Kitchen snags

Here’s some perspective most owners never get: a new-build kitchen goes in fast — often two days, sometimes one. So finding a door fractionally out of line or a small scratch isn’t a sign of a bad kitchen; it’s the reality of the pace. Those things are still snags — report them — but don’t panic about them. What matters is how they get fixed (more on that below).

Your kitchen is the heated, humid room — so it shrinks and it grows mould faster than anywhere else. Expect slightly more shrinkage movement here than in other rooms, and keep the extractor running — under Part L building regulations your kitchen has an extractor designed to run constantly, and it’s your main defence against condensation and mould. Don’t switch it off because it hums.

Bifold and French door hinges swell in the heat — stiffness in summer is common and expected. You move in June, the doors stand open on their hinges for eight or nine hours while you’ve got people round, and the hinges swell and shrink. When the door starts to feel stiff closing, that’s normal movement — but report it immediately and don’t force it. Keep pushing a stiff door until the locking mechanism breaks and the fix costs twice as much as the ten-minute realignment it needed. This is one where being quick to report saves everyone money, including you.

So what is a snag?

Doors, cupboards and handles out of alignment. The test: stand back and look at the whole run. Are the gaps between every door the same? You shouldn’t see light through the top of any door. Do they all open and close cleanly — or do some doors hit their neighbours? Misalignment across a run is the single most common kitchen snag, and it’s a straightforward fix.

Scratches, chips — and the mystery mark. Chips and scratches on doors and end panels, judged the usual way: visible from 2m in natural daylight. And the strangest common one: a mark that looks like oil got onto the door somewhere in manufacture or fitting — you can clean it a hundred times and it never quite goes. That’s not your cleaning; it’s a defective door. Report it.

Integrated appliances fitted wrong. You’d be amazed how often there’s a problem behind the neat panel. Fixing screws not engaged, doors that don’t open square, housings that flex. And here’s the responsibility split that matters: if the appliance is fitted wrong, that’s the housebuilder’s to fix — they installed it. (If the appliance itself fails, that’s the manufacturer — which is why registration matters; see below.) The test: don’t open your integrated dishwasher and washing machine once — open and close each one at least ten times, so you know the fixings will stand up to real life, not just demo day.

Missing screws. Really common: a three-hinge door carrying only two screws per hinge. Look inside the cupboards at the hinges themselves.

An appliance with no power at all — that’s not a registration or manufacturer issue, that’s a builder problem (a socket or spur not live). Straight on the list.

Register your appliances the week you move in — because the builder’s warranty doesn’t cover them. This is the single most important thing in the kitchen, and it’s the first thing I’d tell any buyer at handover: your appliance warranties come from the appliance manufacturer, not the housebuilder. If you don’t register them and the oven fails in month eleven, the builder will point at the manufacturer, and the manufacturer will point at the registration you never did. Ten minutes with the model numbers on move-in day protects you for years. (The one exception: no electricity reaching the appliance at all — that’s the builder’s problem, always.)

Granite worktops get “repaired” by someone the trade calls the plastic surgeon — and the repair fades. The granite doesn’t. Site managers really don’t want to replace a granite worktop, because it’s one of the most expensive items in the house. So when there’s a mark, they send the magic man — a specialist trained to hide damage. And he’s good: the repair is invisible... for about six weeks. Then it fades, and the mark is back, and your snagging window may not be. So if you’ve got granite (or any premium surface — Amtico flooring is the same story): inspect it thoroughly, thoroughly, thoroughly at snagging, because the high-value items are exactly the ones the site team will try hardest not to replace.

The high-value rule. Here’s the honest pattern: if a snag can be fixed by sending a trade — a painter, a plumber, a joiner — the site manager fixes it, usually quickly. If it’s expensive to put right, or it’s something they don’t know how to fix, it gets pushed to customer service, and customer service pushes it down the line. That’s why your kitchen inspection should be hardest on the expensive items and the weird ones — they’re precisely the ones that get slow-walked.

Don’t accept a repair on a scratched door — ask for a new door. Site managers can order replacement kitchen doors easily; it’s routine. If they offer to send the plastic surgeon to your scratched door instead, you’re being offered the six-week fix. The right answer is a new door, and it costs them very little to say yes.

A few things almost nobody gets told at handover:

• Your extractor vents go in the dishwasher. Almost nobody knows this: the metal grease vents in your extractor are designed to be dishwasher-cleaned. Once a week, pop them in with a normal load.
• Keep bifold tracks clean, and a little WD-40 if they stiffen — or, if you’ve got kids in the house, baby oil does the same job.
• Baby oil also revives a dulling stainless-steel splashback. A tiny amount, buffed in.

Whether you’re getting a wardrobe of extra units fitted or having the builder’s kitchen upgraded, here’s the question that sorts a new-build kitchen fitter from a generalist: “The kitchen’s the heated room — will the doors need realigning after the first heating season, and do you allow for that?” Anyone who works new builds knows exactly what you mean: heated rooms shrink hardest, door alignment drifts through the first year, and a proper fitter builds a realignment visit into how they work. A fitter who looks blank at the question hasn’t done enough new builds.