Popular Ideas and Designs
Planning a kitchen renovation in Malaysia? Learn the five essential tips for choosing the perfect kitchen cabinet for style, function, and budget.
Setting the budget should be the initiation in renovating a kitchen. One of the biggest investments anyone would make while renovating his or her kitchen is in the kitchen cabinets, especially in Malaysia. It can be affordable or very expensive, depending on what materials, design, and customization you want. First, estimate your overall kitchen renovation budget and decide how much you can afford to spend on your cabinetry.
Options vary to suit every budget in Malaysia. Laminated kitchen cabinets might be a little lower in price, while for solid wood or customized cabinets, it's high-class and will surely be on the higher end of a budget. Installation and other added features, such as soft-close drawers or pull-out racks, or specialized storage, are added to the cost. A well-thought-out budget will narrow down your choices and save you from overspending on things you don't need.
1. Set a Budget Before You Start Your Kitchen Renovation
Setting the budget should be the initiation in renovating a kitchen. One of the biggest investments anyone would make while renovating his or her kitchen is in the kitchen cabinets, especially in Malaysia. It can be affordable or very expensive, depending on what materials, design, and customization you want. First, estimate your overall kitchen renovation budget and decide how much you can afford to spend on your cabinetry.
Options vary to suit every budget in Malaysia. Laminated kitchen cabinets might be a little lower in price, while for solid wood or customized cabinets, it's high-class and will surely be on the higher end of a budget. Installation and other added features, such as soft-close drawers or pull-out racks, or specialized storage, are added to the cost. A well-thought-out budget will narrow down your choices and save you from overspending on things you don't need.
The Heart of the Home: The Kitchen Cabinet
Kitchens are more than just spaces for cooking; they are the heart of homes, where families gather and culinary magic happens. Central to this hub of activity are kitchen cabinets, which not only provide ample storage but also significantly influence the overall aesthetics and functionality of the kitchen.
Choosing the right kitchen countertop is an important decision that impacts both the aesthetics and functionality of your space. With so many materials available, it can be overwhelming to navigate the options. This guide will help you understand the pros and cons of popular countertop materials, along with their maintenance requirements, to make an informed choice for your kitchen.
A kitchen mosaic refers to a decorative art form where small tiles or glass pieces are arranged to create a pattern or picture on a surface. Mosaics are a popular choice for kitchen backsplashes, accent walls, or even countertops. They can add color, texture, and visual interest to the kitchen space. Here are a few ideas and tips for using mosaics in your kitchen:
Backsplash
A mosaic backsplash can be an excellent way to add personality and style to your kitchen. Consider using small glass or ceramic tiles in various colors to create a mosaic pattern that complements your kitchen's overall design. You can opt for a simple geometric pattern, a floral design, or even a mosaic mural depicting a scene or artwork.
The kitchen comprises of many components, from the stove, cabinet, tabletop, refrigeration (although it can be placed in other places of the house such as dining room), dining table, side table, racking, shelves, oven, baking appliances, cutting tools, cooking apparatus and some but not all the houses might have toilet attaching in the design. There are also washing machines (for dining sets, clothes), handwash sinks, water tank (reserve water reservoir), exhaust fan, electronic fan, ventilation systems, ducting, water filtering setup and more. The kitchen is a venue that allows you to cure your hunger, cook your bakery, dessert, making your healthy salads and it also makes your appetite to be elevated once you walked in too.
Proper diets start from the kitchen, proper kitchen start from its design, proper design coupled with well-oriented kitchen components, from floor tiles, wall finishing, ceiling types, arrangement and location of each and every item. People tend to neglect the importance to do routine clean-up for the kitchen, from just removing the stains from the marble top instantly after cooking or the dark spots appear on your ceiling's surface to the dusty and oily exhaust fan impellers. Accumulating the unwanted substances in the kitchen, not only affecting the overall appearance that prevents you from showing an appealing outlook to your family and friends who visit, but it also affects your mood as well as the consequential health issues due to hygiene problems.
Proper diets start from the kitchen, proper kitchen start from its design, proper design coupled with well-oriented kitchen components, from floor tiles, wall finishing, ceiling types, arrangement and location of each and every item. People tend to neglect the importance to do routine clean-up for the kitchen, from just removing the stains from the marble top instantly after cooking or the dark spots appear on your ceiling's surface to the dusty and oily exhaust fan impellers. Accumulating the unwanted substances in the kitchen, not only affecting the overall appearance that prevents you from showing an appealing outlook to your family and friends who visit, but it also affects your mood as well as the consequential health issues due to hygiene problems.
