Why it lands at the cabinet line
Meltwater entering at the eave runs inward across the top of the ceiling and comes down at the first discontinuity. In a kitchen that is usually the line where the wall cabinets are screwed through the drywall into the studs — a row of penetrations, right where the ceiling meets the outside wall.
From there it runs down the back of the carcass rather than out into the room, which is why a kitchen leak is so often found late, by smell or by a swollen cabinet back rather than by a drip.
Particleboard and MDF do not recover
Most cabinet carcasses and most worktops are particleboard or MDF with a laminate or veneer. Those swell irreversibly when they get wet and they do not dry back to shape. A carcass that has taken water along its bottom edge or back panel will stay swollen and the door will never sit right again.
Move what you can out of the units now. It is far easier to argue a claim over contents you have photographed and removed than over a cabinet somebody emptied into a trash bag.
Electrics above a worktop
Kitchens have outlets, extractor hoods and under-cabinet lighting all along that wall. Treat any wet outlet or fitting as live until the circuit is off at the breaker panel.
How to tell which one you have
It is probably an ice dam
Top-floor kitchen, snow on the roof, ice at the eave above, and the water is at the outside wall rather than under a bathroom.
It is probably plumbing
There is a bathroom or a washing machine directly above. The water appears with use, not with weather.
It is probably the extractor
A cooker hood ducted into the attic rather than outside will condense and drip in cold weather, much like a bathroom fan.
What to do in the next ten minutes
- Kill the power to the kitchen circuits if any outlet, light or appliance is wet.
- Empty the affected cabinets and photograph the contents before you move them.
- Open the cabinet doors so the carcasses can start drying, and get air moving in the room.
- Photograph the ceiling line, the cabinet backs and anything swollen, with the date visible.
- Call us to get the ice off the eave above before the next thaw puts more water through the same path.
Questions people ask
A solid cabinet box that dried quickly is often fine. Particleboard and MDF that swelled are not, because the swelling is permanent. A restoration contractor will measure moisture content rather than guess, and that measurement is what an adjuster wants to see.
A dehumidifier helps the room but it does not reach water sitting above the ceiling or inside a wall cavity. Those need the cavity opened or professional drying equipment. Running a household unit and hoping is how a water problem becomes a mold problem.
Sudden water damage to contents is within the scope of most homeowners policies, though limits and excesses vary a great deal and nothing is guaranteed until your adjuster has seen it. Photograph everything in place before you move it.