Yes! I'm writing about kitchens again! That's because over the last 10 years, it has become a MUST for a Malaysian home to come equipped with a nice and functional kitchen. In our parents' generation, a customized built-in kitchen was considered a luxury and most homes at that time ( my childhood home included ) had the barest functional necessities. Building kitchens were where Chee Hoong and I started this business on 8 years ago! Of course, over the years we have since moved on to cover so many other areas on home and office renovation.
Alam Damai - Cheras
3D Design Stage:
Actual work delivered : RM 8,700 excluding electrical items
This is a combination of wet and dry kitchen. The kitchen itself is not big as this houseowner did not want to extend the back. Nevertheless, it's big enough for this small and young Indian family of 3. The cooker hood is a ventilation type where it's ducting is linked to outside. I have proposed a false wall panel above the wall cabinets to cover the unsightly ducting. Most other families would have wanted the wall cabinets to reach until the ceiling because the false wall panelling is even more expensive than ceiling-height cabinets! I thought otherwise because ceiling-height cabinets are really,really high up and what is kept there will most likely end up unused and forgotten because of inaccessability. Also, I have been educating customers not to keep items that they do not use for more than 2 years. We certainly do not want our home looking like a storeroom where every inch of space available is used to store stuff!
Because I had observed that many clients in previous years have difficulties in choosing wall-paint, I had started in the last few months to spend some time by guiding clients in identifying colour concepts that they like and give my opinions on what colours to be used in each room. This family prefers a modern ethnic feel, so I proposed a combination of earthy organic tones for the ground floor and stairs. This is to keep the theme consistant with the exterior. Meanwhile upstairs, I proposed an earthy mango tone for the family activity area. For the couple's room, I used earthy red and fresh mint for the child's room for that breath of spring. But of course I did not use so many colours on ALL the walls, just some feature walls to make the rooms visually interesting. The rest of the walls are still in their original beige that developers are so fond of giving - this way the customer also saved on painting costs.
This service has since become one of our best promotional factors - and IT'S FREE !
Lagenda Mas - Cheras
3D Design Stage :
Actual work delivered : RM14,300 for Dry Kitchen
RM2,200 for Wet Kitchen
This home belongs to a rather traditional and senior Chinese family. This can be seen in their choice of light wall colours and a closed-up wet kitchen separated away from the rest of the home. ( In relation to my previous article on Colour Psychology, seniors do prefer brighter, cleaner colours because the ability to distinguish hues diminishes with age. Now, do you understand your elders better? )
Being more conservative, they opted for light creamy tones. This I help to choose by matching cream with a few feature colours of camel and other neutral sandstone colours for their wall colours.
USJ 23 : Work in Progress
USJ 23 : Work in Progress
Cost RM13,700
The lady-owner of this kitchen enjoys cooking and is a serious cook and thus has lots of cookwares! Therefore I have proposed the wall units to be of ceiling height for maximum storage.
This family is in the midst of choosing colours. This I try to help by providing 3 colour combinations for them to choose from. I have indicated the codes of wood materials, solid tops, and even the wall paint colour! Because renovation is a time-consuming process, it will probably be a few more weeks to a month before I can show the end result.
