I agree .... we knocked down the kitchen wall of our HDB, and it made a really big and spacious feeling dining / living area. In fact, the old owners came in and saw it and wished they had done it themeselves!! We love it. The only drawback is if you want to cook smelly food, then you need to install a good hood over the cooking area. We did our renovations one year ago, and our ID/contractor was great. We did whole new kitchen, bathroom, bathroom cabinets, two wall hacking, new built in wardrobes in three rooms, repainting, and new shelving, feature wall, install fans, etc for less than 20k, and used very good quality / brand name materials. PM me if you want the details. Other ways to save money would be to buy all the pieces yourself (ie hob, hood, basins, oven, lighting fixutres, etc) and just get contractor to install. Also, you can get Nippon or Dulux to paint it for you and save that cost. I you place isn't too old, you can overlay the tiles rather than hack them, and that saves cost too. Also, don't get all the anti-slam hinges etc as they are expenses. All the best and enjoy.