Kitchen: Microwave Oven Cabinet

Workmanship: Kitchen Works
1 Kitchen: Cooking & Food Storage Zone
2 Kitchen: Microwave Oven Cabinet
3 Kitchen: The Sink Unit
4 Kitchen: Food Preparation & Cleaning Zone
5 Kitchen: Worktop & Kitchen Sink
6 Kitchen: Splashback

Microwave Oven Cabinet with Roller Door
The workmanship and finish of the Malaysian carpenters on the kitchen cabinets was surprisingly good, on par with designer kitchens displayed at posh showrooms in town.

An example is the microwave cabinet. Care and technical competence were displayed in the cabinetry work for the microwave oven. The Malaysians, probably on the ID's directions, had applied the same laminate to the cabinet interior as the exterior, to blend in with the overall design and look when the cabinet roller door is open.

Interior blends in aesthetically with the exterior:

Where the Malaysians fell short of was in the area of foresight and meticulous attention to detail. In other words, the workmanship was excellent but not perfect. For instance, after Koh had fixed the electrical switch for the microwave oven, I decided to place the oven into the cabinet to try the switch.

And we got stuck: we could slide in the microwave oven but could not plug in the microwave oven. The electrical plug was in the way. The carpenters had not made sufficient allowance for the oven's plug!

I then asked Koh to re-install the single socket rotated 90 deg, so that the plug would not get in the way of the oven. We were then able to slide the oven into the cabinet -- fortunately!

Tight allowance between socket and oven

Possibly the ID or the carpenters had forgotten the roller door would take up space inside the cabinet. The height of the cabinet should have been raised by 1-inch to provide clearance for the socket+plug combination.

The oversight happened because mine was a non-standard requirement: I had asked the ID to fix a roller door on the microwave oven compartment. That way we could use the compartment for storage if we need additional storage space in our small kitchen in future. We would then place the microwave oven on the worktop instead.

The roller door could remain open for easy access to the microwave oven, and closed if the compartment is used as a storage space. Neat dual function idea, isn't it?

Workmanship: Kitchen Works
1 Kitchen: Cooking & Food Storage Zone
2 Kitchen: Microwave Oven Cabinet
3 Kitchen: The Sink Unit
4 Kitchen: Food Preparation & Cleaning Zone
5 Kitchen: Worktop & Kitchen Sink
6 Kitchen: Splashback