Home insurance is an essential part of any homeowner’s life plan. It offers protection for every aspect of your home, including your kitchen. Whether you just moved into a new home or you have renovated your kitchen, insurance is essential. The question now would be, how do you get insurance on a new kitchen?
You can insure your new kitchen under building insurance or content insurance. If your kitchen is new in terms of renovation, inform your insurance company of the changes to update your coverage.
The two are different in what exact features in your new kitchen will be covered by insurance in case of accidents or damages. I will highlight the two categories of insurance for your new kitchen.
Types of Insurance for Your New Kitchen
The two primary insurances your new kitchen can benefit from are buildings insurance and content insurance.
Building Insurance
Building insurance covers damage to your building’s property. In your new kitchen, your windows, doors, countertops, and any other structure attached to the main building is under buildings insurance.
In short, anything you leave behind in your kitchen if you decide to move is covered under buildings insurance.
Content Insurance
Any item that you can carry out of your new kitchen is under content insurance. These items include kitchen appliances like refrigerators and cookers.
What Insurance Is Best for My New Kitchen
You can choose either one of the two insurance covers depending on the value of your kitchen build and appliances. Both these insurances cover damage to your new kitchen caused by extreme weather conditions and natural disasters like storms and earthquakes, house fires, water damage, and items stolen and damaged during a burglary.
In both cases, insurance will not cover your new kitchen if you cause damage to either the fittings in your kitchen or the appliances.
If your kitchen appliances were stolen and they were outside your home at the time of the theft, insurance will not cover them.
Content and buildings insurance only covers items inside your home, and in this case, items inside your new kitchen.
It is best to get combined buildings and content insurance for your new kitchen if you own your own home. You own the rights to your house and the items inside, so a combined cover is appropriate.
If you rent your house, you will not need to get buildings insurance for your new kitchen as it will be the landlord’s responsibility to ensure the building is covered. The same applies if you rent a fully furnished house and the appliances are not yours.
When you buy your kitchen appliances in a rented home, you can get content insurance to cover your kitchen items.
If you own an apartment in a block of flats, you will not need buildings insurance if you bought it under freehold. If you purchased it under leasehold, you would need content insurance to protect your kitchen appliances.
If your preferred insurance choice for your new kitchen is both buildings and content insurance, consider buying a combined policy instead of two separate policies; it is much cheaper.
Do Building and Content Insurance Cover Accidents?
Home insurance does not usually cover accidents, like breakages or appliance damage due to negligence.
However, you can include such accidents in your policy if your insurance company has the option to cover accidents but at a higher cost. Most homeowners find this cost worth it to pay more but cover accidents.
Does Homeowners Insurance Cover Home Improvements?
Home improvements add value to your home, giving it personality and a sense of worth. It is therefore fundamental that insurance covers your hard-earned renovation work, which they do.
Insurance after home improvement may not be the same value as it was before renovations. For example, if you are building new and higher quality kitchen cabinets, the amount of money used to replace or repair them if damaged would be higher than your previous cabinets.
This means that you will need to upgrade your policy to cover significant home improvements. Your personal liability limits may also not be high enough to protect someone injured during your home improvement project.
How Does Insurance Cover Home Improvements?
Your home insurance will cover your home if the remodeling process causes any damage to your property.
Before starting your home improvement process, whether renovating or buying new home items, review your coverage amounts to ensure it is sufficient. Inform your insurance company of your project and what exactly your home improvement entails.
The amount of money in your cover, that is, the amount of money insurance pays out in case of damage, should match the renovation cost or the improved item.
If you hire a professional home improvement contractor, their insurance may cover damage to your home or your insurance will. The cover depends on what is damaged, how much the damage is, and what caused it.
Your contractor should possess business insurance documents like worker’s compensation and home liability insurance. If they damage property, their insurance will cover the damage. Your insurance may also help pay for repairs depending on the policy.
One thing to note is that your home insurance will not cover poor workmanship or the use of low-quality material on our home renovation. If your contractor improperly installs your new doors and they fall out, it is upon you to repair them.
Some instances of poor quality work can warrant insurance cover. For example, insurance may cover a fire caused by lousy wiring by your electrician. They will not, however, repair the electrical wiring.
Do You Have to Make Repairs After an Insurance Claim?
It could be fraudulent if you make a claim on insurance and keep the money without repairing the damage. When your insurance company makes a payout, it is because you reported damage on your property.
You should therefore repair or replace the damaged item or be charged with insurance fraud. You can keep leftover money, though, if you have made repairs and some pocket change is left.
