How Long Should Your Kitchen Last?

There are so many factors involved here that make a definitive answer impossible.

Ideally you should not have to replace it during the length of your stay in the house. This is not an unreasonable expectation so long as you paid attention to design and quality from the outset and you take care of your kitchen in the mean time. These are the three keys to longevity.

Design

By ensuring that the kitchen meets your needs now and your developing needs (i.e. children on the way, parents coming to live with you, children leaving home, etc.) you ensure that the kitchen will work for you. A good kitchen design that works means that you will not wish to change it.

Quality

Kitchens have a hard life and must inevitably wear out. The better the quality of the cabinets and hardware the longer they will last. The best quality hardware comes from the major manufacturers in Europe. There are cheaper copies of European hardware made in Asia, which do reduce the cost of a kitchen so are popular with the cheap kitchen makers. Some European hardware comes with a lifetime guarantee, which means that it will be replaced free of charge if it ever becomes faulty. Only very large, well-established companies with a good culture of quality control can back up such guarantees. You must decide if the cheaper Asian alternatives are good enough for your needs or if the more expensive European ones offer better chance of longevity.

Care

Taking care of your kitchen is a rather sensible thing to do if you want it to last.

The kitchen is a work area in which sharp knives are used, hot pots set down, and spillages of acidic fluids are made. Take care with knives, do not set hot pots down onto unprotected work surfaces, and clean up spillages promptly. Follow manufacturers cleaning instructions.

Always use chopping boards to cut-up food, never cut food on the work surface. Scratches are not only unsightly but, on laminate bench tops, can allow water to penetrate to the substrate underneath, which causes swelling, mould growths, etc.

Always use something to protect your work surfaces from hot pots. Laminate surfaces are especially vulnerable to heat damage, especially over time. Cheap laminate will not tolerate any kind of abuse.

Wine, vinegar and fruit juices are acidic liquids that can stain or damage work surfaces. Spillages of these are inevitable, clean them up straight away. Be very careful about the cleaning materials you use, some will damage the work surfaces. Bleach for instance particularly attacks laminate and should never be used. Be sure to carefully follow the manufacturers’ advice on cleaning.

New Zealand Directory of Kitchen Suppliers