tonyjames

Demolition works began at my three bedroom unit at Blossoms @ Woodleigh on the 19th of July. I'll cover the events between then and now a little later, but for now I'm going to focus on what's been happening this week. The project I've handed my ID for this week is to have the 3D drawings of the kitchen completed. Here's what's happened... Email sent to my ID on 27/08/12 with photos to use as a reference for desired layout and colour schemes. The theme was mainly white, with a little grey and beige for contrast. Email received on 05/09/12. Note the date. The reason it took longer than expected was due to the drafter being handed both mine and another client's details at the same time and incorrectly completing them in the wrong order. Here's the first rendering of the kitchen. My friend described this as a "black and white movie gone wrong" which made me laugh. Based on the first draft, I asked for the following changes to be made: Grey counter to be a shade or two lighter. Grey floor to be replaced with beige or a very light wooden tone. Gloss cabinets to be replaced with matte. Dish drying cabinet to be changed from glass to laminate and conform to the lines of the adjacent cabinetry. Oven to be added. Here is the second draft, which was received on 07/09/12. The following observations were passed onto my ID and an updated drawing requested: The grey counter is still too dark. The flooring is still grey, while it should be a beige or light wooden tone. I'm currently awaiting the third iteration of the drawing which was promised by yesterday. I got hold of him by phone this afternoon and asked him to follow up with the drafter. It will be posted here as soon as I receive it.

Hi all I just wanted to ask for any recommendations about the most suitable kitchen flooring type here in Singapore. Tiles are easy to care for but very hard and prolonged standing can hurt my feet and back. Wood/bamboo is a little more forgiving on my joints but I'm reading that it's not suitable for humid or wet areas (I guess that means not suitable for a wet kitchen in humid Singapore). Any comments? There are some wood looking tiles which are great but again they're very hard on the feet and back. I know it's a trade off but eager to hear any feedback you might have.

Just a word of caution to those looking at the Kraus sinks. If you do some Googling (and check out gardenweb.com) there are reports of rust occurring with this brand. The drainer is also reported to scratch the sink itself. I'm not trying to be cynical...if you have a Kraus sink and love it then that's fantastic, but please do research thoroughly as I don't believe they have a representative here in Singapore.

To all of you who are using the Kraus single bowl sink, could you please advise whether you find having just one bowl instead of two to be troublesome? How do you allow for having dirty dishes in the sink and rinsing vegetables or draining pasta at the same time?

I've been doing a lot of research as to whether a single or double bowl kitchen sink would be most suited for me. Unfortunately, no matter how much I read, I'm still at a total loss and have no idea what to do. Instead of another generic 'single bowl vs double bowl' post, I've got a few specific queries below which some of you might hopefully be able to advise on. - If I was to use a single bowl, I would need to use a separate dishpan to wash dishes. Space is limited so storing this dishpan when it is not in use is a challenge. - How do you all dry your dishes? I'd like to air dry as it saves time and effort, but if I put a drying rack in or over the sink, it prevents that side from being used for rinsing vegetables etc. - I have read about the low divide sinks, but they don't seem able to hold enough water to do a proper wash up for me. They still don't seem like an ideal way to wash larger items like cookie trays either. - A 50/50 split would render both bowls too small for larger items, but a 60/40 or 70/30 split would mean that the smaller bowl is not big enough for rinsing/drying the dishes. - A drying rack built as part of the sink itself (I hope you know what I mean) looks attractive, but isn't really useful for other purposes. I need to be able to multitask to use my space effectively. - Those chopping boards you can put on top of the sink look like a great idea, but again, they prevent you from using that side of the sink for rinsing etc. Any advice on the above would be very much appreciated. I really don't want to make a mistake that I grow to hate in the years to come.

Hi all I have been doing some research online and seem to like the Blanco sinks, so I found their reseller in Singapore (Hoe Kee at IMM). After going down to Hoe Kee today, I am wondering if the product range we have in Singapore is all outdated stock? For a start, I was looking for the Silgranit II range, but Hoe Kee only have the original Silgranit models. The lady took out her 2012 product guide, and even in this year's guide all of the models seem to be outdated as compared with the US. The colour selection was also the older and more limited range from previous models. If you look at the current models available at the Blanco website (http://www.blancoamerica.com/c3/blanco_usa/_www/en/pub/products/product_portfolio/portfolio_silgranit_sinks.cfm) you will see that none of these are available at Hoe Kee. If anybody is able to offer some advice it would certainly be most appreciated!