Services
Reception counters and desks
Counter tops fabricated to a joiner's carcass, including the lower transaction shelf and the knee recess that has to go with it. Templated once the carcass is in.
- 5.0from 26 Google reviews
- 25-year material · 5-year workmanship
- Fitted 5-10 working days from template
Two heights, and the lower one is not a design choice
A reception counter is usually two surfaces at two levels joined by a return. The upper one is where people stand. The lower one exists so that somebody using a wheelchair can be served at it, and that is not a preference to be traded away when the drawing gets tight.
A counter you are served at needs clear knee space beneath it, which means no leg, no gable and no bracket anywhere in the zone a person has to pull up to. That single requirement decides where the carcass can be supported, which decides where the stone can be joined, which is why it comes up long before colour does.
The rest is sequencing. We template off the built carcass rather than off the drawing, because a counter is a fabricated object that moves between the drawing and the site in exactly the way a wall does.
At a glance
- Templated
- After the carcass is built, fixed and level
- Two levels
- Standing height, plus a lower served-at shelf
- Knee space
- Kept clear, so support moves outboard of it
- Apertures
- Cables and card readers cut in the workshop
Fitted 5–10 working days from template. Deposit at template, balance before installation.
What is involved
Sequenced around the joiner, not ahead of them
The order is fixed. Everything on this list depends on the one before it being finished.
- 01Before fabrication
Read the drawing with the joiner
Where the counter is supported, where the knee recess sits and where a join can land are one question rather than three. Answering it on paper with the joiner costs an hour. Answering it on site costs a piece of stone.
- 02Prerequisite
Carcass built, fixed and level
We template a counter that is standing where it will live. A carcass still on trestles, or fixed but not yet levelled, produces a drawing that fits nothing.
- 03On site
Template both levels and the return
The upper counter, the lower shelf and the return between them are plotted in one visit, along with every aperture: cable grommets, card readers and anything else that comes up through the surface.
- 04Workshop
Cut, mitre and dry-assemble
Long runs are joined, and the join is placed over a support and away from the line the eye follows along the counter. Pieces are dry-assembled in the workshop before anything is loaded onto a van.
- 05Fitting day
Fit, join and seal
Set down, levelled, joins pulled tight and polished flush, apertures checked against the actual fittings, then sealed and cleaned down before we leave.
The parts that decide it
What a counter has to accommodate
A reception counter carries more competing requirements at once than anything else in a building.
Knee space beats structure
The lower shelf has to be clear underneath for somebody to pull up to it. Whatever holds the counter up therefore moves outboard of that zone, and that decision belongs to the joiner before the carcass is built rather than to us afterwards.
Where the join goes is a design decision
Slabs are a fixed size, so a long counter has a join in it. It goes over a support, and it goes where the eye is not travelling: at a change of direction, or in line with a return, rather than in the middle of a clear front face.
Apertures are workshop work
Cable grommets, card reader cut-outs, monitor arm holes and anything else that breaks the surface are machined from the template. Cutting them on site means cutting them in a finished reception, which nobody wants and which puts the piece at risk.
Curves and returns need the machine
Curved fronts are common on reception counters and they are cut on the CNC from the template. A curve that is fair in places is very obvious on a long horizontal surface that people walk past every day.
It is the first surface anyone touches
A reception counter gets leant on, written on, wheeled into and cleaned every night. The front edge takes that wear, so a profile with a proper radius outlasts a sharp arris, and the material matters more than it does in a room people pass through once.
A commercial fit is a different conversation
Our 25-year material warranty is written for residential installations, so a counter in a building open to the public sits outside it. We will tell you what applies before you order rather than after.
Why we will not template off the drawing
It is the request we get most on counter jobs, because the joinery and the stone are usually being chased by the same deadline. The answer is still no. A carcass is fabricated somewhere else and installed against real walls on a real floor, and it lands a few millimetres away from the drawing in ways nobody can predict. Stone is cut once. Template a counter off paper and you find out on fitting day, in a finished reception, with no material left to give. Building the carcass a week earlier is cheaper than that every single time.
Before we template
What has to be true, and what is not ours
Most of the left-hand column belongs to the joiner, which is why the two trades should be talking before either of them quotes.
Have this in place
- The carcass built, fixed down and levelled, in its final position
- The knee recess set out, with nothing structural inside it
- Final positions for cable grommets, card readers and monitor arms
- Any under-counter units, drawers or safes fitted or fully dimensioned
- Walls and floor at their finished level, because we scribe and level to what is there
- A route in and a lift if there is one: counter pieces are long and heavy
What we do not do
- Build, supply or alter the counter carcass
- Advise whether a counter meets an access standard: that belongs to your designer
- Cut new apertures into a counter once it is fitted
- Run cables, fit sockets or install card readers
- Template from a drawing before the carcass exists
Questions
Reception counters: the questions we get asked
If yours is not here, ring and ask. You will get a straight answer rather than a call-back from a salesperson.
How high should the lower part of a reception counter be?
That is set by the access requirements your project is designed to, and it belongs to your architect or designer rather than to us. What we can tell you is what it does to the stone: the lower shelf needs clear knee space beneath it, so any support has to sit outside that zone, and that changes where the counter can be joined.
Can you template before the joinery is installed?
No. A carcass is built elsewhere and installed against real walls, and it never lands exactly on the drawing. Stone is cut once, so a counter templated off paper is found to be wrong in a finished reception. We would rather wait the week.
Can you do a curved reception counter?
Yes. Curves are cut on the CNC from the template, which is the only way a long curve stays true. A curved front also changes how the piece is joined, because a join across a curve is far more visible than one on a straight run, so it gets planned early.
Will there be a visible join in a long counter?
In anything longer than a slab, yes. Slabs come in fixed sizes and there is no way around that. What we control is where it goes: over a support, and at a point the eye is not following, such as a change of direction. You see the proposed positions at template and sign them off.
Where this happens
Reception counters in your part of London
Twelve neighbourhoods whose housing stock throws up this job most often. Each page covers what reception counters actually involves in that stock: the access, the era of the building and what that does to the work.
These twelve are a sample, not a coverage boundary. We work in 723 Greater London neighbourhoods and out into Surrey, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Essex.
Reviews
5.0 from 26 Google reviews
Every one of these is on our Google profile under the reviewer’s own name. Nothing here is written by us, and the link goes straight to the source.
We had a fantastic experience with Worktop WorX from start to finish. The team was professional, friendly, and delivered excellent workmanship. We chose the beautiful Capri White worktop, and it has completely transformed our kitchen with its elegant, high-end look.
Noni
Google review · Capri White
Karem did a fantastic job at installing my antique bronze mirror for my coffee/drinks unit. He was really professional and his communication throughout was clear.
Kals
Google review
We have a new kitchen. Our builder recommended Worktop Worx for our worktop. Now we have an amazing worktop very good price too. Really recommend. They were really good to us. 10/10
j thomas
Google review
Next
What usually happens either side of this
Every job runs through more than one of these. Follow the thread rather than guessing which order things go in.
Next step
Send us the kitchen and we will price it properly
Plans, a sketch or photographs with rough run lengths is enough to start. Nothing is payable until we template.