Walnut furniture care, Canaletto walnut at home.

Walnut furniture care starts with knowing which walnut you have. Giorgetti, the woodworking company from Meda in Brianza, uses Canaletto walnut across a large part of its catalogue, from sideboards to chair legs. It names walnut among the woods it selects by quality and provenance and dries before anyone cuts it. A well dried board holds its shape. The finish on top of it is the part you look after.

Three finishes, one wood.

Giorgetti offers Canaletto walnut in three finishes: natural, coded 11; gray, coded 2W; and dark, coded 2Z. Delphi, Clori, Hero, G Code, Liz and Vibe all list the three. The finish sets the color and forms the first layer between the wood and your house.

Natural shows the warm brown and the figure of the grain. Gray cools it down and suits a room with stone and steel. Dark sits closest to espresso. Pick the finish in daylight, next to the floor and the stone you already have, and look at it again under your own lamps in the evening.

Two cabinets that use it.

Giorgetti Charlotte, by Carlo Colombo, comes in two heights, 69 and 160 cm. Giorgetti builds the structure in solid walnut and walnut veneer. Inside, you can have a top and back in Calacatta, Portoro or Zebrino marble and a leather lining. The low version has four doors, or four doors with two drawers in the middle; the tall one has drawers, small drawers and a sliding shelf, or a mirrored back. Both carry a power socket, a network socket and a USB socket, and LEDs light the inside. See the Charlotte collection.

Giorgetti Delphi, also by Colombo, adds a sideboard, two chests of drawers and a night table. The walnut drawer fronts carry vertical profiles in pewter painted metal or in leather with a double tone on tone stitch. The tall dresser can hide a compartment with a magnetic card lock for small valuables. See the Delphi collection.

Light.

Sun changes walnut. Direct light over months will pale a natural finish and can leave a shadow where a vase stood. Keep a walnut sideboard out of a window's full afternoon sun, or draw a sheer curtain in summer. Move objects on the top from time to time so the whole surface ages at the same pace.

Heat and air.

Wood moves with the air around it. A cabinet next to a radiator, a fireplace or a heating vent dries faster on one side than the other. Leave some room between walnut and any heat source, and keep indoor humidity steady through the year. A room that swings from humid summer to dry winter is harder on veneer than a steady one.

Water and spills.

Wipe spills at once with a soft cloth wrung almost dry, then dry the spot. Put coasters under glasses and a mat under plants. Water left standing on a finish can leave a pale ring.

On Charlotte and Delphi the marble tops take a glass without worry, but acidic drinks can etch the stone. Treat the marble the way you treat the wood: wipe it and dry it.

Dust and cleaning.

Dust with a soft, dry microfiber cloth, working along the grain. Skip silicone sprays and polish with wax unless we confirm the product for your finish, since a coat that does not suit the lacquer leaves smears and builds up over time. For marks that do not come off with a dry cloth, ask us before you try anything stronger.

Leather parts, the linings and the stitched profiles on Delphi, take their own care. We cover saddle leather in a separate story.

Lights, sockets and drawers.

The LEDs inside Charlotte and Delphi give off little heat, but a lamp or a speaker left running on the top for hours warms the finish under it. Charge phones at the socket inside Charlotte and keep them off the lacquer. Open drawers by the handle or the push point Giorgetti built into them, and do not pull a loaded drawer by its front edge. The Delphi chests use push to open drawers and a soft closing large drawer, so a light touch does the work.

Scratches and repairs.

A light scuff on a walnut top often fades with gentle dusting along the grain. A deep scratch or a dent in veneer needs a furniture restorer who works with lacquered wood. Send us a photo first, and we will ask Giorgetti what the finish needs.

Sun, heat and small hands.

Choose the finish with the room in mind: how much sun, how much heat, how many small hands. Tell us in the form below which Charlotte or Delphi piece you are looking at, the finish you like and the room it goes to. We reply with the options for that piece, the lead time and a price.