General Care & Advice Relating To Room Preparation & Installation.

With appropriate care and maintenance, our doors and accessories are designed to provide years of reliable service.
To keep it in the best possible condition, please follow the simple guidelines below.  Please note your guarantee may be adversely affected if used for non-general domestic environments.

To help minimise any potential damage to the kitchen whilst you are installing it, please read and adhere to the following instructions and recommendations:

  • Ensure that all new-builds or newly plastered rooms have been left to environmentally stabilise prior to the installation of new doors.
  • Doors must not be stored / installed in a damp, or moisture-rich environment as it will cause undesirable movement in the joints and panels of the door.
  • A hygrometer should be used to assess conditions.
  • Do not stack the doors on their ends on any hard surface; this can cause chipping and scratching along the edge of the fascia, especially on the handle edge of ranges with an integral handle.
  • Prior to fitting, the fascia’s should be stored flat, ensuring that they are not resting on any dirt or debris that may damage or mark the finish.
  • Take extreme care when stacking the fascia’s with hinges attached to ensure that the hinges do not mark other fascia’s. Do not lean the fascia’s against one another, or against any surface without proper protection in-between.
  • You should take extreme care not to put the door down with excessive force on any edge, especially the handle edge, as this will cause crushing/impact damage on these edges.
  • If the fascia’s are attached to the carcase, then you should carefully remove the fascia’s by unclipping the hinges and storing these flat in a clean safe environment away from your working area, utilising the packing materials from the units.
  • Take extreme care when unpacking the fascia’s and do not use sharp blades to cut away the packaging.
  • Where cutting/scribing décor panels and trim, you must use a sharp quality saw blade of the appropriate grade for fine-cutting, or a suitable router. Small chips can appear along the cut-edge, and so extra care must be taken to minimise the risk of chipping. Using a blunt or inappropriate saw blade will produce a poor finish, and this will not be covered by the guarantee.
  • All cut edges should be sealed against moisture ingress using a suitable water-resistant sealant/adhesive prior to installation.
  • No kitchen products are waterproof. Any furniture touching the floor (such as end panels or posts etc) should be considered a vulnerable point, and should be sealed, and then protected with a bead of silicone.
  • When attaching the hinges, place the fascia face down on a soft, clean surface, ensuring that there is no grit, sawdust or other matter underneath that can damage the surface of the fascia whilst the hinges are attached. It is good practice to place a sheet of clean cardboard between the fascia and the flat surface prior to attaching the hinges.
  • If the hinges are ‘knock-in’ type. Use a rubber mallet to knock the hinges into the fascia without using excessive force.
  • Once the hinges have been attached to a door, hang the door on the unit straight away to avoid damage. Do not stack the doors with the hinges touching other doors, as this can cause scratches or marks to the other fascias.
  • On Painted Products – Any fine chips along the cut edge should be smoothed with a fine grade sandpaper prior to fitting.
  • All trims are supplied in long lengths and need to be cut down on site, using the appropriate tools.

Additional care advice for Foil, Vinyl, Acrylic & High Gloss Finished Doors >

  • Foil/Lacquer coated products are manufactured from the highest quality materials. Your gloss doors will come with a protective film over the front. You should remove this only after they are installed as the curing process continues for around 72 hours after the film is removed. This means the doors will be liable to scratching and other marks. You should avoid cleaning the doors for at least a few days to prevent any marks appearing on the surface.

General Care & Advice Relating To Heat & Moisture.

As with all furniture, the most common problems found occur due to excessive or prolonged exposure to heat and / or moisture.

  • Door and drawer frontals are designed for domestic use, we recommend that each area / cabinet in the kitchen/bedroom/living space is maintained within domestic temperature and humidity levels. We recommend a temperature range of 16°C – 24°C and a relative humidity range of 40% to 60%.
  • Spills and condensation on fascia should be cleaned and dried immediately.  Particularly attention must be paid to any sink areas and wet appliances as damages caused as a result is not covered by warranty.
  • Dishwasher doors should not be opened mid cycle or immediately at the end of a cycle. This is the case for all kitchens. Damage caused by the excess steam will not be covered by warranty.
  • Appliances that create steam (e.g., steamer, coffee maker, kettle, steam mop, etc) should not be placed underneath cabinets or near units where condensation may form.
  • Care must be taken when washing floors and worksurfaces to prevent liquid accumulating on or adjacent to plinth and panels.
  • These areas should be dried thoroughly after cleaning.
  • Appliances that generate excessive heat such as toasters, air fryers, microwave ovens, etc, should be correctly ventilated and not placed under or near kitchen units.

General Care & Advice Relating To Light & Colour.

  • The colour of doors and drawer fronts may appear mismatched in colour. This apparent mismatch is sometimes the effect of differing light conditions within your kitchen or bedroom, (known as metamerism). To check your doors and fascia you should place them side by side in natural daylight for comparison. Please note that after a period of time, it is normal for the colouring of units to mellow in colour. In particular, timber & light lacquered surfaces change colour have a certain  tendency to “yellow with age.” This is not a manufacturing fault and is due to exposure to light. The product material, finish and the intensity of exposure will affect the rate of change.Due to this, we advise that colour change is taken into consideration when replacing or fitting new doors sometime after the original kitchen or bedroom has been installed, as replacements may not be an exact colour match. With Painted kitchens, it’s good practice to keep a small sample/off cut. This can be used to aid a colour match, if needed at some point in the future. This is best stored on top of the wall units, or somewhere in the same environment, so it can age at the same rate as the kitchen/bedroom.

General cleaning advice for all door types.

  • Periodically clean the interior and exterior surfaces of the door using a soft, damp cloth. Wipe dry all surfaces after cleaning.
  • Do not use wax-furniture polish, abrasive or aggressive cleaners, bleach, or other hypochlorite (chlorine) based cleaners, multipurpose cleaners, dilutes, acetone, alcohol, solvent, or similar products on the door, as this will damage the surface; additionally wax and polishes leave a residue build up that is difficult to remove. Only use a 5% soap, 95% water (liquid soap) solution, wiping with a damp (not wet) cloth, finally drying with a soft, clean cloth only.
  • Do not expose the doors or panels to temperature in excess of 60°C (140°F) (approximately the temperature of washing up water).
  • Dust with a soft cloth only.
  • Never use any abrasive pads or abrasive cleaners of the furniture.
  • If using glass cleaner to clean your glass doors be careful not to damage the finish of the door and cabinet parts while cleaning. Do not spray glass cleaner directly on to the glass or cabinet parts as this may discolour the finish of your kitchen cabinets. Instead, spray a small amount of cleaner on to a lint free cloth or paper towel then wipe the glass.
  • Ensure all cooking splashes, spills and condensation on the fascia’s/panels are wiped immediately with a damp cloth; and dried immediately.
  • If the surface of the product is exposed to any oil-based substance (for example olive oil, butter, margarine or cooking oil), the spillage must be wiped away immediately to prevent staining.

Specific cleaning advice for all door types.

Click relevant link below.