The Sky Parlour - An Executive Maisonette Journey

[twinklecloud 2]

If living room is air conditioned, better dont do open concept. Cooking fumes spill over and cooling area increased.

Open concept means less walls, less cabinet. From your post, you cook a lot, With lots of cooking apparatus as well.

Planning for storage may be challenging.

If budget allow, then go for carpentry. At least you get a uniform theme and also full height wardrobe compere to off the shelf.

Off the shelf type often leaves sapce at the top, a wastage and a magnet for dust. Anything chuck into that space is unsightly as well.

Anyway, if dont do carpentry now, chances of doing it later are pretty slim.

Laziness and taking the easy way out is human nature. Me included.

Do you plan to have a dryer? I used to be against having a dryer, considering cost etc. Prefer the "bamboo" dry style.

At the new place, I was being demanded for a dryer, so gave in and never look back.

Nowadays, simply wash, spin dry then gas heater dry. No more bamboos, hanging of clothes, collecting after dry etc etc.

Time saved use for other things. I got gas dryer and water heater package. A happy end user.

thanks Oceaneleven! how is your electrical bill so far? u wash daily with dryer?

yes..plan my whole house to aircon.. i think i missed out on this point.. thanks for pointing it out.. will have to rethink how to organise the kitchen. i wan the kitchen to look huge n spacious that's y opt for open concept.. but now seems hard.. the whole house look kind of dull...

[twinklecloud 2]

trying to upload some pics but the pic too big.. any advise on how to resize?

[twinklecloud 2]

vinyl versus "wood" tiles - those with vinyl flooring.. what is your verdict?

brought ID to view and did a random check.. the current marble flooring cannot be retained.. likely cant even overlay.. so if going to hack am thinking of just put tiles instead of vinyl... maintenance tiles will be easier to maintain, am i right?

[andotang 18]

trying to upload some pics but the pic too big.. any advise on how to resize?

I used paint and click resize, click by pixel, i use 1280x720 then file size should be around 200kb +-.

[twinklecloud 2]

I used paint and click resize, click by pixel, i use 1280x720 then file size should be around 200kb +-.

thank u!

[twinklecloud 2]

some pics of the current kitchen

the yard area is the same as what i am currently having.. kind of dun like it coz of the cooking and it hinders the space of the kitchen.. tot of putting a door to close up the yard area and separate the kitchen n yard then have another wet kitchen again with door.. will it be too weird?

[Ahyong81 3]

vinyl versus "wood" tiles - those with vinyl flooring.. what is your verdict?

brought ID to view and did a random check.. the current marble flooring cannot be retained.. likely cant even overlay.. so if going to hack am thinking of just put tiles instead of vinyl... maintenance tiles will be easier to maintain, am i right?

The evorich herf flooring is very good actually. Compared with parquet (wood), normal vinyl flooring, the evorich vinyl herf dont have those empty sink in feeling. It felt solid and comfortable.

[bykaraanne 30]

Mine's wood like tiles.. I like the low maintenance but as Ah Yong said... vinyl is a great option too.

See what you fancy!! Seeing the real things will allow u to choose what u like better.

[doubleEM 4]

my 1 cent worth now.

Lived out my remaining months in my previous EM without a working hood since it broke down on me. Helper was cooking daily and the difference I realized was the living area flooring was sticky too after dinner and have to mop it out everytime and still not good enough.

So open concept is nice but if you cook heavily then not as desired. Can still be achieved somewhat with a glass partition I guess so its still clear and open but with an option to shut it close when cooking as required.

As for laundry, we had a dryer but prefered the sun baked smell of our clothes so we hang them out to dry in the older format EM but an option perhaps would be those new age motorized racks that can still be pushed out but less dangerous than manual for the ladies instead?

Now as for tiling, well now since my new place is Vinyl it feels as sturdy and hard as a tiled flooring and mopping seems as per a tiled floor as well just that you cannot flush the whole floor with water unlike tiles of course. The only difference is the look will be a matt finished look and you will not be able to get a gloss or shine out of it no matter how you clean it that it but function wise I think it rates over laminates which I've previously used and the fear of spilling water or AC leaking water and spoiling the flooring is always present.

So truly at the end if tiling cost is comparable to vinyl then tile would be preferred I guess since hacking is already a must for you in this case.

