Homeowners sleep well at night knowing that their home appliances, furniture, and fixtures have an insurance cover; in all rooms, including the kitchen. Since not all kitchen items are insured, it is essential to know whether all your kitchen cabinets are under insurance cover.
Your insurance covers all your kitchen cabinets. Not all of them, however, will be replaced in case of damage. Some instances of damage also do not warrant insurance cover on your kitchen cabinets.
How your insurance company covers your kitchen cabinets depends on the severity and cause of the damage, which I will highlight. Please note that insurance policies differ from company to company, so carefully read your company’s insurance policy to understand your insurance options.
What Type of Kitchen Cabinet Damage is Covered by My Insurance?
When you have a damaged kitchen cabinet, one of the things your insurance company will look into is the cause of damage. I will list down the common reasons considered for insurance cover.
Water Damage
Water damage from unexpected leakage is covered. Sudden leakage from faulty plumbing that was not foreseen will warrant insurance cover. The insurance company will consider the severity of the leakage; some leakages are too small for the cabinet to be insured.
Water damage that results from natural disasters like floods will also be covered. Natural disasters are out of your control, so your insurance will have no problem covering the damage.
Fire
A fire that erupted and deemed to be out of your control will be covered. The fire could result from a gas explosion from an undetected gas leak or defected gas cylinder. If you can prove that you were not directly responsible for the fire damage, your company will cover you.
Some insurance companies cover damage from both the fire and smoke, while others reject smoke damage as redeemable. Read your insurance company’s policy to see if this applies to you.
Other Natural Disasters
Other natural disasters you can claim insurance cover for your kitchen cabinet include stormy weather. In some storm cases, gushes of wind might blow through your window and rip off your cabinet doors.
More severe disasters such as earthquakes may damage several items in your home, including kitchen cabinets. If you can salvage your kitchen, your company will cover your kitchen cabinets.
What Type of Kitchen Cabinet Damage is Not Covered by My Insurance?
Your kitchen cabinets will not be entitled to insurance cover if you were directly the cause of the damage or if you could avoid the damage.
Personal Damage
If you knowingly broke a section of your kitchen cabinet, like a handle or glass, your company will not cover you. Your insurance company, however, might decide to cover your kitchen cabinet if the damage was a result of a burglary or accident that was out of your hands.
Negligence
If you experience sudden water leakages from plumbing failure that you did not anticipate, your kitchen cabinet will be covered. However, if you have leakage problems caused by progressive plumbing failure that you could have avoided, you will not be insured under the grounds of negligence.
Similarly, if colonies of termites have eaten at your kitchen cabinets and damaged them, you will not be insured. When termites and other wood-eating insects damage your kitchen cabinets, it is negligence as you can notice their presence early and call an exterminator before significant damage.
Several pest control sprays and dust agents are available to avoid insect invasion, keep them at bay, and stop them from forming colonies.
Wear and Tear
Your insurance company will not insure worn-out kitchen cabinets as a result of frequent usage. Insurance companies also deny covering old kitchen cabinets. It is best to maintain your kitchen cabinet to avoid gradual deterioration that will need replacing.
Maintenance involves oiling door hinges, cleaning stains, re-painting polishing cabinet handles. You can go the extra mile and replace hinges just when you notice they are out of shape instead of waiting until they completely wear out and dangle your doors.
Will My Insurance Repair or Replace My Kitchen Cabinets?
Once your insurance company decides that they will cover your kitchen cabinet’s damage, the next step is to determine whether they will repair the kitchen cabinet or replace it entirely.
If the damage is minimal, your insurance company will repair the damaged part, whether it is a loose hinge or a broken handle. Your insurance company may entirely replace severely damaged cabinets.
If your cabinet came in a set, the company would only cover the damaged section. For example, if your kitchen cabinet came in a set of 10 cabinets and two are damaged, they will only replace the two kitchen cabinet sections, and the rest will stay intact.
This type of arrangement might interfere with your kitchen’s aesthetic if the replacements are not the same color or material as the originals. Unfortunately, your insurance is not obligated to match the same color scheme as your kitchen cabinets during replacements.
If this bothers you and you wish to match, you will have to pay for the entire set replacement. Some insurances, however, may consider replacing the whole kitchen cabinet set if they replaced one or two because of fire damage, and the rest of the group was damaged by smoke.
They will replace the entire set because of the one fire incident, but this is not guaranteed.
Can Insurance Cover My Outdoor Kitchen Cabinets?
If you have an outdoor kitchen set up complete with kitchen cabinets, your insurance can cover the kitchen cabinets.
Insurance policies have conditions on the structures and contents of kitchen cabinets, so make sure your outdoor cabinets meet these conditions.
You will expose your outdoor kitchen cabinets to weather elements that, naturally, will be out of your control. This type of exposure, like rains and strong winds, will damage your kitchen cabinets, and you might have to claim cover every time disaster strikes your cabinets.
Your insurance cover will have policies in place to mitigate this to avoid repeated claims.
