Timber Options Design Options Finish Options End User Information

Pre-Installation Advice - for Kitchens going into New or Newly Renovated Properties

This is very important advice which will also be given to you by your kitchen supplier. It is definitely the most important advice that you will receive to ensure a long life span for your kitchen doors. In the contruction of your new or newly renovated property, 1000's of litres of water have been used, therefore, installing your new kitchen into this environment would be like putting a dry sponge into a bucket of water!

The moisture in the walls, floors and ceilings will be absorbed directly into the dry wood of your kitchen doors. This will result in your kitchen doors swelling, warping, not closing properly, and in some cases the doors may burst open at the joints. Some people believe that by turning on the heat, the wood returns to normal and these problems are corrected. This is sometimes true but in most cases it is not, as the moisture content of the doors will have exceeded their guarantee level (12%). On returning the moisture content to the guarantee level (8% to 12%), there is a high possibility that the glue in the joints of the panels and frames has weakened, thus causing various problems in the future. So please heed this advice from your kitchen supplier.


 

Woods' Natural Colour Changes

Wood exposed to normal sunlight is subject to colour changes. As with all natural products made from wood, these changes are expected and add to the beauty and distinctiveness of solid wood doors.

Timber	Change
White Oak	Very slight change in tones towards straw colour.
Chestnut	Changes to amber slowly.
Pine Colour	As the wood matures it becomes more yellow, with its grain turning slighly redder and the knots becoming darker.
Red Oak	Very little change.
Maple	Changes from cream white to golden cream.
Ash	A pale cream darkening to yellow / tan.
Mahogany	Darkens slowly towards a golden brown.
Cherry	Changes rapidly to deeper tones of red.
Walnut	One of the only woods that lightens in colour to a golden brown.
Character & Pippi Oak	Both woods behave the same, slowly changing towards straw brown, with the knots becoming slighly darker in tone.
Pitch Pine	Changes fairly rapidly towards red / yellow.

Movin' Movin' Movin'

Solid wood doors are used in most of today's more expensive, up-market kitchens and are usually a once in a lifetime investment. We believe it is very important for you to understand the behaviour of the woods in your kitchen doors, thus enabling you to give the care and attention needed to protect your investment.

Unknown to most people, the wood in your solid wood kitchen door is constantly moving. IDM's solid wood doors are designed to withstand this movement; in fact the centre panels in all our doors can shrink or expand by 15mm before any structural damage is caused to the doors.

Darker Finishes on Light Coloured Wood

If your doors are finished with a light coloured wood (e.g. White Oak), and polished to a darker colour (e.g. Medium Oak) then it is possible to see panel shrinkage when the annual shrinkage cycle occurs. This cycle happens in the winter months because the relative humidity of the home environment has been greatly reduced, due to windows and doors being closed and the heating turned on, or up to higher temperatures.

As your polished doors are of a darker colour than the actual wood used to manufacture them, when the wood shrinks, the lighter coloured wood becomes exposed at both sides of the panel. This is normal so there is no need to be worried.

To remedy this colour difference, you need to coat these lighter coloured lines with the original stain used to colour your doors. This stain can be ordered from your kitchen supplier. This remedy only needs to be applied once in the life time of the doors, and the possibiblity of this happening is about 1 in every 500 kitchens.

Natural Finishes

Wood movements in solid wood doors with natural finishes go totally unnoticed. This is because the natural colour of the wood used to manufacture the doors, is virtually unchanged when polished with a natural finish (i.e. polished with a clear lacquer only). When the annual shrinkage cycle occurs, any wood that may be exposed is the same colour as the doors' original polish.

Painted Finishes

Wood movements are more noticeable in doors that have been painted with solid colours (i.e. white, ivory, blue etc.). It is impossible for any door manufacturer to prevent this, as it is a natural charcacteristic of wood. However, IDM have used many design techniques to minimise paint cracking caused by the annual shrinkage cycle.

We recommend the use of HDF or Veneered HDF panels, as this material does not shrink. We also prefer to V-Groove the joints of the framing as this will disguise any cracking at these points. Even taking these preventative manufacturing methods, it may still be possible to see paint cracking due to wood movement. At this point, there is very little else that can be done to prevent this, therefore, if cracking occurs you must be prepared to touch-up or repaint your doors periodically. This paint can be ordered from your kitchen supplier.

Product Care

Dust often, using a clean, soft cloth and wipe the grain to remove loose foreign particles from the finished surface. If desired, moisten the cloth with a few drops of water. Clean occasionally (or as required) with a damp cloth. Dampen with warm water to remove dirt or spills, adding a drop of vinegar to the water to remove stubborn grime. Catalysed finishes require no polish, when cleaned, buffing with a cloth is sufficient. If you do chose to use a polish on your doors, please be sure to use one with no added silicone, as this will damage the doors' finish.

• Do not allow excess water to spill on the doors. If this happens, soak it up immediately.
• Do not boil a kettle underneath you high level doors, as this will create a cloudy white mark on them.
• Do not use scouring pads, scrubbing brushes or abrasive cream to clean your doors, as this will damage the finish.
• Do not attempt to finish your doors with another lacquer, paint or varnish before contacting your kitchen supplier.