Apt Kitchen & Closet Installations Pty Ltd

It was 2005 – or somewhere around there – when I executed my first home improvement project in Tembisa. The section was near Moriting and Makhulong, one of those predominantly Sesotho‑speaking corners of the township. I cannot say for certain whether it was a Sesotho, Sepedi or Setswana area – the boundaries have blurred over time. What does stand out in my mind, though, is that my client – a lady – worked for Tembisa Hospital, situated in an aptly named area: Hospital View. The project itself was relatively minor. A tiling job. A typical, apartheid‑era Matchbox house, given new feet. But even then, even with that small job, something stuck with me. I remember thinking: I want to come back here. I want to do more than tiles. And for years, that thought sat quietly at the back of my mind. Then, late last year, an opportunity finally knocked. The Call That Came Through a Brother A mutual friend and brother, Mogau, mentioned to me that his parents had just finished tiling their kitchen fl...

To work with a gutted space – whether a house or an apartment kitchen – can be as fulfilling as a blank canvas is to an accomplished oil painter. I had that rare fulfilment with a project in the Kew area of Bramley, Johannesburg. It started on an unusually cold morning. Phakama, Sis' Melody, and I turned up at Tenerife Court, responding to an online request for a proposed kitchen makeover on the north side of Joburg. The gentleman who had called himself Aviel happened upon one of my adverts and put through a call. He wanted a site visit. I arrived, and soon learned to my delight that there were not one but two separate renovation jobs. First, two water‑damaged units at Tenerife had to be removed and replaced. But the real deal – the one that would haunt my dreams for weeks – was at Vaude, an apartment down the road, just off the famous Louis Botha Avenue. --- The Blank Canvas That Stopped Me Cold Arriving at Vaude, the sight was surreal. Here was an apartment completely hollowed ou...

Its 2019 people and as the as the cliche goes, time goes! And so, what can our valued clientele look forward to this year? To begin with, we will start by canning the R5 999 advert that has been running now for most of the year, in on form or the other. Of course, those clients who have called in, in response to the Kitchen proposition encapsulated by this ad, just prior to the canning, will have their orders honored under the terms of the selfsame ad. But there after, as we roll out new ads, no queries based on that ad will be entertained. One thing, however, will remain true in 2019: we, at APT Designs, will still continue to offer our clientele the very best in custom built-in-cabinet services including on Kitchen, Closets, Bathroom Vanities, Wall-to-Wall/Floor-to-Ceiling Units, Coffee Tables and whats more! we will add more items to our offering to include items such as Chests-of-Drawers and Dressing Tables, all built with one aim in mind: durability and true value for your mo...

I have always been amazed at how often we underestimate a space—until a kitchen has been designed, assembled, and installed. That was exactly the case recently with a client I'll call Ms Maroo of Midrand. As is so often the way, she spotted my advert online and put through a call requesting a site visit. I promptly complied—if you can apply "promptly" to a visit that took place only two or three weeks after the initial call—and collected the measurements. I must admit: even to me, the proposed space appeared relatively small. But as I said at the outset of this story, that was before we fleshed out the design and began the installation. The Shape of Deception To give you an idea, we were dealing with an L‑shaped space, with an arch on one of the walls. In hindsight, I believe that huge arch was the culprit—it played tricks on the eye, shrinking everything around it. So we decided to fight back. We chose to utilise as much open space as possible, transforming that modest L...

Its entirely possible that you've landed on this page because you happened upon my, "Your Kitchen Designed & Installed For Only R5 999!" online advert. I've been flighting this internet advert for quite sometime now. And due an overwhelmingly positive response it has garnered, I've decided to run it even longer than I had initially planned to. However, it seems a few callers have not quite grasped the intent of this advert hence my decision to write this blog with a view to clarifying the offer encompassed by this advert. With this blog, I'm aiming to both flesh out first, what the proposition is with this advert and, second,  explain why this proposition is good for any homeowners looking to do a kitchen makeover in the near future. With regard to the first point, the wording as you'll notice above, is clear and to the point, I think: "... Designed and Installed..." Simply put, the indicated amount constitute the labor cost for designin...

Small spaces always present special challenges in design. And when that small space happens to be a kitchen, the challenge becomes even more peculiar. That was precisely the situation I faced recently with the Mtambisi family kitchen in Kempton Park.   Now, it's true that I have worked with small spaces before. At Kapele Freight & Logistics (Pty) Ltd, a subsidiary of the JSE-listed  Rohlig Grindrod  Group of Companies, I was tasked with designing and installing two small kitchens—one on each floor, back to back—alongside the main kitchen facilities and bar in the staff canteen. However, apart from very minor differences on one wall, those two small kitchen spaces were basically identical. The Mtambisi kitchen, on the other hand, was a different story altogether, and I'll explain why.   To begin with, we were dealing with a truly cramped space. Two walls measure 2400 mm long, while the other two are just 1900 mm long. One of the 1900 mm walls is an exterio...

I have to confess: I have never been a great fan of refurbishing when it comes to kitchens or any other built‑in cabinets (BICs) for that matter. But of late, I have seen a tangible spike in inquiries to that effect. First, it was an elderly gentleman from Soweto who called in, asking if it could be possible to do a kitchen refurbishment by simply working on the doors of his kitchen. He requested that I visit him to see what could be done. Politely, I suggested he take the measurements of the doors and forward them to me. My intention was to design – free of charge – new doors for him, get him a quote from a board‑cutting and edging outlet close to his place, forward it to him, and have him pay for the materials and complete the job on his own. In fact, in our ten‑minute-or-so discussion, I basically gave him a 101 tutorial on how to go about effecting the makeover. He sounded enthusiastic and willing to follow through on my suggestions but, strangely, he never came back to me with the...