Kitchen worktops in Roundshaw

Yes. Built on the old Croydon Airport land and largely rebuilt since, so the housing is modern-estate standard: compact kitchens of around 2.7m in an open-plan or semi-open layout, with a washing machine in the run because there is no utility. On a street with no restrictions the constraint is other residents rather than a warden, so it is worth putting a cone or a car out early. 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.

1970s estate housing, 1990s-2000s rebuilt estate housing, low-rise flats and housing association terrace. An ex-council house is solidly built to a standard plan, with the kitchen at the rear and a back door next to it. Dense concrete takes adhesive better than fixings, which actually suits a large bonded panel. Cut from the same slab run as the tops.

Parking courts and pedestrian decks rather than roadside frontage, controlled bollards on some routes, and communal entrances to the flatted blocks with an intercom. Sign-in at the gate, a permit on the dash and a named contact are usually wanted before anything comes off the van. Where the route is tight we break a long splashback at a natural vertical joint instead of forcing one panel through. It decides panel size before anything is cut.

Worktop replacement, worktop installation and worktop splashbacks & upstands, in that order. Rear and side-return extensions are where the islands appear, and an island is the piece that decides whether one slab does the kitchen or two. 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. With the washing machine in the worktop run the cut-outs sit close together, so the piece needs a support rail across the appliance gap or it will flex when the machine spins.

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. A boxed soil stack or service riser in the corner of a run eats into the worktop depth and has to be scribed around rather than cut square. 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.

Managed stock usually comes with its own rules about working hours, waste, and who is allowed on site. The fitting day is arranged with whoever can actually give us access for the whole slot. Access for the whole slot, or a different day. 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.