Corian Glacier White Solid Surface Countertops and Sink Faucets

On Thursday the Corian Glacier White Solid Surface Countertops were installed. Had we known we were going to use Corian all along instead of marble, we would have had B build the cabinet doors lower so we could have had a wider Corian edge at the front. The Corian Distributor cut and fabricated the curved edge for the undermount sink in KL and brought it to the house sealed in place, but it still took them nearly a full day of work to get the countertops placed and the seam removed.

After the countertops and sink were in B’s plumber fitted the Sink Faucet and the Water Filter Faucet. When we first started looking at faucets, we wanted one with the industrial type hose attached even if they were too trendy or already passé because our kitchen would be having stainless steel accents throughout including the stainless steel industrial center (instead of an island) which we thought would look great with one of these big faucets, but they were too expensive running 1,500myr and over. After looking for a long time, we finally found a smaller version at a more reasonable price of 400myr at our hardware store (Shong Heng the best Hardware and supply store in Seremban). The model came in Satin Nickel which looked better than chrome with the Bareno (Model UM 2039) sink we bought. So we ordered the sink faucet and it was sent from China; when it arrived it was this larger Genova Faucet Model (and Shong Heng gave it to us for the same price!). As for the VRH Water Filter Faucet everyone told us that in Malaysia you need a main water filter for the house and an additional filter in the kitchen for the drinking water as the water is very dirty. At first we thought we would get the water filter in the kitchen right away, but we have just hooked up the small faucet to the cold water for now as we are still thinking about if the water filter is really reliable enough, we aren't sure so we might just keep drinking bottled water.

B also installed the lower cabinets and handles... photos soon!

Bungalow Exterior Paint and Property Walls Color

The first coat of Nippon Cement 9507 has been painted on the exterior of the house. They still have to paint one more coat, but the house is looking a bit lighter than we thought it would.

So in trying to determine the exterior property walls color, we have opted for a very dark grey, nearly black Nippon color S 8500-N (accent base). We think that the dark wall on the side and front of the property will give the house some color and character. With the bright flowers and greenery we will add to the flower pots on the exterior side wall and up on the second floor flower planter, we should get more color around the house.

S 8502-Y on the left (the lighter color) and S 8500-N on the right

Other Progress- the Roof painters are now painting the tiles on the lower roof and 'after lunch' (this is a very vague time in Malaysia since lunches can run up to two hours!) the Corian Countertop should be arriving as well a B to oversee the installation and install the Ikea Stainless Steel handles and Hava handles. If we are lucky maybe the Bareno kitchen sink and Tuscani standalone cooker can be hooked up today, tomorrow or Saturday and we will be ready to cook!

Fence Removal and Kitchen Update

Yesterday we had our neighbor’s decrepit Fence removed from above our wall (after photos soon). Now I have a clearer picture of how it will look when the wall is painted and need to start thinking about what kind of plants/flowers to add to the planters running along the 77 foot wall.

Today is day 7 of the Staining and I asked the stainers this morning how much longer it will be... they said through tomorrow (Wednesday). We do hope they finish because yesterday I drove the Bareno Undermount Sink to Kuala Lumpur and dropped it off at the Corian Countertop Distributer so that they can start to fabricate the countertops. I begged them to work quickly as they said it will take 10-14 working days, let’s hope they can do it faster. The company seemed pretty professional, so I am hopeful we made the right choice. Plus the cabinets seem to be getting darker and darker much to R’s delight. The dark wood will look better with the Corian Glacier White countertop.

Yesterday the Roof people were also here power washing the tiles (which produced some more leaks on our plaster ceiling on the second floor (arrghhh). I wonder if we will ever be leak free, it seems in Malaysia with all the rain, wetness is a regular thing. I have to adjust my oversensitivity to it. Today they arrived at 8AM to start to paint the Roof Tiles. We chose Dulux Roofshield in Idaman Grey 10524. We had to go with Dulux because the tile paint only comes as pre-mixed colors and Nippon did not have a dark grey color close to the existing tile colors. I don’t know if I wrote why we are painting the roof... we hadn’t planned on it, but after the 2^nd roof contractor painted spots of dark grey all over our roof when we were away from the house for a few hours to “touch up the holes” we thought it looked extremely junky especially from the second floor. The contractor said that the dark spots would disappear in a couple years, thank you very much.

Sink and Countertops

A few days ago the measurer came to measure the Kitchen for the Vietnam White Marble Countertops. Everything seemed fine, except that he told us he was concerned that the marble cutters would not be able to do a good job on the cutting the curves for the sink (as the sink is an Undermount Sink). This Bareno (at the time of writing, the Bareno MY website was down so no link available, but here is a image of the product... we paid 679myr http://www.on-2u.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&path=43&product_id=248) sink has been the source of a few problems. Initially we weren’t sure if we should buy it because B told us that the standard countertop width for countertops in Malaysia is 23 ½” deep, which is too narrow for this big sink. He said that getting granite or mable wider than 23 ½”would be hard in Malaysia. Not true we thought, because we found a showroom in Seremban selling “table-top” countertops which are slats of 3 feet wide by 7-8 feet long pieces. So we could just use a number of table-top pieces to form the kitchen countertops or we could always order Corian solid surface which could be made in a wider size (for more cost)... so we went for the Bareno mainly to have the side sink where we can add a metal basket for drying dishes (this is temporary until we get our dishwasher installed later). Now we have given the sink to the showroom and they have sent it to Malacca where they will cut the marble trying to match the curves in the sink. I am very skeptical about the whole thing, but Corian would cost an extra 2,000myr and technically marble especially this pretty white pattern we found is very beautiful and will look great in the kitchen. If it is done right, it will make the kitchen look a lot richer for less cost. If cut wrong, the marble will be a disaster. We also weren’t given any assurance that all of the marble pieces will look nice next to each other. The marble, they tell us is predominantly white 95% or so, with slight areas of grey mixed throughout 5%. We aren’t sure how grey it will actually be, or if the dark parts will be near the seams causing bad match of pattern. With all of the crappy workmanship we’ve encountered, we brace ourselves for the worst.