Thailands Built in Furniture, the made to measure stuff

**dirtydog** · 30-08-2006, 08:03 PM

I shall start with what I consider to be the worst and is quite endemic in Thailand, yep MDF or Chipboard or Particle Board or whatever you may wish to call it, Now I don't know how this stuff is made but I will take a guess that it is big lumps of sawdust glued together and compressed and then a veneer stuck on it, I could be completely wrong though on the process of making this stuff.

Now in the UK this stuff rules for doing out your kitchen, and it aint cheap by a long way, but the UK doesn't have the dirt and dust problems that we have here in Thailand, so in the UK we aint cleaning our floors with mops everyday, nor do we have the humidty problem, here we clean the floors way too often and it is too damn humid, humidity and dampness are the enemies of MDF board.

The Euro type kitchen places in Thailand also like to supply you with Euro electrical appliances, now I got to admit some of these are great, but don't buy a foking Euro fridge, they aint designed to work at an ambient temperature of 90 degrees nor do they have the space to put enough water in for normal daily use, under counter fridges are a complete waste of time and Euro fridges are just struggling too much over here to actually work effectively.

So what happens to your MDF kitchen over the first 2 years? Well basically all the skirtings are destroyed by the revenge of the damp mop, yep that half a million baht kitchen now needs more work on it

So which sort of Kitchen should you buy?

If you go with MDF then you got to get a proper counter top, ie Granite or something like that, also expect to replace all the skirts and use 10mm plywood with formica on, the skirts should last about 6 years or more that way.

Here is a picture of a small cupboard in the living room.

As you can see it is now rubbish, well it is MDF.

Next is my MDF PC desk.

**mrsquirrel** · 30-08-2006, 08:16 PM

I can see teeth marks in that.

**flash** · 30-08-2006, 08:16 PM

I would call that stuff melemead(spelling) and it hates moisture, MDF is a little better it swells a bit with moisture but won't fall apart like that.

I am gonna start building myself a kitchen in the next couple of weeks, maybe i will do one of these photo diary's of it.

**mrsquirrel** · 30-08-2006, 08:17 PM

Chipboard

Chipboard is made in panels, and used for flooring, shelving and as a general use boards.
Chipboard is made by gluing together small fragments of softwood particles with an adhesive under heat and pressure, creating a rigid board with a relatively smooth surface. It

is available in a number of densities, normal, medium and high, the lowest grade is made up of fragments which are all the same size. The grading process is where smaller particles are used with the larger, making the board more dense on the outside, with the more coarse particles to the inside.

Chipboard can easily be damaged by water, and when used where water is present, it is covered in a material that protects and also hides its unsightly appearance. Kitchen worktops are made from chipboard, and covered over with a laminate of different patterns and coloures. Kitchen base and wall unit carcasses are also made in this way and laminated with melamine. Iron on edging is often used to cover the edges of melamine shelving and panels.
Fire doors are also made of chipboard; it is edged with timber, and finished with hardwood edgings. Both faces are covered over with plywood.
Other grades of chipboard are flame-retardant, and moisture-resistant.
Uncovered, chipboard is used in areas were appearence is not important, such as storerooms, garages and warehouses, and is usually the standard grade. It is also used for flooring, and made in tounge-and-grooved panels so that they can be joined together. The flooring grade is is much stronger and very dense, and has a smooth finish. It can be used to replace floorboards.

.

There you go DD

**man with no head** · 30-08-2006, 08:21 PM

That kind of stuff is common here in the states as well.

Total crap it is. If I look around my home I don't think anything I have is made from real wood.

**Thetyim** · 31-08-2006, 11:19 AM

Real wood is the only way to go.

**Thetyim** · 31-08-2006, 11:20 AM

**buadhai** · 31-08-2006, 11:26 AM

Wow, is that your house? Lovely.

I tried to buy real-wood furniture here in Korat, but decent stuff just can't be found....

**Thetyim** · 31-08-2006, 11:33 AM

I guess you like the second picture.

The first one is the sons bedroom, the last two are the kitchen and utility room. To be honest there is too much teak in this house, a couple of rooms should have been left with white walls to break up the monotony.

I live 20km from Sung Men which is where all the furniture was ordered.

**Marmite the Dog** · 31-08-2006, 01:02 PM

Originally Posted by Thetyim

To be honest there is too much teak in this house,

True, but it's better than beige that proliferates in Bangkok.

Can you get MDF in Thailand? If done properly it is waterproof. I will do a thread on it one day.

**NickA** · 31-08-2006, 01:07 PM

Originally Posted by Thetyim

To be honest there is too much teak in this house

Most of it looks great - but I think the bar was wood overkill which could have done with something to break it up, as you said - maybe you could just stain some of the wood a different colour

**mrsquirrel** · 31-08-2006, 03:01 PM

maybe you could just stain some of the wood a different colour

Stain it with what?

**dirtydog** · 31-08-2006, 04:37 PM

Nice coat of white gloss paint would lovely

Actually talking of staining wood I used to have this Austrian Carpenter working for me, he used to get quite upset when anyone mentioned staining wood so it was a more uniform color, for which I can't blame him I suppose, if you wanted a uniform color then don't use natural products.

Onto the most popular fitted furniture in Thailand, yep veneered plywood, this stuff has a framework made out of pine wood and then panels of ply nail gunned onto it, this actually looks quite nice and is damn expensive, reckon a bar counter costing 12 to 15 k baht per meter length, and that is without the overhead glass hangers and stuff.

The main problem with this is that they don't treat the pine against termites, and the termites here love pine, for some reason they don't touch the plywood, so the first time you notice a door falling off is generally the time you find out that all your fitted furniture is infested and ready for the dustbin, shame really cos it is damn expensive.

**NickA** · 31-08-2006, 06:33 PM

Originally Posted by mrsquirrel

Stain it with what?

Depends it if you want it lighter or darker - I can think of some natural stains for both...

**flash** · 31-08-2006, 06:49 PM

On the suject of stain, i recently hired a french polisher to finish off some work for me.

these guys are unreal with their little bottles of chemicals and powdered stains, its a true art as to what thy can do.

**dirtydog** · 31-08-2006, 08:22 PM

Here we have a view into what will be the kitchen.

The office I believe.

Lot's of doors nearly finished.

The matrimonial bed.

**Gerbil** · 31-08-2006, 08:31 PM

Bed doesnt look like it would hold up to a good threesome, especially if there's any leaping off the wardrobe involved.

Actually I really hate these beds, give me a good 'Sealy' sprung base and mattress anytime!

**dirtydog** · 31-08-2006, 08:31 PM

The kitchen is nearly finished now.

This bed is looking more user friendly now.

One of the guest rooms.

The music area, this is where the Piano goes, well it's actually one of those electric beasties that does everything.

**man with no head** · 01-09-2006, 12:06 AM

That's amazing. Looks almost like a Western house.

**Spin** · 01-09-2006, 12:14 AM

That all looks bang on, apart from those tiles in the kitchen with the fruit pictures on them. Thats pure chintz that is.

**RDN** · 01-09-2006, 02:40 AM

I think your fridge is going to get f*cking hot!

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