Hi Mandy, Most modern kitchen carcasses are strong enough to withstand the weight of natural granite or quartz. If there is doubt however, the stone installers should be able to suggest support (brackets etc). Both granite and quartz lend themselves perfectly to under mounted with/ without grooves or top mounted sinks. The one piece of advice we give to all customers is to make sure that you see your slabs before you place the order, especially with natural material as they can vary dramatically in colour texture and tone. I've attached a link to our stone selection for you to have a browse through, however, if there is anything else that we can help with please don't hesitate to let us know. http://bristolmarbleandgranite.com/stone-range/

Hi Cloughie, A number of my clients have wood with wood and it works well IF you choose the right woods. Since you have your floorboards in situ already I assume their colour is fixed. Whatever it is choose a work surface that contrasts with them, not blends with them. You don't want your work surface to look like your floor. If you have an oak floor choose a really dark work surface or a really light one. I think you will understand my meaning. So long as it's completely different you shouldn't need to worry about clashing. Best of luck. Yasmin

Hi Sarah, Hope you don't mind me getting in touch! My name is Lucy and I'm working on a new TV series about people renovating their kitchens. We would love to hear from people in the UK who have ordered/near ordering their kitchen. The show is documentary style, with a well-known presenter who has over 20 years experience in the building trade. I wonder if this may be of interest to you? If so, please pop me an email with a contact number, budget, and brief description of timescale to Lucy.Cooper@PiProductions.tv. Kind regards, Lucy

A TH kitchen is the dream!! Far from the B&Q stuff we are looking at now. Saying that, I think when we go for it properly it’ll be DIY kitchens. We saw some amazing cabinetry and so many practical options. Yes it is pretty dark so maybe white cabinets/marble style worktop and green tiles might brighten it up. Even changing the sink to white too! We are actually going to get a whole new island-including carcass. The one we have now is so impractical with just two shelves. We will make it a little bigger and have drawers so when we remove the high wall units, we have somewhere to put those bits and easy to access. The whole way the kitchen has been done is really irritating...only 3 drawers in the whole room! I’m only 5ft too so it’s a struggle reaching anything in those high cabinets!