Japanese minimalist design - review after 2 years

[ahtat 10]

13 hours ago, teeteet said:

Hi, may I know if pulling the dining chairs in and out or wheeled chairs, will it leave scratches on the vinyl? and does it caused dent marks under heavy items like sofa legs? Thanks in advance.

So far we have never encounter any prob from roller chairs and dining chairs. I have also checked the floor when i replaced my TV console (which was quite heavy) and there's no dent marks formed.

[ahtat 10]

I will be talking about the kitchen in this post. Some basic configuration of the kitchen.

• 2 sides bottom cabinet
• 1 side top cabinet
• Kompacplus work top
• Back splash for hob area is kompacplus, other area covered with tiles
• Non cooking side original wall tiles
• Hob, hood and oven from Fujioh
• Sink and tap from GR link marketing from Jalan Basar
• White matt laminate for cabinet doors
• Kitchen fittings from Ikea and Taobao
• No kitchen door

My wife cooks almost every day and is a heavy user of the kitchen, so we try to make it as functional as possible. There are of course a lot of hit and miss, trial and error in terms of appliance choices, pots and pans, fittings, cleaning products etc. i will try to do reviews on kitchen items in next few posts. Do feel free to leave a comment/message if you want to know my personal experience with any of the items that i am using now! 

 

Edited June 21, 2017 by ahtat

[Clarence Lye 10]

On 6/16/2017 at 1:18 AM, ahtat said:

I would like to do a review on the vinyl flooring from Evorich we have selected as the main flooring in our house. We did not opt for HDB tiles, although the kitchen and service yard came with ready tiles by default. For living room and bedroom, we have selected Markham Oak Light.

As for the kitchen, we have selected Amsterdam Silver.

So that's how it looks like at the living room to kitchen area. They will install a joint between two areas if required so that there will not be an awkward step. However, the surface of the joint is "sticker" like and it will peel if scratched by any sharp object. 

We are very please with the vinyl flooring so far and there is no major deterioration after two years of usage (but we have no kids or free roaming pets). I will list down the good points below.

1. Easy maintenance, no dirty grout or chipping tiles issues (weekly mopping is adequate)
2. Dirt and hair is not obvious because of the wood grain design (major plus point)
3. Relatively "softer" than tiles and feel more comfortable to the feet (this may be subjective)
4. No issues with water unlike laminate, totally waterproof (have left a puddle of water on the floor accidentally overnight before without any watermark or stained after cleaning up).
5. Suitable to use as kitchen flooring. Although we cook often, there is no adverse effect or any sticky feeling on the floor (but i do spray mop the kitchen floor after every cooking session).

Some negative points that i can think of.

1. It can leave a scratch mark easily with sharp object and the scratch mark will become obvious when dirt is trapped inside.
2. The cement screed must be done properly (perfectly level) before laying the vinyl, if not the feeling of unevenness is super obvious when you step on it. this is because the vinyl is soft and "bendable" compare to tiles. Had ask our contractor to redo some part because of this which causes some hiccups during the reno process. 

Overall, we are very happy with the choice of flooring and Evorich installation and workmanship was very professional too. There is no funny rubbery smell and no glue was used during the installation so there was no VOC emission.  

 

How are the evorich flooring at the kitchen?
i'm worried about it being sticky and hard to clean and looking to change my HDB kitchen tiles instead of putting HERF.. i have a open kitchen as well and this is one of my greatest worry.

 

i see that your wife cooks everyday and also a heavy user, so far so good? what do you to mop the HERF at your kitchen

Edited June 21, 2017 by Clarence Lye

[ahtat 10]

17 hours ago, Clarence Lye said:

How are the evorich flooring at the kitchen?
i'm worried about it being sticky and hard to clean and looking to change my HDB kitchen tiles instead of putting HERF.. i have a open kitchen as well and this is one of my greatest worry.

