Worktop replacement in Tottenham Hale

Yes. Tottenham Hale is on the patch, and the postcodes we work here are N17. It is worked on our north London run, along with the rest of Haringey. Where the bay sits some distance from the core, the carry across the car park is the longest leg of the day and gets boarded and lit. A replacement is a two-way job, with old tops going out and new stone coming in, so the van needs to stay put across the whole day. The waste run is planned, not improvised. We template in your kitchen and fit in your kitchen, so there is nothing to visit and nothing to collect.

A period cottage has low ceilings, thick rubble-filled walls and a floor that has never been level, and the worktop is the thing that has to look straight. 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. Units kept, surface changed, one day. Peninsula overhangs in these flats are supported on a single 18mm gable - fit brackets or a supporting frame rather than trusting the developer carcass with a 300mm cantilever.

Blocks are managed - book the loading bay, book the goods lift, sign in, protect the lift car and corridors, and finish within an agreed window. Several buildings restrict trade access to weekdays only. Piece length is set by the internal diagonal of the lift car, not by the length of the slab. Worth remembering that the old tops have to come out the way the new ones come in, and a laminate run is easier to remove in one length than to carry in one. The strip-out is planned around it.

Yes. On the research for this patch it is the first of the three jobs listed, ahead of worktop installation and worktop templating. Extension kitchens are usually specified long before they are buildable, so the run lengths on the drawing and the run lengths in the room are different numbers. Old tops out in the morning, new stone down and sealed the same afternoon. A day, not a project. 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. The units stay and only the surface changes, so the whole job is one day rather than a kitchen refit. A day, not a project.

The catch with a galley is that both runs are seen end-on from the doorway, so any difference in overhang between the two reads immediately. Going from a 38mm laminate to 20mm or 30mm stone drops the surface, which shows against tiles, a window board and any freestanding appliance. Carcasses have to be sound first. Material is £110-£550 per square metre supply only, and templating, fabrication and fitting are quoted on their own lines.

Taped internal angles in plasterboard belly at the corner, so the run picks up a few millimetres over the last 300mm and a plan-angle mitre will not close. The old top has been hiding it, so the first honest look at it happens when the laminate comes off. Found at template, not on fit day. Have a fitter or joiner fix and level the island units beforehand, and get the sink, taps, hob and any range on site before templating so we cut to the actual appliances. An owner living in the house makes the decisions and lives with them, so the specification tends to go towards the material rather than towards the lowest total. A plumber disconnects before we arrive and reconnects after we leave, and that is worth booking early. Units kept, surface changed.