Korea and Brand New Grandbaby
I know, I know, nothing about Cabinotch or even cabinets is in the title, what’s up with that?
Well hold your horses cause there will be cabinets (after I bore you to death telling you about my grandchildren).
This post is a first in a couple ways, first, all the images are photos I took while in Korea (yeah, I was in SOUTH Korea, which is why I was able to come home and tell you about it). Second, I’m writing this on my iPhone, which is not a first for me (wrote a lot of posts on my iPhone while on my epic Four Corners Motorcycle Tour a couple years ago), but this is the first one on the Cabinotch blog written exclusively on an iPhone using the WordPress app.
I have been told more than once that the world is moving to mobile, and that websites I develop should be mobile first. If that’s the case, then not only should the content be consumed on a mobile device, it should be created on a mobile device (at least this one time anyway, not a fan of typing with my thumbs).
So back to Korea. I was there to welcome another grandbaby into the world (our fourth by our daughters, and sixth if you count those that come by marriage, and we are about to add two more by marriage in June).
Welcome Penny Park!
My wife flew over for three weeks to help our daughter through the process, while I conspired with my son-in-law to pick me up at the airport so I could surprise everyone and spend the last week of my wife’s time there with them (we pulled it off, my daughter, wife and other grandchildren were totally surprised when GrandBob showed up that Sunday morning). Here is the whole happy gang.
Ok, ok, I’m getting to the cabinetry part. One day we went to this huge mall in Seoul, and my son-in-law could not wait to take me through the Hanssem Cabinetry showroom (you heard that right, their showroom is in the mall, and it is huge).
Upon entering the showroom, we see a dozen sales associates ready to escort shoppers through the showroom. The incredibly knowledgeable sales lady simply shadowed us until we had questions. Never any pressure, but right there if we needed her, and on occasion she would point out a hidden feature or two that we may not have discovered on our own.
All the displays were Full Access cabinetry, and if you didn’t know better, you would swear you were in Europe. Everything is compact and efficient, with storage gadgets galore.
There was not one single solid wood door in the showroom, everything was either Textured Melamine, High Pressure Laminate, Acrylic, Rigid Thermal Foil or Decorative Laminate Veneer. Then there was this sculptured something or other (even the edgebanding was sculptured).
And like cabinets you find throughout Europe, they all had a 152mm (6″) toe kick. If you’re not familiar with this, the decision to have a 152mm toe kick height is not the brainchild of cabinetmakers, it originates with the appliance makers (most of the appliances in the showroom were made on Europe).
Every single base cabinet in this showroom was on leg levelers with snap on toe kick. One feature I had not seen before was they have a plastic U-shaped mold they clip onto the bottom of the toe board to protect it from liquid spills (my primary reason for taking this particular picture of my daughters kitchen was to illustrate why you should never take an applied end Panel to the floor unless absolutely necessary, like next to a refrigerator, because as you can see, they take a lot of abuse, but it also shows this U-shaped mold).
Here is a photo of the sales flyer I got at the end of my tour of the Hanssem Showroom (pretty sure you’ll be as clueless as I was).
Here are a few more photos, all being of my daughters kitchen.
Loved the foot actuated kitchen faucet (it is in the toe space, which is as mentioned above is 152mm (6″) tall, just to the right of the well integrated Dishwasher).
The oven/microwave is also well integrated.
I have seen plenty of continuous pulls applied to the top and/or bottom of doors and drawer fronts, but I’ve never seen it integrated into the door profile as well as this one is (yes, my daughters kitchen is two tone).
Another thing you might have noticed is you hardly ever see a top drawer, and if you do, it’s almost always part of a drawer stack. But, the majority of those full height doors actually have a pull out behind the door, so other than having to open the door to get to the pull out, there is drawer storage at the top of almost every cabinet, it just takes two steps to get to it.
I was also able to get a ton of work done while on this trip thanks to the time in the air (14 hours each way), layovers and the dreaded JET LAG. Here is a photo of my mobile office with the terrific view from the 13th floor of my daughter and son-in-laws apartment (when I couldn’t sleep, this is where you would find me).
This is their apartment complex looking up from the Greenway that runs right through the middle of their town.
But it was not all work and no play. There was this place and this dessert (it’s a Korean Dessert Cafe).
Seems the older grandchildren liked it as well as I did (Tim Hayden, our resident can do anything guy, and I are known for our sweet tooth).
Well, once again I’ve said all I have to say about the topic at hand, and as always, would love it if you would ask any questions you might have below, like and/or share this post, and may the Lord Bless the work of your hands, heart and mind.
I’ll leave you with a video (hope this app will let me do that). This is how they move you in or out of high rise apartments in Korea. I’m betting a few cabinetmakers are going to be trying to figure out how they can get one of these to help them get their cabinets into the house.
