Little London

[bykaraanne 30]

Your tiles very nice!

Thanks for the vote of confidence... Now I can dance in my tiny fake ang moh chu!!

[bykaraanne 30]

Still cannot decide between IKEA kitchen cabinets vs custom made ones.

guys!

IKEA KITCHEN VS CUSTOM MADE KITCHEN -

IKEA Pros
--------------
- Nice finishing, choice of doors that fit our theme
- OEM Blum interior fittings
- Easy to replace if something gets damaged (I can just buy one door or one hinge)
- 25 year warranty
- Free kitchen planning

IKEA Cons
---------------
- Particleboard construct, weak for many purposes (scared of water / needs air ventilation / might not hold countertops heavier than acrylic)
- Gets expensive with installation charges and individual panels to cover up empty areas
- Subcon / Installation needs to be monitored closely
- Some space planning not thought of (where to place sockets, cover gas piping etc)

Custom Made Kitchen Pros
-------------------------------------
- Plywood; thus stronger construct
- Rests neatly on kitchen base (already constructed)
- Can use all dead space
- All-in pricing / contractor knows where to place what for maximum efficiency and neatness (everything concealed)
- We have a reliable contractor

Custom Made Kitchen Cons
--------------------------------------
- Only plain laminate doors (cannot create what IKEA can)
- Normal interior fittings
- Essentially no warranty
- Can get expensive since quality finishings are added lot by lot

Still need to get this out of the way. My design cells are all disappearing as I still cannot settle my dining area and my master... ‪#‎ineedhelp‬

[Peachydurians 2]

Babe, have you looked at other similarly-themed homes? Did any use contractors who could create a distinct look? Agree that Ikea can be really pretty but your causes for concern are valid! What kind of warranty does Ikea offer?

Overall, it sounds like thorough kitchen planning/research might need to be your first plan of action; once you know what you want and where you want them, you can make a more considered choice.

[bykaraanne 30]

Babe, have you looked at other similarly-themed homes? Did any use contractors who could create a distinct look? Agree that Ikea can be really pretty but your causes for concern are valid! What kind of warranty does Ikea offer?

Overall, it sounds like thorough kitchen planning/research might need to be your first plan of action; once you know what you want and where you want them, you can make a more considered choice.

Yes! The local ones especially... It's my own opinion but I really don't like them. I feel like the carpentry is way too clunky.

My contractor was very frank and told me if I wanted to do it in the style IKEA did it it would have to be painted, not laminated, and very bad for maintenance. He advised me to just go ahead for IKEA if I really want the style.

My clients are all American, and they all love IKEA cabinets. Even the ones who live in humid areas. They say the warranty is very useful and it looks amazing. My contractor was also quite surprised at the quality of their finishing (theirs not really laminate though).

My kitchen is okay to get IKEA as I only have about 5cm of dead space, which is ok since they need allowance for opening the doors etc.

We will double confirm with Silestone tomorrow about their willingness to install on IKEA cabinets.

Also re-waiting for IKEA Alexandra's subcon to redraft for me everything cus ArtBuilt at IKEA Tampines is really useless. So I think I need to wait some more.

I found myself really not wanting to do custom ones and only wanting them because I'm sick of coordinating with artbuilt.

[Peachydurians 2]

Oh okies, so the decision seems quite clear - just that customer service at Ikea (Tampines) has been a real turn-off. Hang in there!! Keep the vision of a beautiful completed kitchen floating before your eyes

[doubleEM 4]

Yup seems like you made your decision so go ahead and make the best out of it then.

[andotang 18]

I started off with the same choice as what you are looking at now, but the installation of ikea is difficult as working with their subcon can be very troublesome. So I go to Blum urban kitchen, as first I thought blum is about all the hinges, then I realized it is a modular kitchen which you choose what you needed just like ikea, and the material they use is better grade, laminate is also nice and without joining seams. Can have many choice of laminate which can greatly affect the prices. I signed up mine during their promo event and got 10% discount. Just got it installed and very happy with it. They have a promo event on 3 oct maybe you can sign up for it.

[bykaraanne 30]

Oh okies, so the decision seems quite clear - just that customer service at Ikea (Tampines) has been a real turn-off. Hang in there!! Keep the vision of a beautiful completed kitchen floating before your eyes

Thank you babe!! I appreciate it.

Think it's burnout from the stupid house planning + rushing work

haha

Yup seems like you made your decision so go ahead and make the best out of it then.

Haha, I hope it won't be a wrong one. Irreversible man!

I started off with the same choice as what you are looking at now, but the installation of ikea is difficult as working with their subcon can be very troublesome. So I go to Blum urban kitchen, as first I thought blum is about all the hinges, then I realized it is a modular kitchen which you choose what you needed just like ikea, and the material they use is better grade, laminate is also nice and without joining seams. Can have many choice of laminate which can greatly affect the prices. I signed up mine during their promo event and got 10% discount. Just got it installed and very happy with it. They have a promo event on 3 oct maybe you can sign up for it.

Really? OK I go check it out now! Thanks bro/sis!

