Smartpack Cabinet Systems

kitchens, wardrobes, laundries, home offices, storage, workshop 02 9516 3222

New Year gift recipe from Smartpack

Happy New Year everybody. I thought - enough with the technical blogs for our Smartpack readers,  so, as a New Year gift, my wife has agreed to gift this recipe to all the followers of our Smartpack blog. If this proves popular then I will intersperse more of her recipes (and favourites from my mother) among the latest technical and interest articles every month.

A fantastic  pre-dinner snack with drinks served with rice crackers or ryvita biscuits. This will be a whole conversation by itself with your guests. 

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                         DELICIOUS FETTA BAKE WITH PINK PEPPERCORNS

~ Place 1 slab of Danish fetta into a baking dish and slice into bite sized pieces.

~ Cover with olive oil and fresh thyme leaves and crushed garlic

~ Bake in an oven uncovered at 180 degrees until the fetta becomes golden brown.

~  Sprinkle with pink peppercorns and serve with crackers before dinner

Yummo!

(Danish fetta is the best because it is the only fetta which absorbs the marinade ~ all others are dry)

Well enjoy and may the best of 2011 be the worst of 2012 for you all from the Smartpack team.

New Push-to-open drawers

Newly launched Innotech Push to Open – and winner of the 2011 designEx New Bathroom Product of the Year – is the latest addition to Hettich’s renowned Innotech range featuring manual push to open technology and eliminating handles, for a sleek minimalist look. Great for bathrooms and entertainment units as well as kitchens.

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One should note that soft close drawers are not available with soft close feature. The reason for this is that the two mechanisms have opposing springs and therefore do not operate together. The only option is to use the electronic push to open which has a small motor pushing out the drawer and then the soft close mechanism operates effectively on the drawer close. The downside of this perfect solution is the price tag of the electronic mechanism. It adds about $1200 for up to 4 drawer banks next to one another.

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Induction Cooktops - an unbiased insight into the new trend.

In light of the Smartpack November special I thought our readers would be interested in some unbiased information about an induction cooktop.

Induction cooktops work via an electromagnetic field that essentially turns your cookware into an element by inducing a thermal electric current in the pot or pan causing it to heat up. Food is cooked by the heat of the cookware and not from the cooktop itself.

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Benefits of induction cooking

Safer: There are no open flames and the air around the cookware is not heated other than by the cookware. The cooktop remains cooler to the touch than the traditional ceramic non induction cooktops. The only heat is from that from tranferance from the bottom of the cookware.In fact a piece of paper can be in between the cooktop and the cookware while cooking and it will not burn.

More efficient: Induction cooking can be precisely controlled compared to traditional electric elements and gas. Energy transfer in induction is about 84% , electric element 71% and gas 40%, which means there is a cost saving in power bill for the user. Induction cooking recognises the base of the cookware, directly heating only the diameter of the pot so very little energy is wasted.

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Cabinet Doors Options made simple - Part 2

Sprayed doors
These doors go by a number of names such as two pack, polyurethane and  lacquered doors. These doors are made from MDF (medium density fibreboard) and sprayed with a chemically cured paint similar to car paint.Polyurethane is a better option than an a acid catylised lacquer and is much more resilient to solvents once fully cured. The faces and edges of the door can have a routered pattern or just plain faced with pencil round edges. The paint finish can range in gloss levels from matt(10%) , satin (30%), semi gloss (60%) to high gloss (90%).  The paint finish gives a very sleek modern appearance and shows no join seams on the edges. The paint is brittle but hard and can chip. The high gloss shows marks as does any highly polished surface. Semi gloss or satin finishes now more popular show less finger marks and are not so reflective. These doors are well suited to kitchen and bathroom installations. The price of a door 730mm x 450mm is between $85-150 per door depending on the routing and finish. The high gloss being at the more expensive end of the range. Smartpack offers a number of standard polyurethane doors  click here
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Cabinet Door Options made simple - Part 1


Cabinet Door Options made simple

The kitchen behind the doors and panels is usually made up of white high moisture resistant melamine board and varies only slightly in construction and finish between different manufacturers. The major cost difference in the kitchen comes from the benchtops and the doors and the choice of doors makes a considerable difference. Most kitchen companies will offer about five styles, each having a range of colours and finishes.

