How to Clean and Maintain Kitchen Cabinet Hardware?

Normally, we need to refurbish our homes within 10 to 20 years. But if we can take care of our homes in our daily lives, we can effectively extend the life of our renovation projects. Kitchen cabinets are in a hot and humid environment all year round and are prone to rust and decay. Therefore, it is necessary to clean the cabinet hardware like concealed hinge, slides and handles in daily life. So, how do we clean and maintain kitchen cabinet fittings?

Hinges

The hinge is one of the necessary cabinet hardware to make the cabinet and door panel join and allow repeated opening and closing.As we need to open and close the cabinet doors frequently, the quality of the hinges is particularly important. Smoothness, quietness and durability are the basic requirements for the quality of hinges.

Secondly, the hinges need to have good adjustability, i.e. they can be adjusted up and down, left and right, front and back within 2mm. The hinges should open at a minimum angle of 95 degrees. At the same time, hinges need to have a certain level of corrosion resistance and safety. Good quality hinges are hard to break open by hand, have a solid reed and no wobble at the mechanical fold. When closed to 15 degrees, the hinge will spring back very evenly and automatically.

Maintenance Methods：

Keep the cabinetry dry and avoid hinges being in damp air.
Lubricate the hinges regularly every 2-3 months by gently wiping them with a dry soft cloth.
If you find any dark spots on the surface of the hinges that are difficult to remove, wipe them with a little paraffin.
Do not clean the hinges with chemical-containing cleaners or acidic liquids.

Drawer Slides

If the hinges are the heart of the cabinet, then the slides are the kidneys.Whether the drawers can be pushed and pulled freely and smoothly, and how well they hold the weight, all depend on the support of the slides.

The two common types of slides on the market today are roller slides and ball slides. When you are selecting a slide, you can pull the drawer out and press it a little harder to see if it comes loose, clunks or flips over. A good runner should be smooth and noiseless when pushing or pulling a drawer.

Maintenance Methods:

Lubricate regularly
use a dry soft cloth to dry the water on the slide rail in time
check from time to time to ensure that there are no small particles on the slides and clean them up.

Handle

Handles are components that assist in the pushing and pulling of cabinets. They are available in a variety of materials, such as wood, stainless steel, zinc alloy, iron, aluminium and crystal plastic.

Generally, the handles are fitted with the cabinet. If you want to choose your own handle, you have to pay attention to the size, shape and pattern of the cabinet and choose the style you like.

Maintenance Methods:

Check the tightness of the screws regularly and replace them with new ones if they have fallen off.
Do not put wet towels on the handles, as wooden handles are prone to moisture and steel or copper ones are prone to rust and paint.