This china’s not from China, china!

At Kilnhouse Design Studio, we focus on creating products of the utmost quality and we take great care to ensure their accuracy within tolerance. Here are a few Q and A’s to help: 

Are my Kilnhouse products safe to use in a microwave and dishwasher? 

Yes! Provided that there is no gold detailing on your product, each product is 100% safe to use in the dishwasher and microwave. If your product does have gold lustre on it, this means that it is hand-wash only and will spark in the microwave because of the metal content in the decorative feature. 

My silverware leaves marks on my Kilnhouse products, what do I do? 

Most cutlery will mark your crockery, this does not mean that the glaze over your product is soft but rather that the cutlery is soft. It rubs away at the glazed surface of the product rather than cutting into it. Bar Keepers Friend is your friend, it is a cleaning solution widely available in SA and globally. 

Can I put my Kilnhouse products in the oven? 

Yes, however some rules need to be followed if you’d like to do this and we don’t take responsibility if your product does break: Make sure to heat all products gradually to avoid heat shock. I don’t enjoy a cold shock after a hot shower or an unexpected zing of heat, neither do your Kilnhouse products. The rule of thumb is to heat and cool things slowly. 

How about the stove? Can I use my Kilnhouse products over a burner? 

The short answer is no. Kilnhouse Design Studio cannot be held responsible for any breakage caused when using our products over a stove, heat shock is the main issue here.

My Kilnhouse products are all a little different, is that normal? 

All Kilnhouse products are 100% handmade, with our hands! We observe a 2-3mm tolerance in height and width of all our products so chances are, they will all be very slightly unique.

 

Can you recommend extra tips and tricks for using Kilnhouse products?

General Use

• Sauce smears make a plate look lekker but please avoid slamming metal spoons into plates to make them, we suggest the use of wooden spoons to avoid point shocks.
• If you find that your cutlery is leaving tiny grey lines on the glazed surface, this is the metal of your cutlery wearing down and not the glaze marking. If this becomes an issue, make use of Barkeeper's Friend, this lifts cutlery marking like a charm and is available at https://barkeepers.co.za/ 

Avoid Stacking

• Vertical edged items can stack well. These wares have feet that seat into one another encouraging the stack to remain straight and centered. 
• Stack rounded items as high as 10 units as a maximum and make sure that you place and not drop them into each other. Shock tends to force the rounded walls of the stacked vessels to stick to one another.
• Stack mugs carefully into one another rather than dropping them into place. Forceful dropping might result in cracks on rims, especially around the handle.

Minimising Scratches

• Clay is a naturally abrasive material. We buff and sand our items 3 times before they get to you. Once after trimming, once after stamping and again right before glazing. The material is still abrasive and can scratch highly polished surfaces so please avoid dragging wares and rather lift products to move them. 
• If you have a smaller dish (lets say a breakfast bowl) on top of a dinner plate, there is a chance that the glaze will slightly scratch on the dinner plate as clay is a natural abrasive. Rather serve dishes separately where possible.

Reduce Thermal Shock

• We advise you heat your plates slowly, not ambient to 80°C in a few mins for instance.
• If you have a very hot pass, we highly recommend pre-heating your plates. We understand that food needs to get to your customers hot! This is to avoid uneven heating and heat-shock cracking. 

 

Kilnhouse always delivers on quality and should anything crack/break in a way that you feel is unfitting of this standard, please do let us know. 

We’re in the business of ensuring long working relationships and aren’t the type to cut and run in the face of adversity. 

This being said, please ensure that you or your staff treat our wares with care. They may be high quality, but this doesn’t mean that they are indestructible. 

 

If there are any issues with your Kilnhouse products, any and all problems can usually be resolved by sending us a quick mail on kilnhousedesignstudio@gmail.com