Leaderboard

I think the more i read, the more confused I'm getting. lol

Oops! Think my mailbox full liao.. need to do spring-cleaning..

Have you ever helped a friend to move his house and broke a bedframe or wardrobe in the process? What about kitchen cabinets that rot over time? Or weak drawers that collasp along with your plates? Welcome to the world of wood manipulation, or more commonly known as carpentry works. Most of us are not trained in wood works, the most we ever learnt was during D&T classes in secondary school. I am no expert, but I hope what I share here will be able to give prospective new home owners sufficient knowledge to make sure that their ID/contractor is giving them what they paid for. I will use kitchen cabinets as an example as they are exposed to the worst environment (oil, grime, humidity) Frame: The frame functions like the skeleton of the whole cabinet. This is the most important part of the cabinet, but also, it is something that is out of our control. Normally the frames are already constructed in the factory so LL Material: Please EMPHASIZE this to your ID or contractor to use solid plywood, absolutely stay away from chipwood or normal ply wood. Chipwood is like those vaccum packed wood shavings for hamsters. when packed, they are very strong, but once there's a leak in the packaging, it just disintegrate. Plywood dont have this issue but they are too weak to handle heavy loads. Hence thick and solid ply wood should do the trick. Finishing: Finishing is important as it protects the wood from external factors such as oil/water which can break down wood. Take a walk around NTUC or other hypermart that sells furniture. feel the surface of the internal shelves. If it's uneven or you feel some air bubbles, those are PVC. While you can use PVC for dry areas such a bedroom wardrobes, using them for kitchen is asking for trouble. Insist and demand - stamp your feet if needed to - that your ID provides FULL internal polykem. Polykem is thicker and more resistant to water/oil/grime. If they want to charge u more, don't engage them. Prices of polykem is very close to PVC nowadays due to mass production. How about those 90degrees area? We cannot bend a piece of laminate to wrap around the edge of the drawer so we can only use 2 pieces of laminate to cover. No matter how good the workmanship is, there is a little tiny slit that will allow water/oil/grime to enter and destroy your wood. It's like brushing your teeth, no matter how many times u brush/floss, u still have bacteria in your mouth is you do not rinse with mouthwash. In this case, ABS trimmings is the mouth wash. Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene acts like a glue and hardened to protect the edges. With the polykem, it seals the wood, looks pretty, and feels smooth instead of a sharp edge. Insist on this! For myself, I insisted on polykem for all carpentry. Operations - blum or no blum? The rage nowadays is full blum system. IMHO, if u have the cash and want some bragging rights, go for it. The system is really good and solid. However, if money is an issue, or if the system cannot justify the additional costs, it is alright to choose locally made systems too. Who says japanese cars are no better than BMWs? Heck, even korea cars nowadays boast electronics that rival their german counterparts - at fraction of there price. Just ensure the minimum recommendation is met, and your cabinets will have no problem matching up with blum besides cosmetics. Guide rails: Ensure that stainless steel rails and rollers are used. If rollers are plastic, they should at least have a metal core to support the plastic. This will ensure that your rollers will be able to withstand the additional stress once the plates are inside. If possible, do purchase the railings with anti slam built in. For myself, I dont see how blum is better than the rest. Hydraulics and hinges: For those cabinets that open downwards or upwards, there will be some kind of hydraulics rods. For blum, they integrated the hydraulic with the hinges in one piece so the force exert when u open or close the cabinet will be absorbed and distributed equally to the hinges and frames. If it becomes weak, u need to change the whole hinge. For other systems, it is 2 piece. hinge + hydraulic. The hinge provides the movement/antislam function, which the hydraulic assist to open/close the cabinet with less effort, like a hatchback car's tailgate. Hence, this is a challenge to choose the right hydraulics. If the hydraulic is too strong, the additional force will be transferred to the hinge, and eventually breaking it. If it's too weak, it will be more difficult to open/close the cabinet. How then? There is no tested and proven way to choose them since we can't measure hinge and hydraulics without equipment. After fixing my mom's cabinets and my friends' cabinets which encountered such issues, I came up with my own theory. 1. Choose the same brand, trust the factory to have done extensive tests so that their hinges will be balanced with their hydraulics. 2. Instruct your carpenter, to install the hydraulics in such a way that the hydraulic do not fully extend! When hydraulics fully extend, it "locks" itself. Think of it like your arm. when u lock your elbow, your arm is stronger but any impact is transferred directly to your joints and shoulders. Same logic as why we bend our knees when landing from a jump - it is to spread the impact and divert unnecessary energy away from the joints. Try landing while locking your knees, we will probably need to visit u at the hospital When the hydraulics is fully extended, it requires extra force to close the cabinet, and all of that force is transferred to your hinges. Soon, it will give way. My friend's cabinet requires a change of hinge every 6 months. He got so fed up, he just stopped using it altogether. Of course, there are some hydraulics with adjustable strength. Those cost more and will need tuning to work properly. Most of us use fixed strength hydraulics. The only way to control the power is by it's mounting position. The further u mount away from the inside mounting point, the weaker the hydraulic becomes. The goal is that when u open the cabinet, it will automatically open up to 90degrees. the hydraulic should be 80-90% fully extended. this way, u can extend the life of your hinges I'll try to take some pictures of my current cabinets to show u the difference. Enjoy!

Hi crazyliao, jawskie, namron PM Liaozzzzzzzzzzzzzzz