Kitchen worktops in Victoria

Yes. A lot of the newer stock is converted or newly built above commercial space, which gives compact open-plan kitchens with a 2.6m run and a small peninsula, ventilated by a recirculating extract because there is no external wall. Older mansion flats behind the station have separate kitchens with a single long run. 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. Old tops out and new stone in, both through the same gap.

mansion block, office-to-residential conversion and 2010s mixed-use tower. The lift is a small passenger car with a gate, and the alternative is a stone stair winding round the shaft with a turn at every half-landing. Anything that has to stay accessible - stopcocks, gas meters, riser access panels - is marked on the template so the stone is cut around it instead of over it. Two to three hours, once the units are in.

Victoria Street and Vauxhall Bridge Road are red routes with no loading in the day, so deliveries are early morning into a booked bay. New buildings have a service yard with a height barrier and a dedicated goods lift that has to be reserved days ahead. Sign-in at the gate, a permit on the dash and a named contact are usually wanted before anything comes off the van. A template taken without walking the route produces a drawing that cuts beautifully and will not go in. That is part of what the visit is for.

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. Old tops out in the morning, new stone down and sealed the same afternoon. A plumber either side of us. Recirculating extraction means the hob often sits under a wall unit rather than an external wall - confirm the hob cut-out clearances to the units above, they are tighter than a standard layout.

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. Join positions and vein direction are marked on the template drawing before it leaves site. One datum for the whole room. A notch around a boxed stack is machined with a radius at the internal corner, because a square inside corner there is exactly where a top will crack. We would rather find it at template than on the morning, which is why the templater looks behind the units. 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.

Where ownership is split across a building, the common parts belong to someone else and the carry route is negotiated rather than assumed. If the carcasses are tired the honest answer is that stone will find that out, and it is better said before than after. Sound carcasses are the condition. 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.