How do I clean the interior shelves?

Wipe them down with a dry cotton cloth. Dust gathers quickly in the plate grooves. For sticky spots, use a damp cloth with mild soap. Dry the wood immediately to stop water sinking into the open grain.

I have an old hutch that smells quite musty inside when I open the lower doors, what is the best way to get rid of that smell?

Leave the doors open on a dry day. Good airflow pulls out trapped moisture from the pine carcase. Place a bowl of bicarbonate of soda on the bottom shelf. It absorbs odours without masking them with artificial scents. Change the powder every few weeks until the smell clears. You should notice a difference within a month.

Are the top sections meant to detach?

Most of them do lift off. The upper section usually sits on wooden dowels or rests freely within a shallow moulding on the base. Gravity holds the piece together. This allowed original owners to move large furniture through narrow doorways. Always check for modern screws added later to fix the halves together.

My dining room floor is quite uneven and the hutch leans forward slightly, how should I fix this so the doors stay shut?

Slide wooden wedges under the front feet. You want to tilt the whole structure back toward the wall. Cut off any excess wedge sticking out. This stops the doors swinging open and relieves stress on the structural joints. Never alter the antique feet to match an uneven floor. You will ruin the proportions of the base.

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Antique Hutches

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An antique hutch is a wooden storage cabinet featuring a lower cupboard section topped with open shelves or glazed doors, originally built to store and display household tableware.