Opening A New Chapter Of Our Lives ... 2nd Home In 7 Years

[Chunky Monkey 2]

your glass doors look lovely!

i'm still contemplating on if having clear glass doors is a good idea. i've heard so many people actually having problems with their guests bumping and walking straight into these doors.. until they had to put up some kind of patterned stickers on them.

really like your wood-like tiles too! hmm.. lets see if my budget allows for this 'luxury'.

Thank you. Do note that because I have asked for floor locks and also telescopic tracks, the glass doors do not stack flushed to one another. They are in fact staggered. You'll have to consider if that's what you're OK with. I personally find this acceptable although not ideal, but it could well be a bane for others. I asked myself if I could have another chance at installing frameless glass doors, would I use Dorma ... well, my answer will probably be no. If I had known before hand that I will have staggered glass panels, I might not have wanted floor locks (I may even opt for no locks!) , and I might have considered other locking mechanisms.

I would like to recommend that you check out Glasspoint. Ask for Jasmine Koh. Glasspoint uses telescopic tracks too. And their tracks are made in Italy. Jasmine's customer service is really good. I kind of regretted not using Glasspoint. I'd assumed I would have no problem whatsoever with Dorma. The guy I dealt with is so new to the company, he does not know what's going on half the time.

[binxuan 0]

Oooo! How come you're so sharp?! That's a compliment.

I'm going to have 2 Fisher & Paykal fridges; one left hand opening and one right hand opening. Pseudo pigeon pair. I was initially thinking of one freezer and one refrigerator. But in reality, I need more refrigerator space. So opted for 2 of the same fridges but with 2 different openings.

omg wont the electricity bill be very high? btw how big is your home? what's the estimated cost of hacking down everything and renovating it?thanks!

[Chunky Monkey 2]

omg wont the electricity bill be very high? btw how big is your home? what's the estimated cost of hacking down everything and renovating it?thanks!

I don't think adding an extra refrigerator is going to shoot my electricity bill through the roof. And having 2 refrigerators is not even a luxury anymore but a necessity for us. I have to put cereals, biscuits, snacks ... in fact that everything that might attract ants in the refrigerator. (Yup, very particular about this) And with 2 children who constantly catch bugs from friends in school, I have enough bottled medication (symptomatic relief types) to use up 2 - 3 rows of the shelves in the fridge doors & open a dispensary!

If it's OK, I would not want to mention costs. I really don't mean to be rude but I have also not disclosed costs in PMs. It's not something I am comfortable talking about. Thanks.

As for size of my home, it's 4000 sq ft.

[Chunky Monkey 2]

Here are some "BEFORE" pictures of our kitchen, as of 8 Dec 07. Ready for the installation of kitchen cabinets tomorrow (Monday).

Twin Fridge Base. On the right of the fridges will be full height larders. Hence, the top of the concrete base is not tiled

Right Wall of the Kitchen, alongside the glass sliding doors.

Ovens & Kitchen Sink Side

[yoongf 11]

Hmm..

Might want to consider recessing the concrete support directly below the sink area by ard 300mm inwards towards the wall. We humans have toes. When washing dishes, and the tummy lean on the sink, normally the toes will need some space. If not, then the dish washer will not be standing in vertical position.

Also.. the waste pipe for the sink appears unusually low. Either u plan to have a very small bottom trap, or there will be extra piping turns after the bottom trap (which will reduce storage space below sink)

Edited December 9, 2007 by yoongf

[Chunky Monkey 2]

Thanks, yoongf for your comments. They really help to keep me in check.

My kitchen designer has asked for the sink concrete base to be only 660mm and the kitchen cabinet will be 700mm. That's enough for our toes/feet right?

As for the water pipe .... I think there will be extra piping turns. The sink that we are going to install is actually quite deep, and the plumber just want to 'stay clear', since he is not sure how much of piping would be needed. I am actually unsure of how much storage space there will be under the sink. Which is why I had asked for an open shelf under the cabinet. If I am confident of the remaining space under the sink (staying clear of the water drainage pipe), I actually would rather have a U-shaped pull out drawer. But it's just too troublesome. After thinking about all the details in each drawer and shelf everywhere in the kitchen, I had no more brain matter left to figure out the "under sink" area. So just 'chin chye' lah.

Edited December 9, 2007 by Chunky Monkey

[Chunky Monkey 2]

Some pictures of the cabinet carcasses, before the kitchen floor was all filled. By the time the floor space was filled, I could no longer stand in the kitchen to take pictures.

Is it normal to have 50 kg loading Blum tracks for drawers? I am wondering if my designer is using 50 kg because of the weight of canned food, and bottled drinks that I would put in the larder.

One of the 2 larder units

[Chunky Monkey 2]

Small Attic Shower/Toilet

Shower Set with Shower Mixer - Damixa (from Hoe Kee)

Sink Mixer - Damixa (also from Hoe Kee)

Toilet Paper Holder + Towel Holder + Hand Towel Holder - Stainless Steel, from Hoe Kee

WC - Cotto made in Thailand (bought from Nan Wah warehouse sale. $70 after 50% + 20% off). Great value for money. Was told never to use those made in China because they don't flush well. Have no idea how true that is, but I won't want to risk a back-flow. Ewwww.

