Our Advice on How to Protect Your Kitchen Doors from Being Damaged
Our Advice on How to Protect Your Kitchen Doors from Being Damaged
You have recently fitted new kitchen doors. Your dream kitchen is now complete!
The challenging part now is to keep it looking like new for months and years. To assist you, we have created this guide to help you avoid damage to kitchen doors.
Prevent Kitchen Damage and Make it Last
Well, so maybe a lifetime is going to be beyond it, but we all want our new kitchen to last.
Ultimately, among all the home remodelling costs, installing a new kitchen is usually the most expensive expenditure. Whatever the cost is, you won’t want to have to replace your kitchen every few years.
Ways to Prevent Cabinet Door Damage
A brand-new kitchen may not be permanent, but you’ll want it to be for a while. So it’s important to protect your kitchen from damage.
Let’s take a look at some of the things that can hurt your pride and joy. Some are obvious, while others are less.
Kitchen damage could happen unexpectedly
The modest kettle, a household essential, isn’t often thought to be especially dangerous. Yes, you should be aware of the boiling water and vapour that a kettle creates.
Aside from that, you’d be mistaken for believing that your kettle is harmless. In fact, a kettle may do a lot of harm to your kitchen!
Kettles can be extremely damaging to the kitchen’s décor.
Kettles are sometimes placed under cupboards to save space and prevent clutter on the worktop.
Cupboards become damaged from the steam
Placing a kettle under a cupboard is not a fire concern. However, a kettle has the potential to cause damage to your kitchen. This is because the steam produced by a kettle can damage the appearance of the cupboard.
If you store a kettle behind a cupboard for an extended amount of time, the wood may become unpleasant and discoloured.
In addition, the wood can be weakened. Steam-burn is a white film that builds up on the surface of wood with time.
In fact, the damage caused by kettle steam in your kitchen might be far more serious. Cabinets made of melamine could melt. Sudden blasts of heat can cause the cabinet to dry out and lose its gloss. It can result in warpage and shrinking. In worst-case scenarios, the structure may shatter and splinter.
To summarise, keeping a kettle underneath a cabinet is not a smart idea if you want to protect the wooden surfaces in your kitchen.
Where should you put your kettle?
The question remains: where should you put your kettle in the kitchen?
Avoid putting your kettle under overhanging upper cabinets. This keeps steam from coming into touch with the bottom of the cabinets, avoiding any damage to your wooden kitchen.
Proper ventilation throughout the kitchen is essential for preventing steam damage. Moisture will leave the space if it is well-aired. This protects the wood of the cabinets.
Set up a heat shield
Heat shields for your cabinets are an additional choice, as it’s obvious that this kind of thing can be easy to forget. Heat shields, as the name implies, protect the cabinet’s surface by redirecting heat and steam away.
If your kitchen has enough space for an island, it’s an excellent place to keep your kettle.
Heat and Steam Affect Kitchen Cabinet Surfaces
Heat and steam have a very harmful effect on wood cabinets. Basically, it causes the wood to expand or contrast in response to humidity fluctuations. This can have a significant impact on the shape of the wood. It can also change the cabinet’s structural rigidity and integrity, as well as its physical proportions.
Hardwoods provide excellent protection
Hardwoods are more resistant to heat and steam than plywood, which can warp and disintegrate if exposed for an extended period of time. Long-term exposure will have an impact on all types of wood. Fibreboard thicknesses will differ. The cupboard’s joints will degrade over time. Lighter woods, such as white sapwood, darken when exposed to steam. Raw or untreated hardwood kitchen cabinet materials will provide similar harmful outcomes.
How do you protect your kitchen cabinets from excessive moisture?
In order to dry out wooden cabinets that are exposed to too much moisture in the kitchen, it’s important to improve ventilation as much as possible. If your kitchen creates a lot of heat, a fan and a dehumidifier are definitely necessary.
Cabinets Will Be Damaged by Excessive Steaming
It’s important to remember that excessive steaming will always produce long-term damage if the area is left untreated – or ignored – for long enough.
Maintain a low level of moisture
To avoid damage of hardwood cabinets, keep humidity levels below 55%. The good news is that once the humidity level is reduced to an acceptable level and maintained, signs of damage will fade quickly.
Ensure proper ventilation in the kitchen
It is important to understand that adding proper air circulation to an existing and established kitchen can be difficult and time-consuming. If you are constructing a kitchen from scratch, make sure to consider issues like heat, steam, and moisture, as well as appropriate ventilation throughout the area.
Move the kettle
Probably the greatest solution when dealing with heat and steam difficulties in an existing space is to move the kettle. It will undoubtedly be less expensive and easier than trying to implement other ventilation methods instead. One approach is to find an open space away from the wall where the steam may freely evaporate into the air.
Add an Extra Protective Layer
Cabinets with laminated surfaces provide extra protection against any moisture damage. Laminated cabinets are not naturally watertight. However, the laminate’s smooth coating prevents water from seeping into the hardwood and causing damage. Laminated cabinets are usually shiny by nature. Having said that, they can be painted in any colour to match your kitchen style.
