Kitchen worktops in Rainham

Yes. Three layers in one place: a small historic village centre where kitchens are constrained and period-sensitive, inter-war and post-war family housing where the job is opening the kitchen into the dining room, and new riverside developments where compact open-plan kitchens get an early upgrade from the developer's laminate. Run lengths in the new-build flats are short, typically 2.4-3m in an L. A drive that shelves towards the house needs the van chocked and the trolley controlled, since a loaded A-frame gathers speed quickly on a slope. A van that has to move mid-fit costs the best part of an hour and takes a man off the tools to do it. The day is built around that window.

Georgian and older village core, 1930s semi, post-war council house and 2010s-2020s riverside new-build. Doorways are low and narrow, which is a genuine constraint on piece length before anything else is considered. These are the multi-piece jobs: long runs, a large island and often a range cooker that cannot be moved, so the stone is templated in several pieces and how the vein runs across the joins matters. Sound carcasses are the one condition.

The older village streets are narrow with limited parking, while the new developments have allocated bays, controlled access and sometimes barriers that need a code arranged in advance. The barrier, the entry code and the estate rules decide when a van can get near the door, and none of that is negotiable on the day. We plan the strip-out and the carry as one movement so the kitchen is only out of use for a single day. That is agreed before a plumber is booked.

Worktop replacement, worktop templating and worktop installation, in that order. A new extension slab is not automatically level, and that wants checking before templating rather than after the stone is cut. The carcasses have to be sound, because stone is several times the weight of what is coming off. Sound carcasses or it does not go ahead. On the new riverside schemes the units are already fitted and level, so a replacement top is quick — the delay is always getting through the estate access control.

An L can be mitred at the corner for a continuous look or butt-jointed over the gable, and the two are different money and different risk. Joins are pulled with suction clamps and finished flush, then colour-matched, which is the last thing done rather than the first. The join is the last thing finished. A chimney breast left in place splits a wall into two alcoves, and the two are rarely the same width and rarely parallel to each other. This is the commonest reason a replacement turns out to need more than a straight swap. 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.

The same building type can arrive as a careful one-off kitchen or as a fast turnaround, and the honest answer is that they are priced differently. If the carcasses are tired the honest answer is that stone will find that out, and it is better said before than after. Plumber either side of us. 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.