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In February of this year I fitted a new kitchen - bought units from the Wickes 'Miami' range (bargain basement)
After only 9 months the tops of the cupboard doors of the sink unit are badly water damaged.
I took one to my local Wickes & they basically said I should have done something to improve the water resistance of the door (apparently the doors don't have a wrap-around coating, which leaves the edges slightly exposed).
Now, I don't think I'm being unreasonable in expecting a new kitchen to last more than 9 months before suffering serious damage, even if it is a cheapo one.
I'm thinking along the lines of the doors being 'fit for purpose' if they can't even tolerate a bit of water splashed whilst washing up.
What should I do? Or, perhaps, what am I in my rights to expect from Wickes in response?
They offered me a replacement door, but it'll only suffer the same as the first, so they've not actually resolved anything.
How come your doors are getting wet? Even with washing up, mine don't get wet - the worktop overhangs enough to mean that any drips go on the floor, not the worktop.
my wickes doors were pretty resistant to wear and tear. I wouldn't have thought any mdf, chipboard or ply doors would stand up to constant soaking, no matter how well they are painted/coated.
Dave
alfabus - maybe you've more of an overhang with the worktop. either way, it hasn't taken much to damage my doors, just a few drips of water that happen during the daily kitchen activities. We regularly wipe down the sink area to soak up any water, so it's not like the doors are left in a puddle 🙂
who installed your worktop?
If they did it and didn't allow enough overhang, can you raise that as a complaint? maybe get them to rectify it as well as replacing the door?
Obviously if you did it, then you're a bit stuffed 🙂
Dave
installed myself.
the rear edge of the worktop is aligned exactly with the rear edge of the unit base. if I had increased the overhang there'd have been a huge gap between the wall and worktop.
maybe I'll just accept the replacement door and helicopter tape the top edge 🙂
oh, ok. I bought my worktops separately and sized them to give me a big overhang over the front
Heli tape sounds like a plan.
Dave
amazing really that such a water intolerant material (chipboard) has become so popular for kitchens..
yes, who would have thought that it might get a bit wet around a sink now and then 🙄
The IKEA ones only used to overhang the bases by 20mm, they then upped the tops to 606mm to at least cover the doors. 40mm over hang used to be standard but 30 is more common now.
Worktops used to have a square edge underneath which meant water dripped off onto the floor (it also meant it got into the core of the worktop!)