The First Six Months With a New Kitchen

What to adjust, what to expect, and what to report. Treat each point as a check rather than a rule — the right answer depends on your room, and the value here is in knowing which question to ask before a decision becomes expensive to reverse. This is written from projects rather than from a general principle, which is why it names specific dimensions and specific failure modes rather than staying at the level of advice. Where your own room differs from the assumption behind a point, the point still applies — just adjust the number. Nothing here requires taking our word for it; each point is the kind of thing you can verify yourself on a site visit or ask a contractor to confirm in writing. That verification is usually the difference between advice that gets followed and advice that gets nodded at and ignored. A few of these points contradict what gets repeated as conventional wisdom. Where that happens we say so directly and explain why, because the conventional version is usually true in general and wrong for the specific case it gets applied to.

It is easy to treat this as a minor decision because it does not show up in a rendered image. In practice it is one of the decisions that determines whether the finished room actually works the way it was intended to, independent of how it looks. None of the points below meaningfully change the budget on their own — they change whether the budget you already have is spent on the right things. Getting them right does not cost more; getting them wrong costs a rework later that was never in the original estimate. The right moment to act on any of this is whichever comes first: the design drawing that fixes it, or the trade on site that executes past it. After either, changing course gets progressively more expensive.

Expect to re-adjust hinges at about eight weeks

Timber and boards settle, and shutter gaps drift slightly. One round of three-way hinge adjustment at the two-month mark is normal, not a defect.

Re-zone after you have actually cooked in it

However well planned, some things end up in the wrong drawer. Spend an hour after a month moving items to where you actually reach for them.

Watch the sink base

Check under the sink monthly for the first six months. Slow leaks at trap connections are the single most common cause of early carcass damage.

Do not season a quartz counter

Quartz needs nothing. Sealers marketed for stone can leave a film on engineered surfaces. Warm water and a mild detergent is the whole maintenance routine.

Report anything structural early

A shutter that will not sit square, a drawer that drops, a soft patch near water — report these while they are small and covered rather than living with them.