Old cabinet on the left, and new sink support aka cabinet on the right.
Before, it was just like the area around the cooking hob, solid surface worktop with wood cabinet. Now its concrete with tiles. Pros and Cons?
Solid Surface VS Tiled Surface
Solid surface has a seamless surface, looks classier than tiles, can withstand the heat around the hob, wider range of pretty selections. It is generally costlier than tiles. Tiles are relatively cheaper compared to solid surface, super easy to clean, has a super wide selection to view and choose, and wouldn't lose shine (our solid surface lost shine after awhile). Disadvantage of tiles is that it looks tiled (duh), cannot withstand the heat as well around the hob (will result in tiles popping out), if wanna chop whole chicken whole duck then better be careful about the strength of chopping cos the tiles might crack if you chop like chopping the whole table away, and of cos, the grout can trap dirt and look ugly after some time (think the bathroom grout). SO, grout cleaning is one thing to take note of on a regular basis in order to maintain the looks. Or one can opt and pay a higher rate for colored grout if it matches the tile color.
Another option one can go for is to choose marble or granite (preferably) worktop. My mother went for this option in consideration of aesthetics. Granite is a better choice cos its maintenance free. Marble requires regular shining if not it will lose shine after a while and look really retro if you don't mind. China granite is by far the cheapest if I'm not wrong.
Wood Cabinet VS Concrete Cabinet
We had our cabinet and the doors in wood, so with doors there will be hinges. For us it was not a good option. Though we are not staying in view of any seas, but our area is near to the port, so there will be salt winds coming from the port. This corroded almost every stainless steel screws and hinges there are at home. And like I previously mentioned, wood under the sink, not so good. Any water splash or overflow and drips onto the wood needs to be wiped dry immediately, if not will result in rotting. So the tap was literally crying waters onto the cabinet. And also if any cold meat is left in the sink to thaw, chances are condensation drops will form on the underside of the sink, and drip on the cabinet floor as well. Now with the area done up in concrete, we need not worry about water splashing on the to cabinet, no more worries about termites, and even no worries about condensation drips cos the floor of the cabinet is now tiled as well! Just wipe dry the area will do.
I'm not sure about it, but I think it might be possible to request to do partitions in the concrete cabinet. But it might be fixed tho, they might just cast a thing slab across. We did not request for it, but its working fine for us anyway. For wood cabinet, well we all know partitions are guaranteed. In adjustable heights too! For wood cabinet it will look classier as well thanks to the pretty melamine/laminate (the more expensive option) that clothes it.
With our current cabinet, we are having aluminium sliding doors. So its great for us as aluminium doesn't get corroded by the salt winds.
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Actually after everything finished, I was kind of thinking, in the future when we do reno for the whole house, I might just go retro for the kitchen. Adorning the cabinets with mosaic tiles at some areas. Love for mosaic tiles anyone?
So for anyone out there thinking of redo-ing your kitchen, consider using concrete for the sink area. Another plus point is that when choosing wood cabinet, you often have to 'queue' for your turn to renovate. This is because almost 90% of carpentry workers are contract from Malaysia, and it is often difficult to do reno at the end of the year because the workers schedule are all packed. But concrete workers usually are with the reno companies, so it is easier to plan reno schedule and can start almost immediately. We could have started 3 days after the lady came over to view our situation, but had to delay awhile for hubs to work out his schedule so that someone can be at home while the reno is ongoing (I have to hide in the room with the baby). And doing carpentry works take more time than casting concrete. Our sink support aka the cabinet was casted on the first day, and by the second day its fixed up with the tiles. Fast huh. By the third day all is dried up, with the aluminium taking door measurements and the plumber coming in to connect the pipes and all and we can use the sink already. On the fifth day our aluminium doors are up and works completed.
Like I mentioned, a renovation is a renovation, no matter big or small scale. Because the cleaning up works is the same!! Especially when there is a baby in the house. JCH was being really good despite cooping him up in the room all day long. No play yard, no walker time..basically he's not allowed out beyond our room's door! After the workers leave, SIL and I will be cleaning the house up. Thank goodness she's at home with me. Wiping the dusts and debris off, cleaning the reno area (so minimum dusts get blown into the living area later), mopping the floor for 3 times each day so that its no longer dusty after that, and wiping anywhere else that JCH will come in contact with. Its only the night time, when everyone's home for dinner, that JCH gets to come out and roam the living room area. Imagine the work we need to do! Handling a baby at the same time, and getting ourselves cleaned up afterwards. Not to mention ironing the clothes dry. The dirty laundry still needs to get washed up, and any laundry that doesn't quite dry up will get ironed dry. Oh the days and nights.
Waking up to find a play pen squeezed in the room for him
Let me out~~~
On the third day of reno, when the workers come in a little later. JCH having a little morning fun at the sofa.
And then, JCH's cot gave way on Wednesday night. It didn't totally break up. In the middle of the night, I got awokened by a "thud" sound and JCH cried. Checked around the cot and saw that the base went lower at one corner, the corner that was loose for a period of time. Long story but that corner of the cot base was showing signs of giving way for a period of time. Next morning told hubs we really need to throw the cot away. And then, we had to repack the entire room to fit a safe corner for JCH to sleep and have his little moments of fun in the room. Tiring max. More cleaning.
The loose corner
His current sleeping area, taking up to the computer table. Shucks I need to fix the bumper. Packing not quite finished as he can reach really far in now. *sigh*
I began typing this post with the lil' bub playing around my feet. Halfway into the post he signaled to me he wants to sleep. And now finishing up the post, the bub has been asleep for the last 10-15min already. Now, time for me to wash up all his porridge cooking stuff sitting in the kitchen sink.
Christmas is coming~Have you prepared your Advent calender? ;)
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