Maximising our Kitchen

It had been a real tough previous week with couple of school assignments and military events earlier and we did not have the time to update this area. But now that they are submitted and over, we are back! Given that most BTO's kitchen are rather small, we would have to find ways to maximise our space within. One was having the portable kitchen cabinet which provides us more counter space, and the other way was to use the vertical space.

The black racks from IKEA caught our eyes and we purchased a few of them to have them installed on our kitchen walls. Many thanks to my cousin's husband for helping us get them up nicely. We initially ran into a small problem where the back of the tiles were hollow and there were no cement for the nail to be secured onto. It was also untraceable as we did try to knock on every tiles when we first gotten the house but this did not show any signs of defects. The only work around was to get a longer screw to drill to all the way to the back. Let's hope the tiles is strong enough and does not crack over time.

Hanging the boards, and having a basket for our condiments allow us to have more counter space to prepare the food. Plus the blackness of the rack blend in with our kitchen theme so it look really complete and pretty.

In the end, we also changed the rack that were previously at our sink. Funny how that did not even last a week. However, we will install that in another place, probably the service yard but we shall see.

Our complete kitchen look. Loving it!

Plumbing Works - Ups and Downs

Lucky number 888! Just happened to saw this before writing my blog so took a screenshot. Not sure how many people are really reading this blog, but hopefully the post here would eventually benefit you all when it is your turn to renovate the house. The best way to learn is not by making mistakes, but by learning from others mistakes.

Installed our black tap. It was so fitting towards our black quartz and sink. Look and feel good. But, it was leaking water. Immediately called the shop up and they arranged a plumber to come down and see the next day. Meanwhile had to close the main water supply else the water is just flowing, and we were afraid it may flow to the cabinets and cause some water damage. Oh bother. Good news is that it was fixed eventually by changing a new one, so case closed.

Installed our 'designer' tap and sink too, though we didn't really feel anything special beside the price. The tap was alright, and so were the sink, although we felt that the plumber did not do a good job, and had put too much silicon at the drainer, causing there to have a puddle of water stagnant there always. On top of that, something terrible went wrong here, and it seem that it is too late to be rectified.

As you can see, the tap was installed a little too far away from the sink, resulting in the stream of water near the edge of the sink. It is really tough to wash our hands now, but because the holes were cut into the quartz top already, the position of them are hard to change. Our way out for this is to get another tap that has a longer 'nose' and hopefully solve this issue. The tap should be arriving in a fortnight. Lesson for this is to just have the tap touched the sink during the planning phase. There is really nothing wrong with that, but everything wrong if the tap is too far away.

Carpentries IV - Massive Work Today

Please rise for the arrival of all my carpentry! It was a rainy weather, and I really hope that none of them were damaged by the rain. Too much horror stories of mold and mushrooms growing in wood pieces had gotten me paranoid over such matters. Hopefully they dries up nicely and last us for the longest time.

But wait... there's more! The amount of carpentry we got for our house is massive. It kinda cost us a hand and a leg but that's the price we are willing to pay to ensure that our first house is exactly how we wanted it to be. We did not want to get things off the shelves because it may not give the sense of together-ness with the other furniture. Hence, everything was designed, customized, and built into our house. If we move house next time, it will be so easy because we could not bring any of them along haha!

Headed up while the carpenter carried every piece up himself. Really have to give it to him, single-handedly doing the entire house carpentry. His works are remarkable and very detailed. From my ID, he is one of the best carpenter, but tend to be slower than the others. Well, I have the luxury of time, and quality over speed, so I am really happy to have him fixing up all my carpentry.

The kitchen quartz top has been installed. Love the starry black quartz although it is not really visible in this picture. However, the higher quartz was not done properly. It was slanted and it looked weird with the middle piece. Some rectification will be taking place here.

We did not really put much effort and thoughts into the planning of the kitchen, but we were really glad it turned out this great. With a kitchen this beautiful, we would definitely spend more time here whipping up a feast or baking some delicious cakes.

Stove is up! I believe it is Fujioh's. We bought these based on the recommendation of our ID and the shopkeeper. Let's hope it lasts! We always feel uncomfortable buying things without reading the reviews, but there are almost no reviews on things like stoves and ovens.

Our black sexy sink! We had opt for the undermount because we felt it is easier to swipe the things on the quartz into the sink this way. There were many comments online recommending overmount instead, including my ID, but we insisted in this. One of the major potential problem is that the water may seep into the wood between the sink and the quartz, and prolong seeping may cost it to rot, destroying the entire kitchen cabinet. However, we weigh the pros and cons and decided it is a risk we are willing to take for the convenience. A better alternative would be to have a cement base for the sink area. That way, you are able to have an undermount sink without fear because there is no contact between the wood and the sink. But it comes at a price.

And eventually everything's moved up from the void deck. And get this! Every carpentry you see in this room, are meant for this room. Without proper arrangement, one probably wonders where do we even put the bed at. So crazy, but so crazily excited how it will turn out.

Oh wait... there's more! Here are all the doors and drawers for the bedroom, in all different height and sizes.

A glimpse on our shoe cabinet and our walk in wardrobe. Stay tune!