One guarantee, several different clocks
A single number on a brochure hides a set of different promises underneath it. A cabinet carcass (the structural box a door hangs on, made from board) is usually the part carrying the longest term, because it has no moving parts and nothing to wear. Hinges, runners, handles and worktops are mechanical or exposed to daily use, so a retailer will often cover them for a shorter period, or under separate conditions, even where the same brochure quotes one headline figure for the whole kitchen.
Workmanship, meaning the standard of the fitting itself rather than the units, is usually a distinct guarantee again, sometimes from the retailer and sometimes from the fitting company if that is a different business. Where a kitchen is bought as supply-only and fitted by an independent tradesperson, the workmanship guarantee follows the fitter's own terms.
Reading a guarantee against what you actually bought
The figure to check is not the headline year count but which component list it sits against, because two ranges from the same retailer can carry different terms if one uses a different door finish or hinge brand. A guarantee is only worth what its written conditions say, and those conditions are what decide whether a claim gets honoured years from now.
Where a written guarantee is unclear about which parts it covers, or a claim is refused on terms that seem to contradict what was shown at the point of sale, Your Rights When Buying a Kitchen sets out what the Consumer Rights Act adds on top of any manufacturer's guarantee. And before choosing between suppliers on guarantee terms alone, Choosing a Kitchen Supplier You Can Rely On covers the other checks, trading status, deposit protection, trade membership, that tell you whether a guarantee is likely to still mean something in ten or twenty years.
What cabinets, doors and workmanship are actually covered for
Each row states what the retailer or maker itself publishes for cabinets and, where stated, for doors and fitting work. Where a page does not give a figure for a category, the cell says so.
| Retailer or maker | Cabinets | Doors and workmanship | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wickes | Up to 20 years | Up to 10 years on door and drawer fronts; 2 years on the installation itself | The workmanship guarantee runs far shorter than the cabinet guarantee, so a fitting fault reported in year five falls outside it |
| Howdens | 25 years on its UK-made cabinets | 5 years on doors; 3 years on Lamona appliances | Howdens sells through the trade, so the guarantee is usually administered through the fitter who bought from them |
| Magnet | Lifetime cabinet guarantee stated on its homepage; Ludlow range offers a Ready to Assemble build at 15 years or a Pre-Built rigid build | Not stated in the pages checked | The headline lifetime figure and the range-specific 15-year figure sit on different pages, so check which applies to the actual units in your quote |
| IKEA | 25 years on the METOD cabinet frame | Covered under the same kitchen guarantee: hinges, drawers and worktops, with knobs, handles, wear and tear, and damage from incorrect installation set aside | The guarantee brochure lists specific exclusions by name, so read them against the exact parts in your kitchen |
| Kesseler | Lifetime furniture guarantee | Not stated in the pages checked | A lifetime term is usually tied to conditions such as who fits the kitchen or whether it is registered; check the retailer's own terms for those conditions |
| Nolte | 5 years | Not stated in the pages checked | A shorter stated term is not necessarily a weaker kitchen; it simply means the retailer has not put a longer figure in writing |
Figures are read from each retailer's or maker's own page, dated 16 September 2026, and cover only the businesses checked here. A guarantee's conditions, such as registration or who does the fitting, sit on the same source page and are worth reading before you rely on a headline figure.
Conditions worth reading before you rely on a guarantee
A guarantee is only worth what its conditions allow, and three conditions decide that more often than any other.
Registering the guarantee
Some guarantees start on the day of purchase and cover you automatically; others only apply once you have registered the kitchen with the retailer, usually within a set number of weeks of delivery or installation. A guarantee that needed registration and never got it is not a guarantee, whatever the leaflet said in the showroom. Check the registration requirement on the retailer's own guarantee page before you sign anything, and keep a copy of the confirmation once you have registered.
Who has to fit it
Many cabinet and worktop guarantees are conditional on installation by the retailer's own fitting team or an approved fitter. If you plan to buy the units from one retailer and bring in an independent fitter, the guarantee terms are the place to find out whether that voids the cover. Where the terms are silent on this point, that silence is worth confirming in writing before you commit to a fitter.
When a promotional term ends
A guarantee advertised as part of a sale or launch offer usually carries its own end date, separate from the standard cover the range would otherwise carry. Once that date passes, the kitchen typically reverts to whatever the retailer's standard guarantee provides, which can be shorter and narrower than the promotional version you saw advertised. Ask for the promotional end date in writing and check what cover applies once it lapses, because that is the figure that actually matters if something fails in year six.
- Registration: is it required, by when, and where do you confirm it went through
- Installation: does the guarantee require the retailer's fitter, and what happens if you use your own
- Promotional end date: what the cover reverts to once a time-limited term expires
None of this replaces the statutory protection you already have as a buyer, which sits alongside any guarantee. Your rights when buying a kitchen sets out what that protection covers. Before you compare guarantee wording between retailers, choosing a kitchen supplier you can rely on is worth reading, since a retailer's willingness to put its guarantee terms in writing is itself one of the checks worth making.
Check the guarantee terms for the parts you're actually buying
A guarantee is only as good as the conditions attached to it, so read those before you sign anything.