Kitchen worktops in Tolworth

Yes. Straightforward interwar semis with a 3m rear kitchen, plus a large stock of 1960s flats where the kitchen is a closed 2m by 2.4m room with a boxed stack - most of the work is renewing tops and upstands around existing units and a wall-hung boiler. Gravel and block paving both look like hard standing and neither takes a loaded trolley, so the run from tail lift to door gets boarded. Waste is the part people forget: the old laminate or tired granite has to be walked back to the van and it does not get lighter. It is a full day at the kerb, not a delivery.

1930s semi, postwar terrace, 1960s tower and low-rise flats and modern conversion. The window sits in the middle of the run over the sink, and its board and cill set the limit on how tall an upstand can be. That step is exactly what an upstand covers and what a full-height panel exposes, so unless the wall is skimmed level end to end, a 100mm band is the reliable choice. Cut from the same slab run as the tops.

The A3 and the Tolworth junction split the area, so timing the crossing matters; the houses have driveways, but the tower and low-rise blocks depend on a single lift and a shared landing. A car that takes 2.4m on the diagonal will not take a three-metre worktop however it is stood, and there is no trimming it on the landing. It is usually the full-height panels rather than the tops that will not make the turn, and that only shows up when they arrive. Joint positions follow from that.

Worktop replacement, worktop installation and worktop splashbacks & upstands, in that order. Party-wall and lease conditions in a converted building set when noisy work can happen, which shapes the fitting day more than the kitchen does. The fitting day is scheduled to suit that rather than to suit the diary. Sealed before we leave. In the flats the boiler and meter cupboard sit right in the middle of the run, so the top gets built in two pieces around a cupboard that cannot move.

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. Height change is checked before we cut. Anything that has to stay accessible, a stopcock, a gas meter, a riser panel, is marked on the template so the stone is cut around it instead of over it. A tall panel that fits at the worktop will stand off the wall at the top unless the wall is dubbed out or the panel is scribed. Scribed, dubbed out, or set proud. Pick one. 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 householder is normally on site at template, and that is the right time to settle sink position, tap centres and overhang rather than agree them by email. The fitting day is arranged with whoever can actually give us access for the whole slot. One visit, our own installers. 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.