. One visit, done properly. The junction between the original room and the extension is the point to watch, because the two floors rarely sit at the same height. Where the window is fixed there is no second day to fall back on, so the prep list matters more than usual. The prep list is not optional.
Why do two Old Ford kitchens the same size price differently?
Seating overhangs past roughly 300mm will not carry on the carcass alone, so flat steel bar or a plywood substrate has to be built into the units first. On the day that means dry-laying the whole layout first and only then pulling and bonding the joins. Nothing is bonded until the whole run sits flat. Material is £110-£550 per square metre supply only, and templating, fabrication and fitting are quoted on their own lines.
What has to be finished before you can template?
A low sill over the sink run is what decides between an upstand and stone dying into a window board, and there is often less clearance than an upstand is tall. On the day it means dry-laying, marking, and cutting the scribe on site before anything is bonded. It is the slow part of the day and it should be. Clear the full hall and stairs route of furniture, bikes, coats and stair-gates, and keep the front door propped and unobstructed for the carry. A street with houses in single occupation next to the same houses cut into flats produces two completely different jobs from the same elevation. Floors and units are protected before anything comes through the door, communal or otherwise. Access for the whole slot, or a different day.
Related
More around Old Ford
Other work we do in Old Ford
Next step
Worktop installation in Old Ford, priced properly
Plans, a sketch or photographs with rough run lengths is enough to start. You get an itemised written quote and the template dates we can offer on this patch.
25-year material warranty and a 5-year workmanship guarantee, both stated on your quote.