It is so crucial to have housewives to enjoy fresh air in their kitchen, as they love to cook and they are also exhausted if need to be there for a long time without a good system for air exchange. The dirt and harmful element in the air after cooked might be affecting them a lot, especially frying or doing high intensive cooking methods, including the long hour boiling or any other ways that will produce high-density steam. After a long working day for many pillar men or superwoman in the household, they might do light cooking too, some can even go for heavier types and therefore, kitchen shall have a smooth ventilation system to make sure the health in terms of psychology, biology as well as other aspects to be optimized too. The results of cooking quality are also highly affected by the environment of the kitchen, meaning to say, you are also affecting the appetite and health of the whole family too.
Nevertheless, HVAC contractor is not the same as the general contractor who does renovation for your house, air-conditioner installer might even not be the right and capable guy for you to engage on this kind of job too. Hence, it is necessary to ask around or just check with your designer for such subcontractor who specializes in that. However, carpentry or kitchen cabinet contractor might be having such contact since they have been in the sector for some time and work together with them on projects that are requiring that service. In the meantime, they could have the distributorship for ventilation or kitchen products that can be purchased by you and what they need now is the installer or their workers can do it for you. Always get the correct engagement with the proper vendor and refer back to your designer or main contractor when there are product quality and specification queries.
Nevertheless, HVAC contractor is not the same as the general contractor who does renovation for your house, air-conditioner installer might even not be the right and capable guy for you to engage on this kind of job too. Hence, it is necessary to ask around or just check with your designer for such subcontractor who specializes in that. However, carpentry or kitchen cabinet contractor might be having such contact since they have been in the sector for some time and work together with them on projects that are requiring that service. In the meantime, they could have the distributorship for ventilation or kitchen products that can be purchased by you and what they need now is the installer or their workers can do it for you. Always get the correct engagement with the proper vendor and refer back to your designer or main contractor when there are product quality and specification queries.
The main reason kitchen requires waterproofing treatment is because of its nature of usage in which it will receive consistent spill of oil, stain, water as well as moisture from steam and cooking. Where there are moisture and liquid form of potential on to the floor, wall, furniture, fixture and more, the chances of getting severe issues will be there if no proper treatment of waterproofing coating to be done ahead. Excessive moisture to your kitchen will spoil your beautiful interior fittings, rising mildew, mould, damp, wooden products to be rotten, swelling wall and later causing any structural damage from the floor, wall to the ceiling when inappropriate waterproofing works to be pre-treated by an applicator. Therefore, before putting up your tile, your kitchen cabinets, cooking equipment and more, proper waterproofing jobs must be carried on.
Many people neglect the importance of getting the right waterproofing applicator to do water-resistant on your kitchen, even selecting the wrong and inferior quality brands from manufacturers. There are many brands in the market, and each of them might produce a range of waterproofing items that shall be recommended professionally by the contractors. Some brands have already trained and appointed their approved specialists to conduct works for their customers, since not every product manufacturer will have own internal team to work for every market, from residential, commercial to an industrial building. Commercial kitchen in a restaurant, bistro, pub, café, hotel, cafeteria, office tower are the most important one, including to school, university, government department, military and other buildings which have centralized or using kitchen regularly.
Many people neglect the importance of getting the right waterproofing applicator to do water-resistant on your kitchen, even selecting the wrong and inferior quality brands from manufacturers. There are many brands in the market, and each of them might produce a range of waterproofing items that shall be recommended professionally by the contractors. Some brands have already trained and appointed their approved specialists to conduct works for their customers, since not every product manufacturer will have own internal team to work for every market, from residential, commercial to an industrial building. Commercial kitchen in a restaurant, bistro, pub, café, hotel, cafeteria, office tower are the most important one, including to school, university, government department, military and other buildings which have centralized or using kitchen regularly.
There are wide ranges of materials can be used in the kitchen as a flooring, such as vinyl, engineered wood (or hardwood), linoleum, ceramic tile, concrete, natural stone tile and more. Vinyl is reasonably low in cost of acquisition while it can be one of the best performers when coming to water issues since it has a waterproof layer on its surface. Furthermore, it will not be faded so easily while can have a range of pattern from luxury to minimalism design. In addition to the convenience of cleaning attribute by vinyl, hardwood or engineered wood can also make similar functions through application of protective coatings such as polyurethane and sealer to prevent from staining caused by the spill. There is also bamboo flooring that has undoubtedly tough strength, resistance against water and moisture, although the cost is slightly higher than the wood floor.
