Kitchen worktops in Vauxhall

Yes. The riverside towers have compact open-plan kitchens where an appliance wall and a 2.4m peninsula do everything, and upgrades are top-only swaps within the existing carcasses. The older terraces behind the gyratory have small rear kitchens with room for a single run and a fridge alcove. The realistic answer on a main road is an early slot, a spotter on the van and pieces staged in one movement rather than several trips. We aim for the first slot of the day where parking is tight, because that is when the street is emptiest. It is why the arrival time is what it is.

Riverside high-rise, Victorian terrace, Postwar estate block and 2010s apartment. Half-landings mean the back of the house sits at a slightly different level from the front, and a knocked-through kitchen crosses that line. We measure the front door, the hall width and the turn into the kitchen before anything comes off the van, because a 3m piece has to swing through that corner on edge and stone does not bend to help you. The slow parts are slow for a reason.

The one-way system and the bus interchange leave almost nowhere to stop, and every tower requires a booked dock slot with a lift induction. Older estate blocks have entryphone access and stairs with a tight quarter turn. 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. The fitting day is planned backwards from that point, before anything comes off the van. None of it is worked out on the doorstep.

Worktop replacement, worktop installation and worktop templating, in that order. The junction between the original room and the extension is the point to watch, because the two floors rarely sit at the same height. Where the window is fixed there is no second day to fall back on, so the prep list matters more than usual. Sealed before we leave. Tower kitchens are built to millimetre tolerances against a plasterboard reveal, so template off the finished wall face rather than the carcass line or the top will foul the reveal.

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. Old laminate has often been holding a run square for years, and taking it off shows what the units were really doing. Height change is checked before we cut. 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. The laser plots it as it is, at the exact height the worktop will sit, and the drawing carries that through. Plotted, not estimated. 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. A half-day of access is not a fitting day, and it is better to say so at booking than to find out at eleven. 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.