Floor traps - from jonite.

Edited December 9, 2007 by Chunky Monkey

[yoongf 11]

Thanks, yoongf for your comments. They really help to keep me in check.

My kitchen designer has asked for the sink concrete base to be only 660mm and the kitchen cabinet will be 700mm. That's enough for our toes/feet right?

The setback is really subjective to the user, whether got protruding tummy or not. From my own experience, 4inch is mininum so that absolutely no chance for toes to hit the base. But from a proportional perspective.. 200-300mm looks more "right". Some designers like to put lights in this area as well.. so.. bigger depth is nicer.

[Chunky Monkey 2]

New uPVC windows have been installed in the children's rooms. It was funny how my neighbours thought that I'd installed windows with black frames and blue glass. How duh is that?!

Alice from Fascina is really nice to work with. And her boss, Christopher is fabulous too. They introduced child-locks for the windows in my children's room.

With child-lock, this is the angle of an opened window

After I press and release the child-lock, the window opens up fully to a 90 deg angle, which will be easy for my maid to put her hand/arm through, to clean the glass on the outside

[Chunky Monkey 2]

10 Dec 07

We went to check on the kitchen cabinet installation today. But we didn't last more than 30 min in there.

(1) There were too many workmen, so no space to stand around.

(2) The sawdust, noise of the drill and smell of glue gave me a migraine within minutes.

I was informed by the factory that my solid surface for my kitchen will only arrive on Wed, and it would be best that I can be present to confirm how I would like the solid surface cut to fit my custom-made stainless steel sink.

These were the only photos that I could manage today ... before I started feeling sick. I was hoping to capture all the photos of the installation step by step .... oh well ...

Cabinet housing column of ovens

Sink area

2 x larders

Wall hung cabinet above the fridges

Unfortunately, the electrician will have to reposition the downlight. The box-up above the cabinet will block part of the light, in its existing position.

[Chunky Monkey 2]

11 Dec

Our kitchen/wardrobe designer has arranged to meet us on site today at 10.30 am, to go through the detailing of our wardrobes in the master bedroom. Unfortunately it's not so straight forward because my electrical DB is in one corner alongside the wall that we wish to install our wardrobes, and I don't really want to waste the space on top and below it. The ideal outcome is for the designer to box around it. What I am a little agitated with is the delay the electrician is putting up the additional DB. I have no idea where he will be doing this, left, right, or bottom of the current one. I'd asked for the new DB to be done up by Monday. Monday came and gone, and I still have a bunch of messy wires/cables. Sigh.

I am looking forward to see the stage of completion of the kitchen. I wonder how much the installers have gotten done from the time we left and till dusk yesterday.

More updates soon ....

[Chunky Monkey 2]

Kitchen Cabinet Installation - Classic (Tankong Katong Complex)

Went to check on the kitchen cabinet installation and we are pretty pleased with the progress. There will be some minor fixing to do though.

(a) Relocation of a downlight

One of the downlights is too close to the wall hung cabinet over the fridges, and so I will have to get the electrician to shift the light out after the cabinets are all fixed. I don't really have a lot of freedom to relocate this point because there are metal frame supports all over that area. And I know that the new location will not align with any of the other existing lights in the ceiling. It will have to be.

(b) Larders Beside the Fridges

© Kitchen Island

(d) Workman cutting out the die-cut to install the kitchen sink

Our custom made *Blancoprecision* Sink from Germany

A whole lot of drawers before they were fixed into the cabinets

I didn't get to see any of cabinet doors. Wonder if I will get to see them tomorrow?!

[Chunky Monkey 2]

12 Dec 07

* The downlight that needed to be shifted, was shifted right away today.

* The painters came in today to paint a layer of sealer on the bedroom walls.

* The false ceiling guys came back to finish up some box up work.

* The kitchen cabinets got its doors, with the exception of the larder units, which are supposed to have glass/aluminium doors. These doors apparently were ordered from a different supplier.

* The guys from LG came to measure the size of my solid surface top. I was very amazed at how they used strips of very thin plywood to form the cut-out of the kitchen counter tops and will produce the size of the counter top exactly to the size of the cut outs they made on the stop.

Here are some work-in-progress pictures of our kitchen cabinets:-

Larders with the drawers fixed inside. I would much prefer to have deep drawers, so I can max out the use of the internal height of the drawers. I intend to speak with my designer to have them rectified.

Kitchen Island

With the pull out baskets showing (from L:R)

(a) Bottle Rack

(b) Spice/Condiments Rack

© Dry foodstuff Rack

The pots/pans pull-out in the middle of the island, under the cooker hob.

And here's a couple of pictures showing the Hettich Cosario units. I was told the German supplier who brought in 2 units of this Cosario and they are both in my house!

Spot what's under the wall hing cabinet

[phoenix 0]

your kitchen cabinets **** cool!

but those small little compartments are for putting.... ??

did u had to go buy the Hettich Cosario units yourself separately? or are they ava at classic?

Edited December 12, 2007 by phoenix