Cabinets get touched more than any other surface in a house and cleaned less than most. The good news is that keeping them right takes very little, as long as it is the right very little.
The everyday routine
A soft damp cloth and a dry one behind it. That is genuinely it for day to day. The important part is the drying, because it is water sitting in a joint or along a bottom edge that causes problems, not water touching the surface.
What to keep away from them
No abrasive pads, no bleach, no ammonia, no all-purpose spray applied directly to a door. Harsh cleaners strip finish gradually and invisibly, and by the time a dull patch shows around a handle the finish there has gone. If you use a cleaner, put it on the cloth, never on the cabinet.
Deal with grease before it sets
The doors either side of the range take the worst of it. Warm water with a drop of dish soap handles fresh grease easily. Once it has baked on and oxidised it is a much harder job, so the trick is frequency rather than effort.
Humidity matters here
Nashville summers are humid and winters are dry, and real hardwood moves with that. It is normal and it is not a fault. Running the range hood when you cook and keeping the house within a reasonable humidity range is enough to keep seasonal movement to something you never notice.
Twice a year
Check and tighten hinge screws and handle screws, and wipe out the inside of the cabinets. Ten minutes of tightening is what stops a door starting to sag.
Protect the vulnerable spots
Under the sink is where cabinets die. Check the trap occasionally for a slow leak, because a drip you cannot see will do more damage in a month than daily use does in a decade. Use a liner or a mat.
Do that much and hardwood cabinets will outlast most of what is around them.