[doubleEM 4]

As for photos what I do is upload it to photobucket then simply insert the link in each post when I click on the photo icon in a post. This way no size restrictions and 5 photos max per post restrictions too

[Khng 2]

thank u thank u.. now have to talk to ID to reorganise my kitchen again... been wanting something like wet n dry kitchen but seems quite hard.. yes yes.. strong hood.. that i got to start reading about it.. fujioh is good? i heard brandt has a new one with no chimmy and strong suction (according to the sales guy).

laundry.. u r right about the dryer but hub still prefers the conventional way and the option to hang the clothes out.. (must try to convince him) , we do plan for dryer and even some hanging system like what ahyong81 has installed.. =) and maybe a yard area to separate the kitchen n yard area coz my current ones has the laundry hanging quite near my hob... din want to repeat the same mistake...

Wrt Brandt hood, are you referring to the Brandt telescopic hood? AT1490X? Max airflow 1000m3/h.

You can compare with other hood u have in mind.

[twinklecloud 2]

Wrt Brandt hood, are you referring to the Brandt telescopic hood? AT1490X? Max airflow 1000m3/h.

You can compare with other hood u have in mind.

u r right on the hood. not sure if this is useful. i threw away my previous hoob as i find it wasnt doing what it was supposed to be. after cooking (even frying an egg) my floor is oily and sticky so i see no point keep it.

those using hood, is it useful? one of my friend mentioned it was good and she din have to do much cleaning after cooking.. i am hoping there is a hood that can help to minimise the oil and hence no need to mop after every single cooking.. experts out there? can advise?

[twinklecloud 2]

Mine's wood like tiles.. I like the low maintenance but as Ah Yong said... vinyl is a great option too.

See what you fancy!! Seeing the real things will allow u to choose what u like better.

am considering wood like tiles too! prices comparable with vinyl.. i have seen quite a few will explore more..

this journey is not going to be easy... so much to do.. thanks everyone for your contributions..

[Khng 2]

u r right on the hood. not sure if this is useful. i threw away my previous hoob as i find it wasnt doing what it was supposed to be. after cooking (even frying an egg) my floor is oily and sticky so i see no point keep it.

those using hood, is it useful? one of my friend mentioned it was good and she din have to do much cleaning after cooking.. i am hoping there is a hood that can help to minimise the oil and hence no need to mop after every single cooking.. experts out there? can advise?

The telescopic hood has air vents above that must not be covered or blocked. Else will not be effective. You can get more info from the sales staff. Some telescopic hoods has air vents at the front - activated when you pull out. Some have air vent at the top. Like the AT1490X. Where the air vent is will impact your top cabinet design.

[OceanEleven 203]

laundry.. u r right about the dryer but hub still prefers the conventional way and the option to hang the clothes out.. (must try to convince him) , we do plan for dryer and even some hanging system like what ahyong81 has installed.. =) and maybe a yard area to separate the kitchen n yard area coz my current ones has the laundry hanging quite near my hob... din want to repeat the same mistake...

No need to convince, just ask him to help to hang the bamboo out everytime, especially when doing bedsheets and curtain.

Also ask him who is doing the laundry as well.

Given the haze seems to be an annual event nowadays, hanging out seems to be collecting more particles too.

thanks Oceaneleven! how is your electrical bill so far? u wash daily with dryer?

yes..plan my whole house to aircon.. i think i missed out on this point.. thanks for pointing it out.. will have to rethink how to organise the kitchen. i wan the kitchen to look huge n spacious that's y opt for open concept.. but now seems hard.. the whole house look kind of dull...

Bill is in the $180 range, I dont wash daily, approx. twice a week.

You are acually looking at more gas cost, if you are using gas dryer. Gas is cheaper than electricity.

However if you are using electric dryer, then you may want to reconsider again.

Any electrical appliances use for generating heat or cooling, such as kettle, fridge, aircon, oven generally consume lots of electricity.

Given your space in living, plus oipen kitchen, even a 25K BTU blower will take some time to properly to cool down the space.

I have 2 blowers in my living room, one is a 18K and one 25K, I like it cool, fast & furious.

Kitchen to look huge and spacious, walls has to go, then top cabinets is impossible.

For me, I value storage than overall look. Especially moving from a previous unit to a current one.

Most young couples enjoy the luxuries of just bring their lugguages and move in.

For us, is near impossible. When I pack my kitchen, I almost fainted on the spot.

Rice cooker, blender, steamboat, air fryer, toaster, pancake maker, small oven, coffe maker and all the pots and pans and etc etc.

Then comes all the zap ba lang teapot set, coffee cup set, dinning set, tupperware......