Wood kitchen cabinets are the most cost-efficient kitchen cabinets for any homes. Aside from its sturdiness, wood kitchen cabinets are very easy to maintain and clean. Unlike common beliefs, maintaining wood kitchen cabinets does not require special materials or procedures. What you need is a lot of time and a little bit of understanding of wood finishes which will be discussed later on.
Cleaning Wood Kitchen Cabinets
To clean wood kitchen cabinets, regardless of the kind of finishes they have, is very easy. All you have to do is wipe the surface with mild soap and water.Just make sure that the finish on your wood kitchen cabinets does not have cracks where the water might seep into the wood. You also have to avoid letting pools of water sit on the corners of your wood kitchen cabinets. To avoid any water incidents that may destroy your wood kitchen cabinets, you can glaze their interiors to make them water-proof. This is also recommended for homeowners who often keep any liquid inside their kitchen cabinets.
Maintenance
Cleaning your wood kitchen cabinets is one thing, maintaining its lustre is another. This is where your knowledge of wood kitchen cabinet finishes comes in. Conversion finishes, lacquer, polyurethane, varnish, shellac, and water-based finishes are but some of the most common wood kitchen cabinet finishes. If you are not familiar with any one of these finishes, it is advisable to ask a professional’s help.
Although wood kitchen cabinets demand only minimum maintenance to keep their luxurious look, they require special care that depends on the kind of finish they have. Take oil finished wood kitchen cabinets for example. They are easily re-finished by applying any kinds of oil available at any local hardware or, for more expensive choice, antique stores. Lemon oil can also be used to cure wood kitchen cabinets. However, it is not advisable to cure wood kitchen cabinets with lacquer and conversion finishes with lemon until they are six months old.
Another common finish used on wood kitchen cabinets is high pressure laminate or HPL. The most common problem on laminates is the red stains, remnants of the glue used to hold the laminate on the wood. These can be easily removed by rubbing fingernail polish, lacquer thinner, or acetone on the stained area.
Paint finish is the most traditional applied on wood kitchen cabinets. It is also the easiest to maintain because you can easily paint over old and dirtied finish. If you want a cleaner paint finish, it is recommended to ask for professional help.
Cleaning and refinishing your wood kitchen cabinetsare just the beginning if you want your wood kitchen cabinets to last for a very long time. You should also maintain your wood kitchen cabinets by preventing unnecessary abuse like children hanging on the doors or by putting more load than the cabinets can handle. You can also avoid this by picking wood kitchen cabinets made of materials durable to abuse like oak. You must also be aware of the chemical contents of your cleaning materials, some of which can affect wood and make it more brittle.