 

i see that your wife cooks everyday and also a heavy user, so far so good? what do you to mop the HERF at your kitchen

Personally i think HERF is quite suitable for kitchen usage, and have no complaints so far, no sticky feeling on the feet. My suggestion is to invest in a good cooker hood. I am quite please with the Fujioh hood (FS890) and It is able to eliminate the cooking fume quite effectively. But because my kitchen is not "open", once the service yard door is closed, there will be no wind blowing across the kitchen to spread the fumes around. For open concept kitchen, this may be quite challenging.

After every cooking session, I will mop the kitchen floor with spray mop, no matter whether there are any oil splatters on the floor. its a very functional mop that saves water and time and a quick mop will take less than 1 minute. 

[Clarence Lye 10]

4 hours ago, ahtat said:

Personally i think HERF is quite suitable for kitchen usage, and have no complaints so far, no sticky feeling on the feet. My suggestion is to invest in a good cooker hood. I am quite please with the Fujioh hood (FS890) and It is able to eliminate the cooking fume quite effectively. But because my kitchen is not "open", once the service yard door is closed, there will be no wind blowing across the kitchen to spread the fumes around. For open concept kitchen, this may be quite challenging.

After every cooking session, I will mop the kitchen floor with spray mop, no matter whether there are any oil splatters on the floor. its a very functional mop that saves water and time and a quick mop will take less than 1 minute. 

Thanks for sharing, where can i get this mop? Do i also put in the detergent in it and mix with water like normal mopping?? looks handy!

[ahtat 10]

18 hours ago, Clarence Lye said:

Thanks for sharing, where can i get this mop? Do i also put in the detergent in it and mix with water like normal mopping?? looks handy!

Yup you can get it from those neighborhood shop that sell all sorts of household items. or you can get it from qoo10. Just need to search for "Spray mop".

And you are right, just need to put a little detergent into the bottle and use it like a normal mop!

[JennyTan 0]

Do you mind sharing the cost (psf) for Evorich Flooring?  Thanks.

[Clarence Lye 10]

5 hours ago, ahtat said:

Yup you can get it from those neighborhood shop that sell all sorts of household items. or you can get it from qoo10. Just need to search for "Spray mop".

And you are right, just need to put a little detergent into the bottle and use it like a normal mop!

cool. any specific brand/model you are using? soi can buy the same without researching. lol 

[ahtat 10]

23 hours ago, JennyTan said:

Do you mind sharing the cost (psf) for Evorich Flooring?  Thanks.

It's 6.25 psf two and a half years back when i signed with them during expo show, not sure whether the quote is still valid now. Note that they will come and calculate your floor area and add another 10% of wastage.

18 hours ago, Clarence Lye said:

cool. any specific brand/model you are using? soi can buy the same without researching. lol 

i'm using rubbermaid brand, which is a slightly more expensive but better quality. Bought a brandless one before and the differences are quite obvious. 

[babybacardi 0]

Hi ahtat, 

Beautiful house you've got and gorgeous view.

Can I check with you how you / your wife find the Kompacplus top? As I've asked around and all of them doesn't recommend me to to use that as I do heavy cooking as well but I love the wood-grain design....  

Cheers!

[ahtat 10]

22 hours ago, babybacardi said:

Hi ahtat, 

Beautiful house you've got and gorgeous view.

Can I check with you how you / your wife find the Kompacplus top? As I've asked around and all of them doesn't recommend me to to use that as I do heavy cooking as well but I love the wood-grain design....  

Cheers!

Hi,

We chose Kompacplus top mainly because of the wood grain and the "thin" look compare to typical granite or solid surface. So far we are really happy with Kompacplus and will select the same top again if given a choice. The good points and I can think of

1. No scratches till date
2. No obvious stain
3. Surface is smooth so it will not trap any dirt or bacteria
4. No colour fading
5. Kompacplus as backsplash part is easy to clean. Glass will leave water mark and tiles may have stain trapped at the grout area. If not for the cost we would have do the whole area.

However, there are things to take note which i think apply to all kind of kitchen surface.

