The Kitchen is the heart of the home, it’s a high-traffic area and probably needs to be the most durable room in any home. People don’t realise this but it’s a room subjected to huge temperature changes and moisture levels so needs to be far more durable than the other rooms in your property.It’s also the first place we look to find problems when we see a new home.
So, here’s a handy list of things to look out for when you’re viewing a property that might save you some money in the long run, or perhaps give you leverage when negotiating on the price.
Basically, there’s different methods of adding colour to your kitchen doors and the worst and least durable is undoubtedly ‘wrapping’. This is where a wooden door (usually MDF or Particle board) has a plastic coating wrapped over it.
Back in the 80s and 90s this was marketed as a great idea. After all, it’s easy to wipe and clean, sounds great! However, the glue used to do this doesn’t cope well when the temperature changes or moisture is in the air so you’ll start to see the coating peel away.
Check the cupboards next to the stove and above the kettle, if it’s been wrapped, be prepared to at least swap all the doors.
If you’re like me (a tea and coffee addict) the cupboard door that hides the tea bags gets a lot of use, I probably open that door more than any other. Therefore the hinges need to be strong and the door needs to be able to support them.
Nowadays most kitchen hinges are pretty good, gone are the days when rusty hinges were a common sight and even the cheaper ones in the market will last a good while. The problem is the hinge is only as good as the surface it’s mounted to. Most cupboard doors now aren’t made of real timber, they’re made of a much cheaper ‘particle board’ (basically all the dust and shavings mixed with glue and moulded into boards. The problem is that while this is much cheaper, particle board doesn’t grip a screw like traditional wood so hinges can regularly pull out.
This can be fixed with metal plates but if you see one of these it’s the first warning sign that the doors and cupboards are cheap and have a short shelf life (sorry for the pun).
Alone this isn’t a big job, in fact if someone is installing a new kitchen with their sights set on expensive stone countertops that can’t quite fit the budget we always recommend installing the kitchen with a cheaper laminate alternative as the worktops can be swapped at a later date.
However, often, cheap worktops mean ‘cheap kitchen’ and are a warning sign that there may be other problems hidden you aren’t aware of. If an installer has fitted a cheap countertop, chances are they’ve installed cheap carcasses and issues will soon follow.
If you’re looking at buying a new property and considering a new kitchen or perhaps you’re considering a new home and want to know what to inspect before making an offer then please don’t hesitate to get in touch, our experts are more than happy to give advice.
