Kitchen worktops in West Kensington

Yes. The mansion blocks on the avenues off North End Road have deep plans with the kitchen at the back off a long internal corridor, taking 2.6-3.2m of run and a separate larder cupboard that often becomes a fridge housing. Corridor width is the defining feature - many are only 900-1000mm with a right-angle at the kitchen door, so nothing over about 2.6m gets round without going on edge and tilted. Streets near a ground or a venue have restrictions that come and go with the fixture list rather than with the time of day. 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.

red-brick mansion block, Victorian terrace subdivided into flats, postwar estate block and flat over North End Road shop. 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. Boxing depth is taken at worktop height at several points, because measuring it low down is why a top will not sit back. Two to three hours, once the units are in.

Mansion blocks here mostly have no lift or a small original one, communal stone stairs with iron balustrades, and a caretaker rather than a full-time porter, so access is arranged flat by flat. North End Road has a street market on trading days that removes kerbside access entirely, so pick a non-market day for delivery if you can. Communal stairs get boarded and the handrail padded, and we walk the route with a tape before the first piece leaves the van. A template taken without walking the route produces a drawing that cuts beautifully and will not go in. It goes on the drawing with the run dimensions.

Worktop replacement, worktop templating and worktop installation, 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 carcasses have to be sound, because stone is several times the weight of what is coming off. Sound carcasses or it does not go ahead. The internal corridor turn beats the front door every time in these blocks - template the corridor, then design the joints.

Galley runs are usually short enough to come out of a single slab, so the material band you choose does more to the total than the room shape does. On the day that means dry-laying the whole layout first and only then pulling and bonding the joins. Dry-lay first, always. A boxed soil stack or service riser in the corner of a run eats into the worktop depth and has to be scribed around rather than cut square. We would rather find it at template than on the morning, which is why the templater looks behind the units. Found at template, not on fit day. 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.

Mixed ownership means the decision-maker is not always the person who lets us in, so it is worth being clear early about who signs the quote off. 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.