The questions we get asked every week

Quartz is the default for a busy family kitchen: it is engineered, non-porous, needs no sealing and looks the same slab to slab, so a big run stays consistent. Granite is quarried natural stone: every slab is different, heat off the hob is a non-issue, and it needs sealing periodically. Sintered surfaces like Dekton are the most durable of the three: UV stable so they do not fade in a room with a rooflight, highly scratch and heat resistant, and thin enough to take a fine mitred edge. Tell us how the kitchen gets used and we will narrow it to two, then send samples.

For quartz and sintered surfaces, close enough to rely on. They are manufactured to a consistent pattern, so a sample represents the slab well. For granite, treat the sample as an indication of colour and character rather than an exact match: it is quarried stone, and veining, movement and background tone vary between slabs and between batches. Always look at a sample in your own kitchen, in daylight and under your downlights, because showroom lighting flatters everything.

Most of what we fit is 20mm or 30mm. Where you want a chunkier look, we mitre the edge (a 20mm slab folded down to give a 40mm or 60mm apron), which reads as solid stone without the weight or cost of a genuinely thick slab. The right answer depends on the material, the span, whether there is an overhang, and what your units will carry. We work it out at quote stage rather than leaving you to guess.

Yes, and it is worth doing. We cut them from the same batch as your worktop so the colour and the sparkle match under your lights, which is exactly what does not happen if the splashback is ordered separately weeks later. Upstands are usually 100mm; a full-height splashback runs to the underside of the wall units and needs to be templated at the same time as the tops.

181 across the three families: 71 quartz, 45 granite and 65 Dekton and sintered. You can filter the whole library by material and colour tone, and order free samples of the ones you are genuinely considering rather than working from a screen.

From template to fitted worktop is 3–7 working days from template. Most of the trade runs 7–10. What sits in front of that is up to you and your kitchen fitter: choosing a colour, approving a quote and getting the units in and level. We can quote from plans on day one, but the clock that matters only starts when we can template.

Yes. Send the plans, a sketch with rough measurements, or a few photos with a tape measure in shot, and we come back with an indicative range so you know the ballpark before anyone visits. It becomes a fixed written price once the design is settled, and the final drawing comes from the template, not from the plan.

Gladly, and it usually saves everyone a week. Give us their number and we will agree the template date with them so we are not turning up to a kitchen that is half-installed. The two things they need to hand us are units fitted and level, and the sink and hob on site.

Tell us as early as you can. Changes before templating are usually straightforward. Changes after templating mean a re-measure and, depending on what has moved, a re-cut. We always price the change and get your approval before anything is cut. Nothing appears on the final invoice that was not agreed with you first.

All base units fitted, fixed in position and levelled. That is the big one, and it is what most delays come down to. Nothing balanced on packers or sitting loose. Any end panels, plinths or filler pieces that affect the outline should be on. The room needs to be clear enough to get a template frame across every run, and we need access to power.

Yes, physically present, not just ordered. We template around the actual appliance rather than a spec sheet, because published cut-out dimensions and the item in the box do not always agree. A Belfast or butler sink is the strict one: it must be installed and in its final position before we template, because the worktop is cut around it and the height it sits at changes the drawing.

Two to three hours for a typical kitchen. We digitally template every run, record wall run-out, unit heights and appliance positions, agree with you where the joins will fall and where the tap holes and drainer grooves go, and confirm the edge profile. You should be there for at least part of it. The decisions made in that visit are the ones you live with.

No, and any company that offers to is taking a risk with your money rather than theirs. Walls are never square and floors are never flat. A template taken off a drawing or off unfitted units produces a worktop that has to be forced into place, and you see it in the gaps at the wall and in the join lines.

Most kitchens are a single day. Replacement jobs where the old tops come off first are also usually a day: old tops out in the morning, new stone down and sealed by the afternoon. Larger kitchens, full-height splashbacks or an island with a waterfall end can run longer, and we tell you which one yours is when we quote, not on the day.

A visible join is typically 2–3mm. You will be able to find it if you look; it should not be the first thing you see when you walk in. Joins are placed at the template visit and agreed with you. We put them where the eye does not travel, such as behind a hob or at a corner, rather than where the slab happens to run out. On a run that genuinely cannot be done in one piece, we tell you at quote stage.

Some. Cutting is done in the workshop, so what happens in your kitchen is fitting, scribing and finishing rather than fabrication. Any on-site work is done with extraction and water where needed. We sheet up, and we clean down before we leave. The kitchen should be usable when we go, not a job for you.

Almost. Silicone and adhesive need time to set before the worktop gets wet or takes weight, and how long depends on the product and the room. We will tell you on the day exactly what to leave alone and for how long before you run water into the sink or load the top up. It is a short wait and it is the difference between a seal that lasts and one that lifts.

Material starts at £110/m² supply and runs to £550/m² supply at the top of the range. That is the stone only. It does not include fabrication, cut-outs, edge work, delivery or installation, and anyone quoting you a single per-metre figure for a finished kitchen is leaving something out. Send plans or rough measurements and we will give you an indicative range the same day, then a fixed itemised price once the design is settled.

Six things, in roughly this order: the square metreage, the price band of the material, the number of cut-outs (sink, hob, taps, sockets, drainer grooves), the edge work (a mitred 60mm apron is far more labour than a 20mm pencil round), the number of joins, and access. A first-floor flat with no lift is a different job from a ground-floor kitchen with a driveway. Our guide on what affects worktop cost walks through all six.

A deposit is taken at the template stage, and the balance is due before installation. There is nothing to pay to get a quote or to have samples sent out. The figure you approve on the written quote is the figure you pay. Changes are priced and agreed with you before any work is done.

It is fixed against the drawing it was based on. If the template reveals something the plan did not show (a run that is longer than stated, an extra cut-out, an appliance that has changed), we tell you what it does to the price and get your approval before cutting. What we do not do is add items at the end and call them extras.

Quartz and sintered surfaces like Dekton are non-porous and never need sealing. Granite is natural stone and does need sealing periodically. How often depends on the stone and how hard the kitchen is worked. We tell you which camp your surface is in and how to test it, and it takes about twenty minutes to do.

Warm water, a soft cloth and a bit of washing-up liquid does almost everything. Wipe spills rather than leaving them, particularly wine, oil, turmeric and anything acidic. What to avoid on any stone surface: bleach left to sit, oven cleaner, paint stripper, drain unblocker and abrasive scouring pads. Use a trivet under hot pans on quartz, because the resin in it will scorch.

Ring us and send a photo. Chips in quartz and granite can very often be filled and polished so they are hard to find, and a cracked section can sometimes be replaced without touching the rest of the kitchen. Impact damage is not covered by either guarantee, but we would rather repair it properly than have you live with it. You will get a straight answer on whether it is worth doing.

Two separate ones, and they cover different things. A 25-year material warranty covering the stone against manufacturing defects, for residential installations in england. And a 5-year workmanship guarantee covering our fabrication and installation (joins, cut-outs, edges and how it is fixed down) across England, Scotland and Wales. Both are stated on your quote, and the exclusions are published in full on our guarantees page.