Linoleum floor supplier usually provides warranty up to a few decades if owners come to the point where they chose this material that is durable, anti-bacterial, versatile and highly affordable. Subsequently, ceramic tile which is manufactured by natural clay is also one of the long-lasting products that will not be easily cracked by fell items, waterproof, resistant to heat, stain and natural pattern. Porcelain tile, mosaics or any related one can have options of semi-gloss, gloss and matt surfaces for owners to choose. Concrete flooring for kitchen can be polished with chemicals to meet functions such as waterproof, stain-resistant, anti-slip, coloured and its longevity can be up to a century without frequent maintenance. Natural stone tile is getting more common in interior design for kitchen, safer choice to many owners since it will not be slippery to users' foot, making it as an idealistic finishing for a home that has elderly, children or pets.
Linoleum floor supplier usually provides warranty up to a few decades if owners come to the point where they chose this material that is durable, anti-bacterial, versatile and highly affordable. Subsequently, ceramic tile which is manufactured by natural clay is also one of the long-lasting products that will not be easily cracked by fell items, waterproof, resistant to heat, stain and natural pattern. Porcelain tile, mosaics or any related one can have options of semi-gloss, gloss and matt surfaces for owners to choose. Concrete flooring for kitchen can be polished with chemicals to meet functions such as waterproof, stain-resistant, anti-slip, coloured and its longevity can be up to a century without frequent maintenance. Natural stone tile is getting more common in interior design for kitchen, safer choice to many owners since it will not be slippery to users' foot, making it as an idealistic finishing for a home that has elderly, children or pets.
There are many types of materials can be used for the fabrication of the kitchen cabinet, such as stainless steel, plywood, medium-density fiberboard (MDF), particleboard with melamine, fiberboard, hardwood, wood veneer and more. Timber is the most popular material for a kitchen cabinet, and species that can be applied to build the cabinet are such as, red oak, white oak, pine, ash, cherry, birch, hickory, hard maple but yet all of them have their pros and cons. The natural wood appearance elevates certain design theme. Its customizable feature make a wide variety of patterns available, as well as the health benefits of these durable materials to the users of a kitchen, shall not be forgotten.
Many people today also go for stainless steel since it requires minimal upkeep that no mould, fungus, bacteria and liquids will be able to penetrate while enjoying the privileges of resistance against heat, moisture, chemical and later, highly reliable and sustainable. Moreover, we have the MDF that does not warp under even though it reacts to humidity, temperature or any sudden changes. Similarly, melamine that provides smooth and durable laminated plastic saves the cost of getting painted and stained onto their surfaces. The application of wood veneer that consists of multiple layers that stick together will make buyers less headache since less as less likely the cracking and splitting will occur. Suitability is high as long as the material is waterproof and robust to withstand multiple elements since the kitchen is an area that exposes to high humidity, fluctuation of hot temperature, a spill of oil, chemical and water.
Many people today also go for stainless steel since it requires minimal upkeep that no mould, fungus, bacteria and liquids will be able to penetrate while enjoying the privileges of resistance against heat, moisture, chemical and later, highly reliable and sustainable. Moreover, we have the MDF that does not warp under even though it reacts to humidity, temperature or any sudden changes. Similarly, melamine that provides smooth and durable laminated plastic saves the cost of getting painted and stained onto their surfaces. The application of wood veneer that consists of multiple layers that stick together will make buyers less headache since less as less likely the cracking and splitting will occur. Suitability is high as long as the material is waterproof and robust to withstand multiple elements since the kitchen is an area that exposes to high humidity, fluctuation of hot temperature, a spill of oil, chemical and water.
Modern Kitchen Design has an almost infinite of style available and is a field that constantly changing with the social environment and functional need. Kitchen is not a section that requires for all modern houses design especially SOHO unit but for a newly formed family kitchen is the soul of a house and dream house kitchen is part of the soul. After all who does not like a home-cooked meal? A modern kitchen might be very hard to attain but every journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. To begin a modern kitchen design, there are few challenges that worth mentioning. Spacing is the first key towards a good design of the kitchen and must put into one of the top priority. Adjusting the spacing for sinks, refrigerator, stove, tabletop, kitchen cabinets, etc to ensure a normal kitchen can be fully functioning. In modern housing such as condominium, apartment, terrace or link house, bungalow, and semi-d house. For a much smaller space houses like the high-rise unit condo and apartment, kitchen space is much more precious and need to adjust to fit everything inside. From the above picture that taken on a condo unit near the Petaling Jaya PJ, the style uses Peninsula kitchen or similar to an L shaped kitchen with island (refrigerator) on the side to keep the space wide enough for cooking and walking. The dining area is also set with a small dining table suitable for the average household size of Malaysia (less than 5 people). Smaller cabinet and chair also consume lesser space and provide more extra space for other functional purposes.