Caring for your Cabinetry

Here are a few tips on keeping your cabinets looking like new.

User's Guide For New Cabinetry

Introduction

Now that your cabinets have been installed, this User's Guide will describe how to take care of them, how to handle repairs over time and how to add options and additions.

Getting Started

Once your cabinets are installed, the temptation is to immediately begin putting things in the drawers and cabinets. After all, you've been waiting for this moment a long time. However, before starting to put things away, we suggest you do the following:

1. With a damp - but not wet - soft cloth, wipe down all the cabinetry, including the inside of drawers and cabinets and all hardware. Use another clean, soft cloth to dry. If you use a glass cleaner on any glass doors, be sure to protect the wood surfaces as ammonia in the glass cleaner can damage the finish on your cabinets. Whenever possible, it is best to remove the glass from the cabinet in order to clean it.
2. If you have any questions about installation, features, options or your cabinets, contact your dealer/installer immediately. It's always easier to take care of the questions early, rather than after you've had the cabinets for several months.
3. Once you've wiped down your cabinets, you can polish the doors, drawers and front frames with a good quality furniture polish that does not contain silicone. Buff the polish with a soft cloth to maintain the furniture quality finish.
4. Because your cabinets have water resistant vinyl laminated interiors, you do not need to line them with shelf paper. Instead, wipe them with a soft cloth in the same way that you wipe down the exteriors.

What To Use On Your Cabinets

Like any fine-quality surface, your cabinetry should be treated carefully and cleaned and maintained with quality materials.

1. DO NOT allow water, chemicals (detergents, ammnia, vinegar, etc.) and hot or acid food spills to set on your cabinets. ALWAYS immediately wipe up spills as quickly as possible so they won't damage the wood.
2. DO use a soft cloth. DO NOT USE coarse or abrasive cloths or materials as they may dull the finish or leave scratches that cannot be removed. DEFINITELY AVOID soap pads, scouring pads and brushes.
3. DO use soapy water, a mild all purpose cleaner without ammonia, or an oil soap cleaner made especially for wood components. DO NOT USE ammonia, products that contain ammonia, strong solvent cleaners, mineral spirits, paint thinner or any other harsh cleaning chemicals.
4. DO use high quality polish that is especially formulated for fine furniture. DO NOT USE wax or a polish that contains silicone. Wax builds up on the surface and causes yellowing; silicones smudge and highlight fingerprints, and can be removed only with extreme measures.
5. For melamine or thermofoil cabinetry, DO clean with a mild nonabrasive cleaner using a soft cloth. DO NOT USE ammonia or any type of abrasive cleaner or cloth.
6. All drawer and sliding tray guides are rated for 100 lb. weight capacity. Periodically check to make sure that you are not placing too heavy a load on shelves and drawer bottoms. This is especially important with sliding trays, slide out drawers, lazy susans, and any place where heavy or unbalanced loads can shorten the life expectancy of the moving or mechanical parts.

What To Expect From Your Cabinetry

Wood is a natural material. As such, seasonal growth patterns and weather conditions contribute to the uniqueness of the grain and color in each piece of board cut from a tree. These conditions also add the swirls, burls, mineral streaking, fine pinholes, pitch pockets and color streaks that you find in the wood of all fine cabinetry and furniture. Later, as the wood is cut, sanded and rubbed with a finish, all of these features combine to give your cabinetry special character and a deep, rich patina.

Because temperature, seasonal growth patterns and weather conditions are not the same in all parts of the country, different types of trees produce wood with different features.

Black Cherry

Our cherry wood comes from the moderate climate of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Its grain is straight, close, finely textured and gently weaving. Within the wood are wonderful variations in color, ranging from pink, to green, to yellow and brown. There can be mineral streaks, fine pinholes, grain swirls and occasional pitch pockets. The best part of the tree for making furniture is the heartwood, but even after it has been made into cabinetry, cherry heartwood continues to change and darken as UV light interacts with the oxygen in the wood, giving your cabinetry an ever improving patina.

Sugar Maple

The maple wood that we use comes from the colder climate of upper Michigan and Canada. Even though it is quick growing, maple's grain is straight, fine- textured and strong, making it as heavy and durable as red oak. Within the grain are variations in color ranging from light to dark reddish brown as well as mineral streaks, swirls and pitch flecks. Over the years, the interaction of sunshine with the oxygen in the wood will give your cabinetry a soft golden glow.

Northern Red Oak

We get our oak wood from the colder climates of Minnesota and Wisconsin where the trees grow tall and straight and often over one hundred feet high. Oak's grain is quite dominant and varies from straight lines to arched or pointed patterns. Colors range from pink to green as well as from light to dark. Like so many other woods, the color and patina of oak cabinetry deepens as the wood interacts with natural light.

Hickory

A strong and durable wood with tight grain, our hickory comes from New York and Kentucky. Its grain pattern is wavy and contains dramatic color variations ranging from white to reddish brown. Sometimes the wood can be described as having a zebra or bleached and brown effect because of the striking variations even within the same piece of wood. Hickory is not for the timid. It is for those who like how interesting grain patterns that can bring a room to life.

Note

The cabinetry you have selected has its own personality and character, as well as a richness and depth in its color and grain. You will be more likely to notice the variations in the grain and color of your cabinetry if you have selected a natural or light finish. If you chose a darker finish choice, those variations will probably be less apparent.

Your cabinetry has been constructed from carefully selected quality hardwoods. Because imperfections are part of the natural beauty of hardwood, and not the result of the manufacturing of your cabinets, your warranty cannot cover differences in color, grain and natural variations. Nor can it cover possible differences in color when adding new cabinetry to old. We encourage you to enjoy the natural beauty of solid wood and appreciate those characteristics that give it personality

Minor Repairs

From time to time you may encounter some unavoidable situations that create minor problems with your cabinetry. Before calling your dealer/installer for help, consider the following:

1. Wipe up spills as quickly as possible so they won't damage the wood. Clean your cabinetry with a damp, soft cloth and wipe dry. Then apply a light coat of high quality furniture polish.
2. Minor scratches or dents in your cabinetry can be treated with a touchup kit. See your dealer if you have not already ordered one. For major damage like severe scratching, broken doors or drawers, paint spills, etc., call your dealer for help or replacement.
3. If over time screws become loose on hinges or drawer pulls, you can achieve a temporary fix by gluing a small diameter dowel rod into the hole using a high quality wood glue. Cut the dowel rod flush with the top of the screw hole and place into the hole. Let the glue dry and then replace the screw. Do not over torque the screw, or you will risk stripping it out again.
4. Minor door alignment can be corrected by adjusting the hinges. Generally, when you open the cabinet door, you will find the side-to-side adjustment slot on the door part of the hinge and the up and down adjustment on the frame portion of the hinge.
5. In most cases your cabinetry hardware is protected by a lifetime guarantee from the hardware manufacturer. For hinges and hardware that do not work properly, contact your dealer for assistance.
6. Consider window treatments that block direct sunlight exposure on your cabinetry, thereby minimizing color changes in the finish. This is especially important if you intend to add on additional cabinetry at a later date.
7. When adding on additional cabinetry in the same room at a later date, consider the following techniques that may help minimize the color differences between the old and the new units. Place the new cabinetry on a different wall so any color difference won't be as noticeable. Replace existing trim and molding with darker/lighter wood to give the old and new cabinets a unified look. Experiment with two-tone cabinets in the same wood species.

Purchase Information

If you contact an authorized dealer or distributor with questions, you will probably be asked for certain information about your purchase and your cabinetry. Download (PDF file) and print out the following information now, and you can help speed that process.