Kitchen unit door/drawer finishes - quality

Another_Level

Choosing kitchen cabinet doors, why does it have to be so cryptic ?  Maybe leave leave it to your installer who will warranty your new kitchen units.

Ok there are some edge finishes that look bull nose or concave. I have found there are bonded on by glue or double sided tack tape. They look great until the bonded part chips or becomes unbonded via spray on clean products or oven door heat including oven door opening hear damage and general wet areas. have failed but the door remains good.

Its a minefield for the diy buyer but tbh have found basic kitchen units made from melamine with no edge attached contour  and they last for decades.

saying that was drilling into a newish cabinet today and the drill spoil was so unusual. was not wood or even wood fragments of = stuff we have sent to a far flung recycle company...

Nikkihud0609

phoebe1989seb said:

maisie_cat said:

The problem with all the MDF/chipboard wrapped doors is that once they split, crack or delaminate the moisture gets in, the substrate expands and they are not easily repairable. 
I have a solid wood kitchen unit that has been painted 3 times over 15 years and still looks new as well as an inherited 2-3 year old Howdens kitchen with the plastic doors that looks awful already.
I will only replace units with solid wood now.

Same here!
We've previously inherited cheap wrapped kitchen cabinets that were relatively recently fitted yet looked terrible. The plastic drawer innards constantly fell apart too!

Otoh, we also have a vintage solid wood kitchen larder that has been painted numerous times (twice by us 🙄), that looks brand spanking (in a vintage-y way, lol!).

The last three kitchens we have fitted have been solid timber (including carcasses), in-frame with MDF panels in the doors - although current kitchen is virtually all drawers anyway - and by comparison these have all stood the test of time/usage far better.

I also wouldn't entertain wrapped/plastic doors and from experience, imho the rigid, timber cabinets are not much more expensive over time if you weigh up how long they last compared to the *cheaper* type 😉

Wow, thanks 😒

phoebe1989seb

Nikkihud0609 said:

phoebe1989seb said:

maisie_cat said:

The problem with all the MDF/chipboard wrapped doors is that once they split, crack or delaminate the moisture gets in, the substrate expands and they are not easily repairable. 
I have a solid wood kitchen unit that has been painted 3 times over 15 years and still looks new as well as an inherited 2-3 year old Howdens kitchen with the plastic doors that looks awful already.
I will only replace units with solid wood now.

Same here!
We've previously inherited cheap wrapped kitchen cabinets that were relatively recently fitted yet looked terrible. The plastic drawer innards constantly fell apart too!

Otoh, we also have a vintage solid wood kitchen larder that has been painted numerous times (twice by us 🙄), that looks brand spanking (in a vintage-y way, lol!).

The last three kitchens we have fitted have been solid timber (including carcasses), in-frame with MDF panels in the doors - although current kitchen is virtually all drawers anyway - and by comparison these have all stood the test of time/usage far better.

I also wouldn't entertain wrapped/plastic doors and from experience, imho the rigid, timber cabinets are not much more expensive over time if you weigh up how long they last compared to the *cheaper* type 😉

Wow, thanks 😒

You said yourself in an earlier post that you expect to replace your kitchen in 3-4 years when you extend (and I presume it's why you only replaced the doors at this time). For a kitchen that's only a *temporary* measure, yours looks very nice.

However, I stand by my assertion that IME, unless you're extremely careful, cheaper kitchens constructed from materials such as wrapped chipboard etc don't tend to stand up to years of usage in rooms where water might get into any joints, not to mention that components such as the drawers are often less robustly manufactured. 

Personally we aren't people that change the big/high ticket stuff regularly (apart from our houses themselves, lol!), so that when we fit a kitchen it's not with the intention of replacing it in a few years. We prefer to buy the cabinets once in a fairly timeless style and repaint/change the handles etc if we fancy a different *look*. We are also very tidy cooks, so much so that we've chosen timber (iroko) work surfaces on our perimeters in two previous kitchens plus this one, despite others saying they are hard work to keep looking good. That hasn't been our experience!

Obviously we are in the minority as many will change a kitchen because they decide the style is no longer on trend or whatever, so it doesn't matter if the quality is not the best as they know at point of purchase they'll be ripping it out before too long.
That's not us 😉

Jeepers44

I've had another type of door come up recently Serica 5G wrapped doors? Apparently have all sorts of "amazing technology"..... I think they are manufactured by O&S doors. 

For me it's more just cutting through the terminology and understanding what exactly it is you are paying for so you can weigh up the value. If I know something is a wrapped door that's fine, but when it's being called something else to try and give the impression it's of a higher quality, and therefore potentially pay more than you should, that's where I'm having issues. And the kitchen companies who are selling these things are no clearer with their explanations.

Rosa_Damascena

Jeepers44 said:

I've had another type of door come up recently Serica 5G wrapped doors? Apparently have all sorts of "amazing technology"..... I think they are manufactured by O&S doors. 

Are they made in China?

Jeepers44

Rosa_Damascena said:

Jeepers44 said:

I've had another type of door come up recently Serica 5G wrapped doors? Apparently have all sorts of "amazing technology"..... I think they are manufactured by O&S doors. 

Are they made in China?

ah very good!!