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We are having rounded edges, I think they are called pencil. Call me old fashioned, but I’ve always hated sharp angles in interiors and always will.

Can’t you just scrape the sealant off with a Stanley knife (or more sophisticated scraping tool) and then re-seal?

But where does the risk from chipping come from? Is it that if you have a heavy pan, and as you lift it out of the sink there is a risk you catch the edge of the worktop because of the negative reveal or hit the edge of the worktop with it? Because if that is really the only source of chips in this situation, then I'm not too concerned because the sink is nowhere near big enough to have anything larger in it than a tea mug or two, and in a contest between a tea mug and 30mm caesarstone, I'm hoping caesarstone wins.

lol. There is no deposit. The landlord is a relative!

Whether Part E applies to an extension is a little tricky. I had a quick look at the regs and found that it does apply if there has been "a material change of use" to a building, and that includes where: "the building, which contains at least one room for residential purposes, contains a greater or lesser number of such rooms than it did previously". So if they added a room to their house for residential purposes, then it would apply I think, at least to that additional room. But I suggest you go through that document with a fine tooth comb and checking each cross reference to the schedules until you understand the applicability properly. It is legal analysis, but can be done by anyone with patience and a desire to read the doc several times. Alternatively, pick the phone up to building control and ask them. You can do so anonymously so as not to stir sh!t... yet. It is possible to insulate a party wall very effectively against airborne sound. I've just done it along our party wall after being fed up of hearing my neighbours so much. It just requires sacrificing some of your room space. What are the dimensions of the room of your house which is affected. Can you post a sketch showing a layout.

I've decided to get a narrower sink. It's a oblong shaped one that is only 160mm wide by 320 long, so will free up another 140mm of worktop space. Was half the price of the round sink as well!

It's okay, the tap we've gone for is rather massive: (This was not intentional, but I guess is now serendipitous.) It's basically a standard kitchen tap sized tap.

Wow, I wish I'd known they were that price, I would have considered them. I got a quote about a year ago and it was coming in at about £1400. I've now seen this drip tray from Qooker which is almost ideal, except it's only available in one finish, which doesn't go with our colour scheme. I'll keep looking. But interested to know what people think of my negative 25mm reveal idea. Another constraint is the worktop is being templated this Monday so i need to hurry!

Well this would have been ideal, but when i looked at Zip the price was ££££. We've already purchased our boiling water tap and tank, and now just need the receptacle to catch the water drips and drain away, ideally something in matt black or brass.

We have a 700mm nook in our kitchen which we are making into a hot drinks station. The cupboards above and below the worktop will house mugs, boxes of tea and coffee beans, and on the worktop itself about half of it will be occupied by a coffee machine and the other half of it will be occupied by a small round 300mm diameter undermount sink and a boiling water tap. I would have ideally preferred a 200mm sink so as to give more space to the coffee machine, but we haven't been able to find one that works with our colour scheme, so 300mm it is. I came across this article which discusses the pros and cons of different reveal styles and it made me think I could have a negative reveal so that I lose less than a 300mm diameter from my worktop. The only disadvantage quoted in the article of a negative reveal is said to be "The countertop ledge can easily chip, and its exposed underside may attract mold. Though these risks depend on your countertop material, a durable stone countertop might cancel out those concerns." We are fitting 30mm thick caesarstone so I'm assuming this counts as "durable stone" and that chips are not a risk factor. Given the only thing splashing down that sink will be hot water, tea, coffee and the odd bit of unused milk, should I be worried about mould? Could I have a 25mm negative reveal all the way around so that my sink hole ends up being just 250mm in diameter or is this asking for trouble in terms of mould? We are having MVHR in case that makes any difference.

Thanks @PeterW, I had a look at Mendes but they didn't have what I was looking for. I have simplified things somewhat by changing our door choice to stuff that is generally in stock. I have found almost all of the doors that I need. The one door I am missing is is an unfinished oak door in 2032 x 710 size in this style https://www.todd-doors.co.uk/shaker-1-panel-oak-fd30-fire-door, i.e. a simply shaker (this one doesn't actually need to be a fire door). Alternatively I could just buy a blank and add the shaker border to it, but I really wanted to order it at the same time as a matching fire door made by the same manufacturer as it will be going next to a fire door that is 2032 x 813 (and which is linked to above) so would be good if the wood grain and oak type were the same. To answer your question, almost all of our doors are 2032 high, but the widths vary and sometimes I've found doors supplied as 2032 high in the right width, whereas other times the right width is only available if I go for 2040 and trim it. Sometimes trimming by 8mm is possible, sometimes it's not - depends on the manufacturer and how generous they are with their lippings.

Yes, I agree that I just need to take things into my own hands. Ultimately, the house, even without fire doors, will have a sprinkler system on the ground floor and an alarm system throughout and brand new appliances. It will be far safer from a fire regs perspective than what was there before, so it really comes down to just bureaucracy.

I would move the entrance into the utility to the top of the utility so it is entered into directly from the kitchen and not from the lounge area. It looks tidier from the lounge and will also be more functional, at the cost of losing 80cm of worktop and storage space from your kitchen. To mitigate (albeit only partially) this loss, you could make the utility slightly smaller by moving the wall that separates it from the kitchen down by about 30cm.

I am after some Jeld Wen (JW) Cambridge in the 2032 by 813 and the 2040 by 726 sizes, as shown here: https://www.doorsgalore.co.uk/Doors/White-Traditional-Fire-Doors-FD30-44mm/white-primed-cambridge-fd30-44mm-smooth-jw.php However, that company has advised me that JW is really suffering from the pandemic and has back orders to fill of thousands of doors meaning it could be 4-6 months before I get the doors. That lead time is consistent with my experience of contacting 8 different suppliers that normally stock JW doors. JW themselves are not answering the phone. Apparently they normally manufacture 30000 doors a day, and that is down to less than half due to staff absences. Although Premdor make something similar, which is in stock, the rail that separates the top panel and the bottom panel is significantly lower, such that to fit the handle at a comfortable height of around 905mm from FFL would not look good. So this ultimately boils down to an aesthetic issue, but still frustrating.

You have to serve a further notice warning them that if they do not respond within a certain time period you will appoint a surveyor on their behalf. This happened to me, and was actually beneficial as my surveyor appointed somebody whom he knew to be efficient and cheap, and it was relatively straightforward or … as straightforward as these things can ever be! There are certain formalities that such a notice needs to comply with, so worth getting your party wall surveyor to draft it.