Ks Toh

Ikea sells Blum drawers but not under Blum name. Go check it out.

For the FX900, the Fujioh brochure claims a fumes absorption level of 83% recycling and over 83% ventilating. Are you using recycling or ventilating mode? If recycling, the hood may be fine even if I doubt the 83% claimed. But report back on oil collection in the oil tray. Because mine collects absolutely no oil. My Fujioh hob is fine. No complaints.

You guys just moving in. I have just moved out. Stayed at Lorong M for 15 years. Townhouse. Nice quiet area, but it's getting a bit more crowded due to the many new developments sprouting out everywhere. For every old house torn down, developer builds 10 new apartments. So, free off street parking is now a problem. Telok Kurau Road, East Coast Road and Marine Parade Road now getting more and more congested. But this area is a nice place. Plenty of food. And the beach is nearby. Good schools around too.

To me, the sequence must be Rough-in Distance (distance from wall to centre of sewerage outlet > Budget > Design. No point going around sitting and choosing WCs only to find out that they are not suitable or out of budget. You must first measure the distance from the back wall to the centre of the sewerage outlet. Based on this dimension, maybe only 50% of the WCs in the shop may be suitable. I don't recall having to measure the size of the outlet or understand P/S trap. Most WCs, I understand, come with adjustable collars or convertors to meet the actual dimension. I have one with S trap and another is P converted to S trap. No difference to me visually or in usage. (P.s. P trap means outlet in the wall, S trap means outlet on the floor, which is more common). Next, your budget may put another 25% of the WCs out of reach. Finally, from the remaining 25%, choose a WC that meets your taste. I was intrigued by the suggestion to do a sit test for every WC. I have never done it, never seen anyone doing it. (Do we have to remove our pants?). Jokes aside, in my opinion, for comfort, the most important part is the toilet seat. A more solid seat is more comfortable to the bum. Something that feels like a piece of plastic about to break into two when you sit on it is no good. For those with bigger bums, or whose firing or bombing precision is not so good, a bigger bowl (and seat) will be more suitable. But usually more costly too. In my case, a visit to Japan changed my life forever. I fell in love with the Japanese toilet seat. It warms your seat (in winter), plays soothing music, sprays warm water to gently clean your bum, blows hot air to dry your bum etc. In Singapore, we do not need to go for the $10,000 and above model. We can settle for the basic model which sprays water to clean your bum. No need for power supply. There are now many models in the market, but the one I chose was from Toto. I feel it is better built. The price of the Toto Washlet is from $250.00 to $1,000.00 depending on size, features, soft closing, bidet function etc etc. For Toto, you can go visit the showroom at Bukit Timah, opposite KK Hospital and next to Sim Siang Choon, or any of the many shops at Balestier that sell too. But the shop I like best, and bought from, is Fullsun at 146 Jalan Besar. They have a full range of Toto WCs and toilet seats. The WCs also have water connection, so you can flush and see how the water goes down for each model. (No, I don't think you can poo here). Or you can try this website, which has video too: http://japaneselifestyle.seesaa.net/category/1714188-1.html I have been using my Toto WC and washlet for some time now. I don't think I will ever be home without it!

This forum had been very useful when I was looking for renovation ideas for my new place, but when I tried to search for information on the Fujioh Ariafina Betta BT-900 cooker hood, there was very little information, some of which were inaccurate. Hence, I write this report to share my experience. Apologies for the length. For many years, I had been using an Elba cooker hood with suction capacity of around 700 m3/hr in a ventilation mode. It was satisfactory but from experience, I realized that something stronger in the region of 1000 m3/hr would be much better. So, last December I walked into this big hardware store in IMM above Best Denki and asked for a cooker hood with strong suction power in the region of 1000 m3/hr and above. One stout gentleman pointed me to the Fujioh range. I asked for the most powerful model and he brought me to the Fujioh upper end Ariafina range. I settled on the Ariafina Betta BT-900. List price $1,680.00. I was shown various brochures and certificates showing how good the hood was. I was specifically told that this model will capture almost 100% of the smoke and fumes from all directions when used in ventilation mode and about 90% of the same when used in recycling mode. I paused to explain that recycling mode means the exhaust air is being channeled back into the kitchen by means of an L or T shaped duct, whilst in ventilation mode, the exhaust air goes straight up and out of the kitchen. I asked about the suction power in terms of m3/hr but I was told Fujioh does not measure in terms of m3/hr. Anyway, if one is told that the hood will capture almost 100% of the smoke and fumes from all directions, what can possibly go wrong, right? Is there another hood that can capture more than 100%? The hood was installed early this year, in ventilation mode. Almost immediately, my maid complained that the hood was not sucking out the fumes as well as my old hood, resulting in the floor being oily after every cooking. There is some disagreement over what happened next, but eventually, Fujioh sent a technical consultant to my place. However, he proclaimed that the suction power normal. It was only at this time that I discovered the Ariafina Betta BT-900 actually had a suction power of only 470 m3/hr in circulation mode and 530 m3/hr in ventilation mode. Why this information was not disclosed to me at the time of purchase when I expressly asked for it, I do not know. When I checked around with other makers, they stated it should normally be around 1000 m3/hr for their chimney models. I was so fed up with Fujiohs attitude over this matter that I filed a claim. For technical reasons, the claim had to be made against the shop. Fujiohs technical consultant gave evidence for the shop. Both of them gave all sorts of excuses and reasons (too lengthy to report here) but the long and short of it is that after a full hearing this morning, the court ruled in my favour and ordered the shop to refund me the sum of $1,211.60 (pro-rated from my actual purchase price). They are also to come collect back the Ariafina Betta. A few lessons from this which I want to share: 1. If suction power is important to you, especially when you are using in ventilation mode, do not be persuaded by claims that the product captures almost 100% of smoke and fumes from all directions. Check the actual suction power in terms of m3/hr. If you are using in recycling mode, then I have no comments. Perhaps, in this mode, suction power may not be as important. 2. In Court, the Fujioh technical consultant (who told me he was formerly from SISIR) surprised everybody when he admitted that contrary to the claim that the Ariafina Betta BT-900 captures almost 100% of smoke and fumes in ventilation mode, and about 90% in recycling mode, the actual capture is only 80 to 90% in ventilation mode, and less than 80% in recycling mode. 3. Some of you heard there is SISIR certification. But I have examined the certificate displayed at the shop. It is printed on Fujioh letterhead. I have never seen any SISIR certificate. Anyway, SISIR merged with NPB to form PSB in 1996 and integrated with the German company TUV SUD in 2006 to become TUV SUD PSB. Any SISIR certificate issued must have been for a cooker hood at least 15 years old! 4. The much touted oil tray in the hood which is supposed to collect oil does not collect oil AT ALL, in my case. The oil is everywhere but in the tray. When I asked the Fujioh technical consultant, he said this is normal. He said it will only collect a certain type of oil. I thought it was a joke. 5. The stout man at the shop seemed to be like the shop manager. He attended to me, negotiated the price, issued the invoice and collected payment from me. Now I learned that he is in fact a Fujioh employee. Next time, if someone at the shop tries to push you some brand, you must check if he is really an employee of the shop or sales promoter for that brand. If the latter, you may need to be on guard for any biased advice. Anyway, the above is my story. Your experience may be different.