When you buy anything of quality, a yacht, prestige car or bespoke kitchen it brings with it a certain responsibility for maintenance to keep it in tip top condition. These luxury items, often handmade by craftsmen, need to be serviced to maintain their original appeal and good working order. Components may be more durable and better made to improve reliability but they still need periodic care.

Kitchens are people too

Well, maybe not sentient beings but, when you consider the time you spend with them, kitchens must rank higher than a lot of friends and acquaintances. You may well ask why, when you pay between £25,000 and £150,000 for a room, it needs to be tended at all. Why shouldn’t it just carry on with its expensive worktops, floors and appliances? The answer is traffic. Kitchens are the busiest room in the house. But with a bit of respect and TLC they’ll do you proud.

Okay what needs checking?

Cabinetry

• Check all hinges and handles for signs of wear, looseness or damage. And adjust or replace where necessary.
• Review all drawer runners, sliding doors, waste bin holders, tea-towel rails, pan drawers, under cupboard sliding storage and similar and ensure good working order
• Observe joints, tenons, beading, dowling, knotting and other woodworking elements and repair if necessary
• Inspect kick boards, plate racks, door flaps and sills where wear is expected to be high to ensure performance to a standard
• Inspect cupboard doors for flush closing and excessive ‘gapping’ adjusting where necessary
• Ensure magnetic, silent and click-fit closures are working properly
• Review the performance of paint, varnish, veneer, tile, stone and wood surfaces
• Check the soundness of seals, grouting, flashing and plugs. Re-seal where required
• Look for any leaks or malfunctions in plumbing and electrical installations and get specialist help where required.
• Look for warping and other water or temperature damage

So that’s the structure but what about my goodies?

Your kitchen is an increasingly hi-tech domain with electronic aids helping you prepare and cook as well as entertain you and let you communicate with others.
The appliances in your kitchen all come with a guarantee that usually expires just before it shows signs of age. That’s life. You can call back your kitchen fitter to check them though – even if the recommendation is to replace you will have the reassurance that it was a professional opinion and not your stab in the dark.
A kitchen fitter will review and test all appliances supplied by them against normal expectations of performance for an appliance of that age and workload,
Replace any starter/timer/alarm batteries that require replacing,

Is hot hot and cold cold?

• Check required temperatures reached on heating devices, ovens, microwaves, hot taps, coffee machines etc
• Similarly test cooling appliances to ensure they are operating at hygienic levels of refrigeration

Don’t forget water quality

• Review and clean water, lint, drainage, extractor and similar filters and recommend replacement where required
• Test water softener efficiency and salt levels where relevant

The money-saving bit

Nowadays a new energy efficient product is launched every week and, without a periodic check you could be wasting money. LED lighting is an obvious innovation but electrical goods are being improved all the time so it’s worth a check: –

• Review all appliances and lighting against modern energy-saving alternatives
• Consider better alternatives for any severely under-performing appliances
• Check warranty cover for each appliance

It’s a dirty job – get someone else to do it

You bought a kitchen not a liability and so all this maintenance work may seem a chore but you can always ask us to do it and we’ll be happy to check it over and make sure you have years more enjoyment from your bespoke kitchen.