Sibu Wet Kitchen: Designing Out the Swelling-Board Failure
Wet-run aluminium carcass + quartz top
The Challenge
A common Sibu situation: a wet kitchen built in moisture-resistant particleboard, where heavy wok cooking, daily washing-down and humidity had swollen the base cabinets. The owner wanted a rebuild that would not repeat the same failure.
The Approach
The proposal re-zones the kitchen into genuinely wet and dry runs. It specifies ACP / honeycomb aluminium carcasses for the wet base run with a quartz top, ducts the hood to the outside, adds a floor trap with correct falls, and plans ventilation gaps. Dry-zone tall units stay on sealed E0 board to concentrate the budget where the moisture actually is.
Proposed resolution
Designed so the wet run has no board carcass to swell — the aluminium carcass is the part designed to outlast the kitchen. Cleaning can be simpler, the hood would exhaust outside, and the spend would be concentrated where the moisture is rather than spread thinly across every cabinet.
Key Lessons
- →In a wet kitchen, the carcass material is the decision that lasts — finishes are secondary
- →“Moisture-resistant” board still swells under standing water; aluminium removes the failure mode
- →Spend the upgrade where it is wet; keep dry runs on sealed board to control budget
- →Hood ducting and a floor trap matter as much as the cabinet itself
See it, understand it, specify it
One kitchen, taken in the order a decision is made. It is a concept study: not a built project, a quotation or an approval.
Overall view
One kitchen drawn as a whole: the sink run under the window, the tall units and the island, and a second kitchen seen through the glazed door.
Palette board
What each surface looks like in the concept. These are appearance directions read from the render: no sample, product or code is matched or approved.
- Ceiling
- Plain flat white, with small round downlights.
- Wall
- Plain warm white.
- Floor
- Large-format tile in a light warm grey.
- Cabinet
- Warm timber-grain fronts with slim black edge lines; open shelves with a warm backlight.
- Countertop
- A pale speckled stone look, with a thick edge on the island.
- Backsplash
- A black panel behind the hob, with a stone-look return beside it.
- Metal
- Matte black on the tap, the window and door frames, the hob and the hood edge.
- Fabric
- Not drawn in this view. It is chosen with the room's furnishings, so it stays blank here.
Check physical samples together, under the intended lighting, before approving or buying anything.
Compare one decision at a time
Each set below holds renders that ELS read as sharing a viewpoint, the geometry and the light, with one decision changed. They come from the decision library, not from this kitchen's own render.
Wet kitchen backsplash
One option isn't shown yet — coming soon: Plain porcelain tile.
Cabinet-to-ceiling junction detail
This kitchen's own comparison is being prepared. No render of it has a twin that changes one decision, so none is drawn. These renders are needed:
- This view with the backsplash as the black panel, as a large stone-look slab and as a small-pattern tile.
- This view with the countertop in the speckled stone look and in a plain light top.
- This view with the cabinet fronts in warm timber grain and in one plain colour.
Detail view
The junction this kitchen's finish depends on: where the cabinet run meets the floor.
Shadow gap at the floor, not a plinth
A pale carcass that sits directly on the floor shows the mop line — and it shows it at the eye level of someone seated, which is where people actually look.
Lift the whole run and let a shadow gap, not a plinth, meet the floor.
Read the full detailWhy this combination
Warm timber fronts, a pale speckled top and matte black metal give the kitchen one warm, quiet palette with a few dark accents, and the black panel behind the hob puts the cooking zone in focus. ELS leans to this combination in a bright wet kitchen, where the pale top and floor carry the daylight and the dark lines stay few.
An alternative suits better when the kitchen gets little daylight, where a lighter backsplash keeps it from feeling closed in; when the household wants marks to show less, where a more textured top can help; or when the client keeps an existing floor or cabinet, in which case the new surfaces are chosen around what stays.
These are preferences, not rules. Judge the combination in the actual room, with the samples, under its own lighting.
Procurement status
Nothing here is specified. ALUMAX binds the exact product, price and lead time; ELS names only the family, and the tier is confirmed with the quotation.
| Item | ALUMAX family | Tier | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wet-run carcass | Full aluminium cabinetry, or aluminium honeycomb wet-zone cabinetry | To be confirmed | Quotation required |
| Dry-run tall units | Not set in ELS's records; ALUMAX names it | Not set | Quotation required |
| Countertop, backsplash, hood, tap and floor trap | No product matched yet; no brand or code is named | Not set | Not matched yet |
Budget summary
This lists what is in scope, what is still to be measured and what ALUMAX's quotation will price. It shows no ringgit amount and no total.
Evidence status: concept only. Nothing is built, measured or quoted.
Scope
- Wet-run aluminium carcass with a quartz top.
- The hood ducted to the outside.
- A floor trap with correct falls, and ventilation gaps.
- Dry-zone tall units on sealed E0 board.
Quantities
- Wet base run, length: To be measured on site
- Countertop area: To be measured on site
- Tall units, count and width: To be measured on site
- Hood duct run: To be measured on site
- Floor traps, count: To be measured on site
Assumptions
- A concept with no site: the layout is the concept render's, and nothing is measured.
- The wet and dry split follows this study's approach above.
Lines ALUMAX's quotation prices
- The wet-run carcass, in the family above.
- Any other line ALUMAX is asked to supply, once the brief names it.
To confirm before order
- Site measurement
- The tier
- Sample approval
- ALUMAX's quotation
- The hood route and the floor-trap falls
- Who supplies the countertop and the tiles
You need to arrange
Appliances, sink and tap, plumbing and electrical works, wall and floor tiling, lighting fittings and loose furniture.
Next step
Save this direction to your ELS Design Brief on this device. It is saved as “not yet specified or approved”.
*Illustrative scenario based on conditions ELS plans for across Sarawak — figures are indicative and not a quotation. We are actively building our project portfolio; named, photographed case studies will follow.