Where we work

Places differ less in their appliances than in what surrounds them. Almost every difficult visit we have had was decided by the room, the route or the wiring rather than by the fault itself, so a few questions at booking save an hour on the day.

• The opening Width, height, square A full-height built-in has to come out on its rollers to be worked on properly. Flooring laid over flooring steals height at the toe kick, and a remodelled island can sit inside the door swing.
• The route out Doorways and thresholds These cabinets are heavy and tall. A stone threshold, a step down or a tight turn decides whether a door has to come off first — we would rather know than find out with the unit already moving.
• The circuit Dedicated or shared Older kitchens were often never given a circuit of their own for refrigeration. A built-in sharing with a countertop load produces intermittent symptoms that read as a failing control and are not, so we measure supply voltage under load before condemning a board.
• Access Gates, codes, drives Several of these communities are gated, and some river lots have long or gravel drives. It is a scheduling detail rather than an obstacle, but only if we hear it in advance.

The other thing worth having ready is the model and serial number from the data plate, usually inside the fresh-food compartment near the top or behind the grille. Parts for these cabinets are serial-specific often enough that it changes what we load into the van.