Kitchen Renovation Enquiry

One of our blog visitors - Lisa requested for pictures of our kitchen, these are some photos of our kitchen for your viewing pleasure plus some things that came to our mind as we reminiscence about our kitchening experience. For the kitchen, some things you may wish to consider :

Undermount the kitchen sink into the cabinet, an inch or two below the countertop level so that water doesn't spill and flow onto the countertop as it would if the sink was at the same level as the countertop. You can see above that our sink's leading edge is sunken into the countertop.

Have a black fibreglass or plastic sink as stainless steel will end up with scratches plus not so nice looking or white ones will turn yellow. This is the same with counter tops. Dark coloured ones are the best for long term as they hide the discolourations and water patches that come with wear and use and the usual humidity and grease associated with kitchens even if you do not cook excessively due to our humid weather.

Pictured above, you can see that we added a black IKEA LACK bookshelf to add to the countertop space for our kitchen and painted the wall black to allow the shelf to blend in with cabinet. The extra space can be used for extra tabletop space or as a breakfast counter and best of all, it can be done cheap.

Recessed leading edges seen above provide a modern recessed handle for the cabinet doors.
Always built the additional storage space required even if you may not need it now. Also, consider covering up any open shelves as these gather dust. This is something we found out when we had a open shelving design in our kitchen cabinet to house Gayle's growing collection of cook books(above).

Built in downlights(above and below) into the cabinet so that your counter top is lighted.

(Above) Design drawers that are deep enough to provide adequate space for stacking of bowls, pans, crockery or to provide space for double shelving as seen in the picture above with a soft closing cutlery drawer unit sourced from Blum (Below).
(Above) Our main kitchen light - a sphere globe enclosed in wired mesh provides a conversation piece and some funkiness to the kitchen.
(Above) A glass designed halogen bulb spotlight to add some class and a focused source of lighting over the kitchen sink for washing dishes. Affordable and stylish lighting at $38 from Lightcraft.

Also, decide on the necessary lighting points in your kitchen. In addition to the main kitchen light for general lighting purpose, you may want to consider dedicated lights such as a light over your sink area, cooking area, cutting area. Flouroscent lights are cheap and bright but dont do too much for aesthetics. The nice lamps featuring halogen bulbs are nice but expensive, warm and not so energy saving. It is all a matter of choice. Also ensure that in your wash area, your light will not come in the way or be blocked by your clothes hanger.

Consider the space that you need for your wash area. Have your washing machine in mind so that you can design adequate space for it , especially the opening clearance of the lid. If you plan to stack your dryer on top of your washer, ensure that there is enough height clearance. We were lucky to have a big kitchen that has enabled us to have a big wash area.

As seen above, we built a partial glossy laminated partition to demarcate the area between the kitchen and wash area and which also serves to shield the laundry from visitors to the house.

Fridge base. Ensure that if you have a two door fridge, that there is sufficient clearance to swing the fridge doors open(below) and also that it does not hit anyone entering the kitchen entrance if your fridge base is like ours, near to the kitchen entrance.

We added a glass side console table to provide additional functional countertop space for our toaster and kettle.
For the flooring, ensure that it is non-slip as the kitchen is often a place which gets wet and greasy easily with Chinese cooking and you don't want to slip up and have a nasty fall. Function over form for flooring. We used the same non-slip bathroom tiles used in our washrooms for our kitchen.

(Above) Consider the countertop space you require for your various needs - placement of electrical appliances, drying rack area, odds n ends, containers, cutting area, cooking area etc . This will determine how long your kitchen cabinet should run. Planning is essential to ensure adequate space, efficient cost planning and taking into account present and future needs so that additional costly alternations in the future can be avoided.
If you plan to use microwave ovens(above), do ensure that there is adequate ventilation space around the oven to ensure the hot air is dissipated.

Oh yes, have additional electrical sockets catering for additional needs in the future and decide on placement of switches and sockets. Consider the placement of your electrical appliances, both present and future in deciding your switches. As seen below, we built the sockets into the kitchen cabinet to add a stylish touch. Switches, sockets and cooker switch sourced from Legrand.

(Below)Adequate open space for cooling and drawing of air for the cooker hood. Do measure your height to determine the depth and height for your hob installation so that you don't end up banging your head into the hob when cooking.
We bought a glass based cooking hob from Rinnai(below) as it looks classy and the inner flame technology gets food heated very quickly, saving on gas and time.

(Above) Inner flame burner - ensures equal distribution of heat to ensure well cooked meals

Last but not least, get some conversation pieces for your kitchen to make it stand out and add a funky touch to it. For example, our avant garde kettle(below) that we use as a water jug.

(Above) Floral mural from IKEA to brighten up the white kitchen wall

(Above) Book stand for Gayle's cook books from Black+Blum sourced from Molecule.