Urgently need beeck block laminate worktop!

[BoffinMum]

I am helping an elderly relative renew their decrepit 1950s kitchen by recycling an old one someone else has finished with. I have booked a van to get it across to their house, and booked a fitter for Monday and Tuesday 5/6 December, and this all links up to DH and his cousin pulling out the old kitchen and redecorating during the weekend just prior to this, as well as the gas fitter booked to remove the old death trap oven and the spark coming in to wire in the new safe electric oven and cooker hood.

Only I measured the worktop the other day from the kitchen we are recycling and we don't have enough in the correct size pieces to make the plan work, and we can't join bits of pieces together in the right way to achieve this. So it means buying some new worktop. Any kind of beech block laminate will match.

We drove the kids around for two soul-destroying hours earlier today and went to B and Q, Homebase and local builder's merchant, but everyone seems to be sold out of laminate beech block worktop, despite the fact that on the Homebase and B and Q websites it says they have it in stock.

Online stores seem to say that either they will take more than a week to deliver, or cost too much, or have little things in the terms and conditions that imply that an able bodied person is required to assist the driver and so on (I am disabled).

I am hoping the power of MN will come in and solve the problem. Does anybody know anywhere that will deliver me 2 x 3m pieces of beech block laminate worktop by Friday evening ready for this project?

Do you know anybody with a Howden's account? Or Wickes maybe (according to their website they do next day delivery? Or without being daft, ebay, what part of the country are you in?

WT is heavy though, can you find someone to assist offloading it or afford to pay for a 2 person delivery?

The thing about ebay is that it is more often a small seller and you can talk to them direct about the practicalities of delivery, they might be more flexible.

Have emailed someone off Ebay.
Wickes would take too long to deliver.
There is a Howden's near us but we don't know anyone with a trade account.

I am near Cambridge, btw.

Ikea ?

120 mile round trip and they haven't got the right sort of thing, sadly.

So, you're near Cambridge.

Have you tried Ridgeons? Travis Perkins? (You said you went to one builders' merchant, but not both) And even Focus DIY by the station often has more in stock than you might imagine.

I'm told on other forums you don't actually need to be a builder to have a trade account at Howdens.

MK Ikea can be actually surprisingly quick to get to from Cambridge if you pick the right time of day. IF it turns out you can use another sort of worktop, it might be an option.

Could you lay the worktop out so you appear to have a 'feature' area of a different material around the hob, say, and the rest of the existing laminate?

Ridgeons wanted £240+ for two bits of boring laminate but admittedly could deliver.

Didn't try Travis Perkins - thought they only did wood.

Completely forgot about Focus, very good idea that.

Long stretch is basically the sink run and any way you try to work it out it's a problem, so we definitely need to buy something.

Yes you could try Howdens and give them your hard luck story, nothing to lose! Or ask them for the name of a helpful chippy who might get it for you for a small markup.

What about the fitter who is booked to fit it? Aren't they any help, or do they know somebody who is? Or the other tradesmen, they all know people/have accounts.

I would get on the phone Monday morning. There will be a way, there always is. AND you don't need the worktop until at least Tuesday morning since they have to build & hang the cupboards first.

Have ordered some off Ebay for £75 including delivery.

Very good idea, that!

Thanks all x