Melamine doors with melamine edging
This is the cheapest door style. Melamine paper overlay is a low pressure resin impregnated paper pressed on to board.Melamine paper is a thin brittle material that cannot be handled without the backing board.It is suitable for vertical surfaces such as doors and panels but not for kitchen benchtops.(It can be used for office benchtops which have less wear). With care it will last a long time and is a very economical way to bring colour into a kitchen. The only significant drawback is that the edging on the square cut door can peel off or the colour can chip off the edging if it is melamine edging. (This does not happen with PVC or ABS edging).The colour is on both sides of the door.The edge and the door do not have great impact resistance and water damage can effect the door because water can leach through the joint of the edging and the melamine face. Edging can be replaced as can the door at minimal cost. The approximate price of a 730mm x 450mm door is about A$30-45 depending on the branded colour. White generic board is always the cheapest.
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Smartpack launches a new site

In time for spring we have remodelled our website. Check out our new site at www.smartpackkit.com.au

A new look, easier navigation and more ebooks and brochures for you to download together with our pricelists and 3D DYOS design program. It is also easier now to book an appointmennt for a measure and quote online in Sydney, ACT, Perth, Tennant Creek, Mildura and Mackay for the full custom kitchen, laundry and wardrobe installation service. We still make the premium flatpack system in Australia and we ship anywhere on the East Coast for $250 when the order is over $6000. 

The Smartpack online store is now much easier to use with no registration required and has products like drawer runners and hinges along with accessories for kitchen, laundry wardobes and home office. The best news is that we offer free shipping on the store for orders over $100 online.

So give the new site a whirl! click here

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Acrylic benchtop now taking on stone in price and advantages

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Hanex Acrylic freeform material is now being supplied in finished format at prices that are competitive to installed stone like Caesar stone and Quantum Quartz. Seamless joins, thick edges up to 100mm , inbuilt sinks and draining boards and seamless splashbacks are all possible with this material.

The advantages of Hanex are laid out here for your information. Stone is a great product too and this article is to inform you of other cost effective alternatives.

 

100% Non-porous

Scratch and stain resistant

Resistant to heat, mould, pollutants and bacteria

Highly durable - stronger than stone

Easy to maintain

Renewable and repairable

10 year warranty

seamless constuction including moulded splashback, draining boards routered into the top and seamlessly undermounted sinks.Moulded in sinks are only available in white but are still seamless.

Installation of the benchtop can be idone at

the same time as the rest of the kitchen. Meaning a quick, stress free

experience for your customers who will not have to wait for a stone

mason to come in, measure up, go away and make a template, make the

benchtop then return to install it. 

 

Please call 02-95163222 for enquiries regarding acrylic tops or email sales@smartpackkit.com.au 

or view the product brochures on our website www.smartpackkit.com.au for the properties and colour availabilities.

 

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Smartpack supplies the kitchens to the TOP DESIGN show

Smartpack supplied and installed the 5 kitchens specified by the design teams for the container fitouts. The show was aired on channel 9 last night and Smartpack was credited as the endorsed kitchen supplier. Well done to the design contestants but what was most important is that the kitchens and splashbacks looked stunning. Go to the following link to view the episode and view their designs.

Here are pictures of 2 of the kitchenettes. Amazing what fits in a small space.

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http://channelnine.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8195173 

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Customer installed -customer proud!

"Attached are some photos of our finished kitchen, which I promised to send some time ago, but your questionnaire in the mail reminded me. We are very happy with the result. Hope these may be of interest to you."

We love the fact that our customers are proud of their planning and installation  and are willing to share the result with our other prospective and past customers.

In this particular project our customer "A" planned the kitchen and came in to our showroom for some advice and fine tuning. Smartpack then provided the detailed plans which were approved for manufacture. 3 weeks later we delivered the custom kit and  "A" installed the kitchen.
The kitchen in a Semigloss white polyurethane Hamlet door, laminate benchtop, Zenolite acrylic splashback and woodgrain melamine barback was designed to match the existing family room funiture on the family room side but a clean white look from the inside area of the kitchen area. WOW what a great result and the main thing - another satisfied customer.

Smartpack thanks "A" for the recommendation and we are also proud of the result!

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Australian Embassy Refurbishment Project

Smartpack is very proud to share these pictures of the project we have nearly completed for the Australian government. The Australian Embassy in Tokyo has ungone a refurbishment as it is now about 20years old. Smartpack won the tender to supply all the joinery for the new fit out for the bathrooms cabinets, kitchens ,wardrobes and laundries. Well done the Australian government for supporting an Australian based manufacturing company.

Manufacturing was done In Sydney and shipped to Tokyo in flatpack format, with stone tops, to the embassy in Tokyo where the Japanese contractor Hazama company has very competently installed all the joinery. 30 of the 43 apartments have now been occupied. The Embassy staff and the Department of Foreign Affairs project manager have been extremely satisfied with the finish and quality of our work. 

The apartment kitchens, laundries and bathroom cabinets are finished in White polyurethane satin finish and the wardrobes are in white melamine finish with painted sliding doors.  The accessories were supplied by Smartpack but all appliances were sourced in Japan. We have included some shots for your perusal here of some of the typical rooms.

Kitchens

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Laundries

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Bathrooms

 

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Wardrobes

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