1. Try not to put cold drinks directly on top of the surface. The condensation with the low temperature will leave a water mark which is near to impossible to remove. The good thing is it is only obvious if you see it from an angle with certain amount of light reflection.
2. Try to keep the surface dry as far as far as possible. Although the surface is waterproof, I believe leaving water on the surface for a long period of time will cause problem sooner or later.
3. After every cooking session, we will clean the surface with a bottle of home made solution (some detergent in a spray bottle) to remove any oil residue.
4. Try not to put pots and pans that are hot on the surface for a long period of time (although it is heat resistance but not going to try our luck). We use this useful kitchen tool instead to increase the work space.

Hope it helps! 

[Clarence Lye 10]

On 25/06/2017 at 3:07 PM, ahtat said:

Hi,

We chose Kompacplus top mainly because of the wood grain and the "thin" look compare to typical granite or solid surface. So far we are really happy with Kompacplus and will select the same top again if given a choice. The good points and I can think of

1. No scratches till date
2. No obvious stain
3. Surface is smooth so it will not trap any dirt or bacteria
4. No colour fading
5. Kompacplus as backsplash part is easy to clean. Glass will leave water mark and tiles may have stain trapped at the grout area. If not for the cost we would have do the whole area.

However, there are things to take note which i think apply to all kind of kitchen surface.

1. Try not to put cold drinks directly on top of the surface. The condensation with the low temperature will leave a water mark which is near to impossible to remove. The good thing is it is only obvious if you see it from an angle with certain amount of light reflection.
2. Try to keep the surface dry as far as far as possible. Although the surface is waterproof, I believe leaving water on the surface for a long period of time will cause problem sooner or later.
3. After every cooking session, we will clean the surface with a bottle of home made solution (some detergent in a spray bottle) to remove any oil residue.
4. Try not to put pots and pans that are hot on the surface for a long period of time (although it is heat resistance but not going to try our luck). We use this useful kitchen tool instead to increase the work space.

Hope it helps! 

Wow where to buy this? How much is it

[chiffon 1]

On 6/10/2017 at 11:32 AM, ahtat said:

The last built in feature in the living room is the platform, or what we call the cosy corner. We try to create a visual effect of having full length windows when we just enter the house, which gives a more spacious feeling. On one side we put a small table and floor chairs (both from Muji) and the other side is a plant rack. We chose that side to put the plant rack because the morning sun will enter the living room and shine on that side of the wall.

If you want to buy a plant rack from TB, which is so much cheaper and lots of choices and configuration, you can search for it by entering the keywords below.

• Plant rack - 植物架
• Indoor - 室内
• Balcony - 阳台

The platform flooring is using the same material as our main space flooring, which is Evorich vinyl. In the next post I will try to do a review on Evorich vinyl flooring after using it for 2 years.

Hi neigbour! I haven’t logged on in a while and the first time I did after so long, the first post I came across & was reading, I found the view very familiar^^  I really like your platform area with your plant rack,  it’s like you created a mini balcony out of the room.  It looks cosy & relaxing,  great idea!

[ahtat 10]

23 hours ago, Clarence Lye said:

Wow where to buy this? How much is it

I got mine from Taobao, there's a similar one in ikea but the individual metal rod is thinner and looks a bit more flimsy. It costs less than 20 bucks and I have been using it since I moved in. Fortunately, till date there are no rust spot or deterioration, definitely one of the better buys in TB.

Keyword to search for: 可卷不锈钢水槽沥水帘

[ahtat 10]

20 hours ago, chiffon said:

Hi neigbour! I haven’t logged on in a while and the first time I did after so long, the first post I came across & was reading, I found the view very familiar^^  I really like your platform area with your plant rack,  it’s like you created a mini balcony out of the room.  It looks cosy & relaxing,  great idea!

Thanks for the kind comments! Haha no choice leh..number not good enough to get one with balcony..can only create one "fake" one..i super envy those neighbours with balcony lor, very windy and nice.