Edited September 20, 2015 by bykaraanne

[Changbp 5]

I follow about half of what you're saying...

So does that mean the back of my IKEA cabinets will have a gap, or that my IKEA cabinets will be slightly slanted (meaning worktop is not 90 degree from the floor)?

I am not doing plinths if I go with IKEA, but asking my contractor to build a 6-8" cabinet base... Does that help?

Thanks for the input btw!

I'm having similar design as you and have similar dilemma on ikea cabinets. I downloaded their install guide and What I found out was that The cabinets are actually suspended. You mount rails on the walls and then hang the cabinets on them. This means the back wall needs to be very flat and cannot have pipes. Which was why I forsake the idea of ikea cabinets as the back portion cannot be cut to allow access for pipes, though they were probably the cheapest way to obtain the classic look.

[bykaraanne 30]

I'm having similar design as you and have similar dilemma on ikea cabinets. I downloaded their install guide and What I found out was that The cabinets are actually suspended. You mount rails on the walls and then hang the cabinets on them. This means the back wall needs to be very flat and cannot have pipes. Which was why I forsake the idea of ikea cabinets as the back portion cannot be cut to allow access for pipes, though they were probably the cheapest way to obtain the classic look.

I have no pipes at all on my back wall, but as to how flat they are, I have no idea. The cabinets are actually fixed to the wall and then have front metal legs that are covered with plinth.

The finish is different for IKEA imo, which is why I am still so attached to the idea. I have visited more neighbors' homes with laminate custom carpentry and I still cannot fall in love with the look. Gonna wait for what IKEA Alexandra's kitchen team proposes to accommodate all the gas and water pipes.

Will update on how it turns out...

[Changbp 5]

I have no pipes at all on my back wall, but as to how flat they are, I have no idea. The cabinets are actually fixed to the wall and then have front metal legs that are covered with plinth.

The finish is different for IKEA imo, which is why I am still so attached to the idea. I have visited more neighbors' homes with laminate custom carpentry and I still cannot fall in love with the look. Gonna wait for what IKEA Alexandra's kitchen team proposes to accommodate all the gas and water pipes.

Will update on how it turns out...

Custom carpentry can do... if you like the ikea bobbyn door front kind of look then they can nail mdf cut on the flat panels and then spray painted instead of flat laminate. Though I think it's difficult to achieve that kind of quality. IKEA ones are very well painted probably through an automated process.

Btw, can you post the taobao links for the towel rack and rain shower? Have you received it and How were they?

Edited September 21, 2015 by Changbp

[bykaraanne 30]

Custom carpentry can do... if you like the ikea bobbyn door front kind of look then they can nail mdf cut on the flat panels and then spray painted instead of flat laminate. Though I think it's difficult to achieve that kind of quality. IKEA ones are very well painted probably through an automated process.

Btw, can you post the taobao links for the towel rack and rain shower? Have you received it and How were they?

My contractor is a very practical guy, he says anything that involves painting is generally not practical for maintenance so he doesn't really like to do it. He likes to do things that is lasting...

They're almost here! I'll update on them once I get them I'll get the links too!

[bykaraanne 30]

AIRCON INSTALLATION:

We were in a dilemma on whether or not to box up the trunking under the LR aircon... Edmund said the money can be better spent elsewhere, and I ultimately decided on not to box it up. Thankfully, the aircon guys did an AMAZING job with the trunking IMO and it looks okay.

But then we bumped into our first minor booboo. We kept feeling like the LR aircon was SUPER slanted, really it was, and the aircon guy insisted it was our ceiling that's slanted. As he seemed like a trustworthy guy, I really believed him. After measuring with the spirit level, he was right! My difficult husband had to concede that our ceilings were super slanted and BSC also admitted that it was a defect (even though a bit begrudgingly). Trust me, if little bit I won't even bother asking him to fix it, but it was SUPER slanted. The aircon guy helped us push it a bit to the left to make it look more straight and it worked, so this picture is not so slanted, but it was super horrible at the beginning. They will be fixing the ceiling today.

But on the positive side, aircon is up! Trunking work was done nicely (although they did accidentally drill into my electrical wires in the wall of the MBR, and had to fix it for us) and neatly so I had nothing else to complain about, I guess! Pleasantly surprised by the installation warranty, too.

Today the rooms' tiles will be up with the skirting, the guest toilet kerb will be up, and they are working on the MBR plumbing tomorrow. Turns out, I'm gonna have my legit bathtub mixers (instead of a lot of BTO owners who decided to have the mixer be at the standard shower height still instead of lower) because Edmund found a way to route my plumbing.

Waiting to go and purchase my 2 new WCs. 65Daigou is also having a 10% shipping discount from 22nd - 25th september, so I might shop around a bit more for that.

Then it's a waiting game with IKEA, again!

[bykaraanne 30]

Bathtub is in today! Hehe can't wait to see the marble-esque tiles wrap it lovingly

[Ahyong81 3]

Wow, enjoying the bathtub soon... haha, my aircon piping going to be run tomorrow, only the piping.... a later date then install the aircon fancoil unit.