FifiGal

Wahhhhhh....FULL till CNY No wonder someone had commented earlier in this forum, that trying to meet patrick is like trying to make appt with the top gynae in S'pore ..LOL! But situations needing a gynae is cannot wait type. i have a choice of how long more can i tahan looking at my shabby old kitchen. But just in case Patrick really got no time to squeeze me in ( I'll still try tho), and someone here knows of another not-too-bad contractor, pls PM me. Xie xie!

I laughed out loud when I read your comment about this being Ho Bee's website ! I tried reading this thread from the beginning ( so that I dun miss out on all the good & bad comments or repeat unnecessary questions) but i got tired on page 7. So I skipped to the end and found 22 pages for this thread alone! To Ho Bee "fans" - do you know if he takes small jobs? I dunno how much renovating an old kitchen + painting will cost me yet , but I'm looking at budget below $5000. ( sorry if this is a repeat question but i read until my eyes watering liao) Thanks

Thanks for all replies and sharing of your experience! Certainly if anyone now ask me if its worth saving some $$ to retain HDB tiles for a new flat, I will advise to re-consider. Else end up like me now...more trouble to redo old kitchen. But last time I was young, naive and no money. Now, I am older, wiser...but still no money!

Thanks for your reply and your PM of your contact I'll ask about changing entire cabinet instead of juz doors.

Dunno if this is the correct subforum to ask this question...Basically I want to renovate my old kitchen but with minimum fuss. Here are my main problem areas & wat I'm thinking to do : 1. Replace or repaint old cabinet doors/ drawers but not hack away the main structure 2. Plaster & paint over existing wall tiles , no hacking of old tiles 3. Install a glass (or other suitable) backsplash over my current wall tiles 4. replace cooker hob & hood into existing wetwork & overhung cabinet space. This job seem too simple for an ID but dunno would a contractor be able to advise me? I have some basic ideas but would still appreciate some professional advice. So should i go for an ID or a contractor. Does anyone have a good contact to share? Thanks

Ermm...how to check ah? Go knock every tile and see if it sounds hollow? Have to climb up to ceiling height & even squeeze behind fridge if i wanna do a real thorough job So far my old kitchen has been holding up for many years ( original HDB tiles) and no trouble - no popping out, no cracking, except look ugly ..heehee

Just to add - found some old threads here on similar topic of kitchen wall tiling/ backsplash. http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=4994 http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=7444

Thanks! now i have a possible idea of how to cover-up my old ugly hdb kitchen tiles without ripping apart the entire kitchen to renovate.... As for the backsplash ideas..i did a quick google just now and found this site http://www.mykitchenbacksplash.com/. Looks like an US site so no useful contacts there for us but we can look-see-look-see some nice backspash ideas ..

If I'm not wrong, backsplash is that wall behind your stove area..presumably its called that becoz you "splash" against it when you cook? hee christinetan, I'm interested in your idea of plastering over the tiles, becoz i am cracking my head how to re-do my old kitchen without too much fuss. I guess replacing or repainting just cabinet doors should not involve hacking, but i dunno wat to do with the backsplash. Mine is the original HDB tiles and it looks just plain awful esp as the plaster between the tiles ( is that called grouting?) has come off after many years of cleaning. But I'm not keen on hacking as that would mean dust, fuss and possibly affecting the cabinets. One ID (whom i was consulting for other parts of my house reno) suggested overlaying with glass. But I have doubts of the safety. Last thing i want, is to have the glass panel suddenly fall on my pots n pans while cooking. Am also trying to look for ways to refresh the awful tiles in the rest of my kitchen without having to do hacking....has anyone else done it before?

But otherwise, as I say, they are responsive and friendly, and the rest of the works done are ok by me. If u r using them, suggest to correspond with S as he is the senior boss; R is fairly new and would always refer back to S.

I have just used them for a simple job ( just redoing parts of my current old flat). Yes, the boss S and his new partner R are pretty good with their followup with you to get your business. Very friendly and responsive. But I faced a couple of hiccups with them. S had informed me that one of my items will be delayed due supplier issue, and the proposed delay time was too long. Both the wait & proposed alternatives were unacceptable to me. After much insistence, he did get it done for me ( the original chosen item with only a few days delay instead of weeks). I don't know how he managed to do it after telling me its impossible, but I leave it to you to interpret it. Then, one of their workers accidentally throw away something of mine which was meant to be re-installed after the renovation. I accept mistakes can happen, but then I'm still waiting for them to give me a satisfactory replacement. My renovation works completed before national day. Maybe I'm just unfortunate.

I store mine next to the shoe cabinet too, but use one of those rattan / banana fibre rectangular baskets from IKEA to hold them, so it does not look too unsightly. It holds only about 1 to 2 weeks worth of Straits Times though. But I have pets ( rabbit litter trays use up a lot of newspaper!) and fortnightly sembwaste recycling collection, so I don't get to accumulate too big a pile.

I know which one - I bought some fake plants from them. ( its actually one shop occupying 2 lots) I thought their fake plants look pretty realistic ( real ones always die in my house ) . But Sembawang Shopping Centre is now closed for renovation and that shop " Green Grasses" has moved to Ang Mo Kio. You can get the address/ phone here - http://www.greengrasses.com.sg/, but the rest of their website does not seem to be up yet.