if you’re wondering whether you should replace your kitchen cabinets, make sure they actually need to be replaced, so you don’t spend more than you need to. As long as these are functional, you don’t have to pay for a fancy modern design that’s made for photographs in magazines. However, these are an important part of your home, making replacement a wise choice if required.
In general, your cabinets can last up to 50 years, though you can get new ones before then from heavy use or damage. The benefit of working cabinets is that you have a safe space to store one of the most important items in your household, which is your food supply.
Since these parts of your kitchen are meant to last a while, it’s best to keep these in good shape over time. Simply being careful when using them can go a long way. Also, you can tape lists on them with what’s inside, so you don’t go rummaging through them each time you’re looking for something you need.
One of the signs that you need to replace these pieces is if they’re not shutting properly. They should work well enough when in use, especially when cooking large meals for dinner. Otherwise, your cooking time will be much longer than necessary, adding even more overall stress and anxiety to your life. A solution for this is either repair or replacement.
Another sign that replacement is necessary is if the material is swollen, warping, or dark spots. These are all signs that you have water damage, which can easily ruin the wooden material. Unfortunately, this probably means you also leak somewhere that’s pouring water into the wood. While servicing can be costly in this case, it’s absolutely worth it.
An even more serious occurrence with water damage is apparent mold. In some cases, it can even be toxic for you and your household. Even worse, the proximity to your food supply means increased exposure to this problem. If this is taken care of as early as possible, then it’s not likely that it’ll leak into other areas of your home, preventing even bigger problems.
You can probably see that your kitchen cabinets won’t need repair in quite some time as long as no unfortunate events occur. There’s a good chance replacement is unnecessary in the next 25-50 years, depending on what condition they’re in. Handle them with care, and they’ll handle your food just fine.
