Hi all
I suspect many will have come across kitchen cupboard doors which have an all-over plastic coat. From experience these do not appear fit-for-purpose. A friend of mine has had this door type fitted in a kitchen and I have these in a fitted en-suite. Both have found that over time, the coating becomes detached from the door and finally cracks. I believe the time scales are 3 years for the kitchen and 5 years for our en-suite.
Anyone else had similar issues?
Phil
I used to work for a kitchen company in the Quality Control Dept, I presume from your description you are talking about 'foil wrapped' doors which if looked after they are definitely "fit for the purpose". They need to be kept dry i.e. no water left standing on them ESPECIALLY on the corners/edges. They can take a good wash down etc providing they are dried afterwards. We used to test them by placing the face of the door over a moisture bath (1) for 24 hours with no ill effects. They do not like kettles etc. directly under them as the steam gets into the edges and blows the foil. The company I worked for guaranteed them for 10 years provided the instructions were adhered to, i.e. "move the kettle from under the door when boiling it". As it happens I have a foil wrapped kitchen in my house made by this company, I didn't fit it, it was in from new. I bought the house in 1997, it was built in 1992 and the doors are as good as new apart from one place where the previous owner stood their kettle!
(1) A moisture bath is an electrically heated (microwave sized) tub of water that produces steam.
HTH
John
"John" wrote
Point taken about the kettles John, but the experience we have is the bond braking down in the middle of the door panel face. The coating lifts in the centre of the door panel and this detachment works its way towards the edges of the door face. It appears as though the adhesive process holding the coating has a very limited life span. Our en-suite is small and the shower is heavily used, so I can see the edge failure being relevant. Our friends' kitchen is a decent size and does not suffer from similar moist air issues.
Phil
Can you upload a picture somewhere as these don't sound like foil wrapped doors. Is it not veneer. Did the bathroom people not give you a guarantee?
HTH
John
"John" wrote
Can't upload pictures due to network restrictions :(. The coating is not veneer it is more like a white plastic shrink wrap which covers the face side and edges of the doors. Our en-suite was inherited with the house in 2002. Our friends' kitchen should be resolved by the kitchen installers, if they are good to their word.
Phil
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