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Kitchen cupboards going yellow

13 replies

PersilOrAriel · 17/02/2016 17:08

4 years ago I got my kitchen redone, with white high gloss units. In the last year or so the white has noticeably yellowed. In fact, we recently had our cloakroom redone and the new white cupboard door in there has shown how badly the kitchen white has deteriorated.

We're still in the kitchen guarantee period, so I took a photo of the two whites together for comparison purposes and sent it to the guarantee department. Two people in that department have told me that the kitchen should not have yellowed and that it was unusual to have done so, but I've now been officially emailed to say that this is entirely normal and to be expected, so nothing can be done.

We were at no point made aware that this would happen, if we had then we would have gone for a different finish, or chosen a different colour. The kitchen cost us £12k just for the cupboards, so am I being naive here or is this worth pursuing? Any opinions welcome.

Kitchen cupboards going yellow
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Fourarmsv2 · 17/02/2016 20:50

How big is the kitchen? For £12K I wouldn't expect anything to go wrong!

PersilOrAriel · 17/02/2016 21:00

It's pretty big, the whole bill after appliances and work tops was more than double that. We have 25 doors, 2 sets of pan drawers and a bank of drawers. I just want to gauge if I'm being unreasonable at the unexpected (to me but apparently not to them) yellowing.

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OnePlanOnHouzz · 18/02/2016 08:10

White can sometimes yellow in an area with little natural light ... Did they mention this in their response? Or even ask what the difference was in the area with bright white doors verses the area where they have yellowed ?! If they won't change them for you - it might be an idea to swap the brighter doors with the yellowed ones so that in time they yellow too - so at least then it will all match ... Not an ideal solution I agree - but maybe a solution if the doors are compatible sizes ...

In my personal opinion, I think they should change them for you, if a possibility of colour change wasn't explained anywhere in writing when you purchased. But the problem is - what do they change them for, that won't have the same problem ?!

OnePlanOnHouzz · 18/02/2016 08:12

Sorry - Just realised the bright white door was one you brought in new from the other area - so are they all matching in the kitchen ?!

Roystonv · 18/02/2016 08:24

Keep going with your complaint the difference is very noticeable

PersilOrAriel · 18/02/2016 08:30

Thanks for the replies, yes they have yellowed uniformly in the kitchen.

I'm not expecting a kitchen to last 50 years without some kind of deterioration but I wouldn't expect it to look like this after 4 years. Definitely nothing in writing or verbally to warn us that this could have been expected.

Ideally I'd like to change them to a grey or taupe so they wouldn't age but to be honest I'd be happy to get them replaced like for like. At least then I would get about 8 years in total before it would need a redo. Not ideal, but I'm trying to be realistic.

I'm planning on responding by email with a stiffly worded response this weekend when I can sit down with DH and do it carefully rather than just firing off a badly worded rant in the heat of the moment. Any suggestions welcome.

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Amlwch · 06/10/2018 15:23

I'm looking for new kitchen cupboard doors, I'm thinking of high gloss white but am worrying about the possibility of yellowing as our kitchen is very sunny. I'm wondering if light grey might be better. Any advice?

Knittedfairies · 06/10/2018 15:39

Have they all yellowed to the same degree? If sunlight is the cause, I would expect it to be more evident on some cupboards than others, depending on how the light falls. Manufacturing problem, maybe?

Coward123 · 01/08/2019 00:00

I bought some White Gloss Furniture from Next. It has yellowed quite badly by the Sun in places where the Sun is strongest.

I hope you had a response by now. How did it go?

poppy336 · 07/12/2019 11:38

hi
I had/have the same problem Ist time was 3 years after fitting.I complained for two years finally they were replaced but the company wouldn’t pay to have them fitted as I had used my own fitter who was a lot better than theirs.4 years later they are cream/yellow again.
I wonder if your cupboards came from the same company.

Myshinynewname · 07/12/2019 21:21

Have the end panels yellowed as well? If you just change the doors are the cabinets going to look odd?
I agree that that degree of yellowing is very poor after only 4 years. I would be very disappointed too.

poppy336 · 09/12/2019 09:29

hi PersilOrAriel
I had/have the same problem Ist time was 3 years after fitting.I complained for two years finally they were replaced but the company wouldn’t pay to have them fitted as I had used my own fitter who was a lot better than theirs.4 years later they are cream/yellow again.
I wonder if your cupboards came from the same company.

PersilOrAriel · 09/12/2019 12:32

Hi poppy336

We got nowhere, not from lack of trying.

We used the legal cover on our house insurance and got lawyers involved, but in the end they decided not to take it to court as the risk was too great. There was no way we would do it privately after that response.

We’re in the Surrey/Hants/Berks area if that’s any clue re the same supplier.

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