Blog
The parts of buying a worktop nobody writes down
What it costs, what fails and who pays when it does, how a slab gets up a Victorian staircase, and what has to be true before anyone can template. Written by the team that does both visits.
Start here
Seven questions, seven places to start
Each of these answers the broad version of a question and then points you at the specific one you actually have.
What a stone worktop really costs in London
Nobody can price your kitchen from a postcode. But the arithmetic is not hidden, and once you know your square metres and which extras are charged separately, you can check any quote you are given.
Something has gone wrong with your stone worktop: what failed, and who pays
Three parties can be liable when a stone worktop fails: the manufacturer, the fabricator-fitter, and you. Almost every real failure lands on the middle one. Here is how to tell which.
Stone versus everything else: an honest map of what we fit and what we refuse to
Every worktop comparison page on the internet is written by someone who sells the winner. This one names the four situations where a material we do not fit beats the ones we do.
Fitting stone in a London home: access, consent and the six constraints that decide your date
A worktop is the same object everywhere. What changes in London is everything around it. Which of the six access and consent constraints apply to your property, and the order to deal with them in.
The order a kitchen actually goes in, and the two days we are in it
Published kitchen timelines put "fit worktops" on one line. In stone it is two separate visits days apart, and everything either side of them depends on that.
Specifying a worktop that still looks right in year five
Almost nobody regrets the material. They regret the pairing, the finish or the light. Here are the five decisions that decide whether a kitchen still reads well in five years, and where each one is answered properly.
How to buy a worktop without being stung: the route from first quote to signed-off installation
A worktop is bought from a trade with no licensing regime and no compulsory registration. Here are the six points in the process where the law is actually on your side, in the order you will meet them.
Everything else
Latest articles
A new one every Tuesday.
7 published so far, on Design and specification, Your rights and choosing a fitter, Planning and process, London properties and more.
- Design and specification10 min
Specifying a worktop that still looks right in year five
Almost nobody regrets the material. They regret the pairing, the finish or the light. Here are the five decisions that decide whether a kitchen still reads well in five years, and where each one is answered properly.
- Your rights and choosing a fitter10 min
How to buy a worktop without being stung: the route from first quote to signed-off installation
A worktop is bought from a trade with no licensing regime and no compulsory registration. Here are the six points in the process where the law is actually on your side, in the order you will meet them.
- Planning and process10 min
The order a kitchen actually goes in, and the two days we are in it
Published kitchen timelines put "fit worktops" on one line. In stone it is two separate visits days apart, and everything either side of them depends on that.
- London properties10 min
Fitting stone in a London home: access, consent and the six constraints that decide your date
A worktop is the same object everywhere. What changes in London is everything around it. Which of the six access and consent constraints apply to your property, and the order to deal with them in.
- Comparing materials10 min
Stone versus everything else: an honest map of what we fit and what we refuse to
Every worktop comparison page on the internet is written by someone who sells the winner. This one names the four situations where a material we do not fit beats the ones we do.
- When something goes wrong10 min
Something has gone wrong with your stone worktop: what failed, and who pays
Three parties can be liable when a stone worktop fails: the manufacturer, the fabricator-fitter, and you. Almost every real failure lands on the middle one. Here is how to tell which.
- Cost and value9 min
What a stone worktop really costs in London
Nobody can price your kitchen from a postcode. But the arithmetic is not hidden, and once you know your square metres and which extras are charged separately, you can check any quote you are given.
Get it priced
Plans, a sketch, or photographs with rough run lengths
That is enough to give you a number. Nothing is payable until we template, and the template is what the price is finally built on.