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How to Care for Your Kitchen Cabinets So They Will Last
You’ve probably invested significant time and money in choosing your kitchen cabinets and having them installed – so, now that you have a kitchen you love, you want to make sure it will last.
In many homes, the kitchen is the room that gets subject to the most extreme indoor environmental conditions due to the fluctuations in temperature from all the cooking and all the oil and grease that will spread through the air. Because of this, it’s necessary to be proactive in maintaining and cleaning all facets of your kitchen – including the kitchen cabinets – in order to keep everything in tip top shape.
A proper kitchen cabinet care routine includes cleaning, polishing, and maintenance all while avoiding harsh chemicals, with certain tasks needing to be done at a greater frequency in order to maximize the life of your cabinetry.
Here’s a basic schedule you can follow to keep your kitchen cabinets in good condition for the long-term:
1. Daily & Weekly Maintenance
Because it’s so easy for grease and oil to buildup on your cabinetry, it’s important to wipe your cabinets down frequently – once a week at minimum, and more if you’re doing significant amounts of cooking especially with fats.
In order to preserve the lifetime value of your cabinets, you want to avoid cleaning them with harsh chemicals. This includes otherwise “everyday” cleansers such as bleach, solvents, nail polish remover, petroleum-based cleaners, ammonia, and paint thinners.
Here’s a further list of THINGS TO AVOID if you want your kitchen cabinets to last:
Exposure to Direct Sunlight
Caked-On Spills
Extreme Swings in Temperature and Humidity
Scratching or Abrasion
2. Once-a-Year Cleaning
Even if you clean frequently, you still may find that it’s common for dirt to buildup around hardware and hinges.
For this reason, you may want to make it a yearly project to pay attention to thoroughly cleaning those nooks and crannies. You may even want remove the doors from the hinges and/or the visible hardware from the cabinetry in order to give it a real deep clean.
Also, you may even want to consider replacing just the hardware every few years or so. This is one relatively inexpensive way to give your cabinets a fresh look and feel while extending their overall lifespan.
3. Repairs
Your cabinets are meant to last for years. But over time, things do wear down and accidents may happen. Luckily, it can be easy to make minor repairs in order to keep your cabinets looking beautiful.
For example, if there’s a noticeable scratch in your cabinetry, it’s often possible to find a touch-up kit that will match your stained finish. Typically, these come with a touch-up pen, a fill stick, putty, and/or similar components so that you can fill-in the scratch and restore the color.
If you can’t get a touch-up kit, you can often sand down just the affected spot and then apply a matching stain and topcoat.
If you have questions about your specific cabinetry set from RTA Wood Cabinets, we’re happy to help with additional information.
Request a free kitchen design and give our team a call at: 800-788-7575.