South Croydon worktops
The kitchens we meet in South Croydon
There is a reason we ask about the building before we talk about stone, and stone worktop supply and fitting in South Croydon is a good illustration of it. Along the Brighton Road corridor the large villas are mostly flats with kitchens fitted into former reception rooms, so runs are long but interrupted by chimney breasts and cornice returns. Up the hill the 1930s semis are conventional family kitchens with rear extensions. We measure the kitchen you have, not the kitchen the plans said you would have. Those two part company often.
The old scullery is a step down from the main room and the pantry beyond it is a step down again. Which stone belongs on top of all that is a separate question from the building itself, and it is the one with a figure attached, because supply alone runs from £110 to £550 per square metre before a single cut has been made. The slab is the decision; the room only sets how much of it you need.
A large villa has wide doors, a generous hall and somewhere to park, so the joins that go in are chosen for layout rather than forced by the route. There is usually an island, and the island is the piece everybody looks at, so it takes the liveliest part of the stone and the perimeter is allowed to stay quiet. The island earns the liveliest part of the stone.
What the kitchens here mostly sit in is Victorian villa, Edwardian terrace, villa converted to flats and 1930s semi. They fail in different places, which is why the survey looks at different things.
