Which products should be avoided on bespoke furniture?

Anything abrasive, bleach-based or ammonia-based, including cream cleaners and the scouring side of a sponge. Warm water and a microfibre cloth are enough in the great majority of cases. On a matt lacquer, avoid glass cleaner too.

How do I know whether my wood is oiled or varnished?

Put a drop of water on it. On a varnish it beads and keeps its round shape. On oiled wood it spreads and darkens the wood slightly, then the mark disappears as it dries. The two care routines are opposites, so the test is worth doing before buying a product.

Can a scratch on a lacquered door be repaired?

Not in place. A lacquer is retouched in the workshop, or the door is rebuilt to the original dimensions. We keep the shop drawings, so a single piece can be remade without touching the rest of the unit.

How often should a wooden worktop be oiled?

Once or twice a year on a heavily used kitchen worktop, less often on a desk or a shelf. The useful guide is not the calendar but water: while a drop no longer spreads and no longer darkens the wood, the coat is still there.

After the install

Caring for bespoke furniture: wood, lacquer and worktops

By Stand'Up Conception7 September 2026

Bespoke furniture is not maintained like mass-produced furniture, because the finish is not the same. Three things damage almost everything: water left standing, heat put down directly, and abrasive or ammonia-based products. The rest depends on the finish, and oiled and varnished wood want the exact opposite of each other.

The three things that actually cause damage

Before any talk of products, there is an order of severity. Standing water first: a puddle at the foot of a tap, a wet cloth folded over an edge, a plant whose saucer overflows. The edge is the most vulnerable part of a panel, and it swells without warning.

Then heat placed straight onto the surface. A pan taken off the hob marks a lacquer in seconds and blooms a varnish. Finally products: anything abrasive, bleach-based or ammonia-based attacks the finish before it cleans the dirt.

Oiled and varnished wood want opposite things

Oiled wood is fed. The finish is in the wood, not on it, so it wears with use and gets renewed: another coat once or twice a year on a heavily used worktop, less often elsewhere. The good news is that a scratch sands out locally and disappears.

Varnished wood is protected. The film sits on the wood, not in it. While it is intact nothing gets through; once it is pierced, water gets in and you cannot repair one area without it showing. Never oil a varnished surface: the oil stays on top and goes sticky.

If you no longer know which one you have, a drop of water settles it. On a varnish it beads and stays round. On oiled wood it spreads and darkens the wood slightly, then the mark goes as it dries.

Lacquer: the most beautiful and the least forgiving

A lacquer is cleaned with warm water and a microfibre cloth, and nothing else. No scouring pad, not even the soft side, no cream cleaner, no glass cleaner on matt lacquers. The damage is almost always done by a product, rarely by use.

Matt lacquers mark more than gloss ones because the light reveals the slightest burnishing. Repeated rubbing in one spot eventually creates an area shinier than the rest, and that shine does not come off: it is retouched in the workshop.

Worktops: what each material forgives

Natural stone is porous. Red wine, olive oil and lemon leave a mark if you let them sit, and limestone dulls on contact with acid. It is treated with a sealer, renewed according to use.

Compact laminate is the most indifferent day to day: it minds neither water nor most stains. What it does mind is a deep scratch, which cannot be repaired. Solid wood, by contrast, can always be repaired, which makes it the longest-lived worktop of all, as long as you accept that it lives.

Stone: seal it, and wipe acids and oils off quickly.
Compact laminate: a chopping board is compulsory, everything else is allowed.
Solid wood: oil it regularly, sand locally after an accident.

The yearly adjustment almost nobody does

A door that rubs or a drawer that no longer closes square is not a manufacturing fault, it is an adjustment. Hinges adjust on three axes with a crosshead screwdriver, and nearly all runners have a correction wheel under the drawer.

One pass around the kitchen or the wardrobe once a year, tightening and realigning, prevents most of what eventually breaks. A badly adjusted unit wears fast, because the weight goes through the hardware instead of through the carcass.

What is repaired and what is remade

Repaired in place: an adjustment, replaced hardware, a redone seal, a refreshed oil coat, a scratch in oiled wood.

Remade in the workshop: a damaged lacquered door, lifted veneer, an edge swollen by water. We rebuild the affected piece to the original dimensions without touching the rest of the unit, because the shop drawings are kept.

Common questions

Which products should be avoided on bespoke furniture?
Anything abrasive, bleach-based or ammonia-based, including cream cleaners and the scouring side of a sponge. Warm water and a microfibre cloth are enough in the great majority of cases. On a matt lacquer, avoid glass cleaner too.
How do I know whether my wood is oiled or varnished?
Put a drop of water on it. On a varnish it beads and keeps its round shape. On oiled wood it spreads and darkens the wood slightly, then the mark disappears as it dries. The two care routines are opposites, so the test is worth doing before buying a product.
Can a scratch on a lacquered door be repaired?
Not in place. A lacquer is retouched in the workshop, or the door is rebuilt to the original dimensions. We keep the shop drawings, so a single piece can be remade without touching the rest of the unit.
How often should a wooden worktop be oiled?
Once or twice a year on a heavily used kitchen worktop, less often on a desk or a shelf. The useful guide is not the calendar but water: while a drop no longer spreads and no longer darkens the wood, the coat is still there.

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