Methods for fixing kitchen damage caused by steam
Preventing instead of treating is always preferable. However, advice articles like this one on kitchen door care are occasionally published too late. So, what should you do if your kitchen has already been damaged by steam. Luckily, it’s not the end of the world. Steam damage is usually quite easy to repair. Usually, the damage is limited to the surface. To fix damaged sections, use a few easy tricks and gimmicks.
Damaged areas can be treated using sandpaper
A sandpaper can be used on areas that have been damaged. Just fold the sandpaper in three parts and sand the affected area gently in an oval motion to maintain the gloss. The oval shape is required since it allows you to blend seamlessly with the existing finish. If the shine has been removed and exposed wood is visible, don’t sand any further.
Apply a Coat of Varnish
Once the sanding is finished, apply a layer of varnish that matches the colour of your woodwork. For the best results, follow up with another sanding and one extra coat of varnish.
Instead of sanding, dry the affected area of the kitchen with a hairdryer. Place the dryer around 20cm away from the surface. Repeat the method four or five times per day at set times until you see results. Be patient; improvements will come! The hairdryer method is most effective for new and recent steam damage.
Typical problems with oven damage
After the kettle’s steam and heat damage, the oven is the next most likely appliance in the kitchen to cause problems. One of the most common complaints is that the units seem to be burning on either side of the oven.
Issues with door seals
When this happens, it’s usually because of an issue with the door seal or the door itself. If the oven is a few years old, the door seals will likely become worn. The door does not seal properly when this happens. Heat escapes, causing damage to your kitchen units.
Fold-down Door Issues
The oven’s fold-down doors are another common problem. Over time, door hinges tend to fail. People often rest pots and pans on open doors. The difficulty is that the hinges aren’t built to support the added weight. It will ultimately ruin the hinge’s springs. As they stretch and bend out of shape, the door will no longer form a clean seal around the oven door’s edges.
Issues with the oven door lock
The oven door lock might also be problematic at times. Again, after time and with regular use, the door lock will start to have some movement. This may also imply that the heat from the oven escapes, perhaps causing damage to your kitchen cabinets.
Keeping ovens clean is important
In order to keep your appliances operating at their best, you should clean them regularly, especially your gas oven and microwave. Without regular cleaning and care and maintenance, the appliance’s efficiency fails. The microwave’s heating coil is also prone to damage. As a result, it is always recommended that you clean your oven after every usage.
Deep Cleaning Is Not Necessary
It just takes a quick wipe down with a soft sponge or cloth soaked with a moderate dishwashing solution or just vinegar and water. This doesn’t need to be complicated; with the right cleaner, it can be quite simple. Maintain this, and the appliance should continue to perform at its best for an extended period of time.
Overstocking the fridge and freezer and other usual blunders
Most people are aware that an empty freezer is often less efficient than one that is filled. But, there is one important condition to remember. If you overstock the freezer, the air vents may become blocked. The fridge’s condenser slows when cold air flow is blocked. This can lead to water damage and the fridge burning out. Keep things neat, and you should have no problems.
How to Maintain a Gas Stove Burner
Cleaning a gas stove’s burner should be done with care. This is an essential part of kitchen maintenance.
Gas range burners might corrode if you use soap. It can also block light openings. This causes the hob to flare more slowly. Do not use soap or a scrubber. When cleaning a hob, only use a damp cloth to prevent any damage.
Always refer to the manual
The most important advise is to always read the manual and follow the cleaning directions correctly.
The main point here is to maintain routine kitchen maintenance and cleaning for all of your kitchen appliances.
We all know, of course, just how easy it is to ignore regular cleaning and other maintenance.
Do not depend only on deep cleaning
For many of us, doing a “deep clean” is something we do only rarely. The problem with this method is that it makes things more difficult for you, and it also increases the chance of allowing damage to occur, making it more difficult to deal with.
If something is ignored over a long period of time, something as seemingly harmless as food trash can develop into a challenging problem.
It involves not just the spread of bacteria but also the long-term accumulation of dirt, filth, and food debris.
The longer it is left on the kitchen sink, coffee machine, or walls, the more time it takes to clean up and the greater the risk of water damage.
If you stay organised, maintaining your kitchen will be easier.
Tips for Cleaning
It can be hard to clean cabinet doors and the entire kitchen at times.
Warm, soapy water and a moist cloth are usually enough. However, baking soda, lemon juice, or disinfecting cleanser are often recommended as great methods to enhance kitchen cleaning performance, especially for gloss doors.
It is preferable to avoid using harsh bleach-based kitchen cleansers. Some of these products are quite abrasive and can cause serious surface damage.
As mentioned earlier, you should also carefully read cleaning guidelines and manuals. But a clean cloth and warm, soapy water are always an effective choice. It is the foundation of proper kitchen maintenance and all that is needed for everyday cleaning with a soft cloth.
Methods for Reducing the Risks
It’s crucial to regularly check the plugs and cords on all of your kitchenware and appliances. Tearing, exposed wires, dents, and burn marks can all serve as warning signs. You shouldn’t ever try to fix gas or electrical appliances yourself. Always leave this to the professionals.
Switch Off Appliances and Equipment
Switching off all appliances and equipment after use and at the end of the day is a good practice. This minimises risk while saving you money on your energy expenses.
Contact us today!
If you’re thinking about getting a new kitchen, contact the My Beautiful Kitchen team. We are always available to provide friendly guidance and share our years of experience.