mrdisco

Hello firegoddess, as regards sinks, there's a wide variety of brands. I believe you are referring to Franke and Blanco? They are decent brands especially Franke. As a matter of fact, I am getting a Franke sink. But have you taken a look at Teka? I believe they were having a sale about a month back, you should check with them - I got a decent semi-industrial pull-out tap from Teka recently. Check out the 2nd floor of Econflo along Beach road - they may have some surplus project sinks. There's also this other place at cemdex (where the de dietrich showroom is located) located on the ground floor - the name escapes me, but last i checked they had some franke sink + tap deals. Worth looking. As regards getting good deals for kitchen appliances, I guess people sometimes have their favourite places or go through contacts. However for De dietrich/miele/gaggenau and other drool-worthy stuff, have you taken a peek at rina electrical? it's at shaw centre - 5th floor, I think. Happy hunting. Looking forward to see your pics.

Sleek, your home is nicely taking shape. You've also got some good purchases. I'm sure you'll love your Brandt buys. And as for your Miele combo, nothing else needs to be said - sweet! Love that clean white washed walls and wood combo.

Hi firegoddess, Silestone's a great product and if you're going to have it installed, it's probably going to last you for a long, long time! Personally, I'm mad for granite as I like the appearance. Fundamentally, I don't think it's odd to have a mix-and-match of brands. However, if you have an induction hob, then the only gas hob you'd probably get is likely to be one for cooking with woks - logically, that's how I see. As for the hood, oven and whatever else, different brands are probably fine cos they would be clad in that nice outer steel look. I just feel that if you're buying from one retailer/wholesaler, buying products from one brand might enable you to have more grounds for greater discount. Consider this: the look of the kitchen isn't only just about the kitchen applicances - it will be the applicances + the cabinetry + the type of sink and tap + the lights + flooring [i.e. the whole look - think images from Pogen Pohl or Pronorm). But as I said before, you're getting some kick-a** products - enjoy! As for the window extractor fan, I imagine you're cooking loads everyday? My initial thoughts are that a **** good hood should serve your daily needs adquately. Since your'e going to get an induction hob, you can match that with a downdraft extractor. But again, it would also depend how you intend to use your kitchen. Sounds like a wonderful kitchen in the making, I'm sure of it.

Hello firegoddess. Because we are going to have more carpentry than in most homes, we'd had to really think hard when spending on stuff. Seriously, De Dietrich and Gaggenau are exceptional kitchen appliance makers - All boxes are ticked as far as I'm concerned! But we've decided to not to get them because of the carpentry and a couple of other finer points. So we've decided to get Brandt. Brandt is good enough to withstand heavy duty cooking. It's not that I wouldn't want to buy Bosch - they are a class above most as well, but somehow I feel Bosch washing products are more worth buying. Nonetheless there's nothing stopping you to get Bosch kitchen stuff as that gorgeous steel finish can fit in any modern kitchen. I feel that you can mix and match whatever oven with whatever hob/hood etc. But personally, I prefer glass gas hobs with cast iron grid. Hood-wise, it just depends where you're placing your hob - telescope or wall mount might be both ok depending on how much cabinetry you intend to have. Whatever you decide, those selections of your's are top class and will serve you well for many years I trust. As for Miele, I suspect that requires a separate blog thread or something to obsess and drool over their stuff, don't you think? As I'm writing all this, it might seem kinda odd for a guy to exhibit out semi-obsessive behaviour over kitchen stuff, but hey, what the heck, it's about the overall look of the house. That's important to most of us, I think.

Hello firegoddess, what you have here are some hard core kitchen appliances of the drool variety! My wife would be ever so envious. Seriously, a pyro oven kicks a** because it is supposed to make cleaning very easy - just turn 'em into ash. Go for it, we are. I would encourage you to pay the De Dietrich showroom at Cemdex building a visit. Feel, touch and ask all questions. Impressive. As for Miele, it's Miele - can't go wrong as well. In fact, since you are considering these two, why not go to the Gaggenau showroom at the Bosch building at Peminpin. I was estatic... Just check it out. You might want to also check out what I call De Dietrich Lite and Gaggenau Lite (i.e. Brandt and Bosch respectively). The parent company, Fagor Brandt owns both the Brandt and De Dietrich brands - the technology is somewhat shared to some extent. Likewise for Bosch - you can see both the Bosch and Gaggenau range at the Bosch showroom. Well worth your time. Good luck.

Quix, I know you probably don't bother posting on Renotalk anymore, but your place is very nicely renovated and furnished! Gotta like that island - very bold statement to have an open kitchen. What I like more about your apartment is definitely the open space and colour tones. Bien.

Actually, now that you mention it, Bedroom 3 would make an excellent nursery / kids' room. That way, their parents can get a good night's rest in the Master Bedroom while their brats can yell their heads off as much as they like and they can't hear them... Yippie! Oh and they might want to think of the neighbors too, so maybe they might want to provide Bedroom 3 with sound insulation as well.

Your 3 room's at sunset way - that's one of the choice locations for a number of people these days. We looked at several EMs there but the prices were never right! Serene and leafy place though. Yes, i've got 2 kids as well and they're a handful ( or perhaps four hands full!). I totally understand.

82sqm for a 3 room flat is not bad at all! Was that a corner? The only one trumping that might be the 3 rooms at kampong arang (103-104 sqm). I remember viewing a 135sqm 4 room there... Insanely spacious but it was a corridor unit - can't deal with that. Talking about 5As, the units at Kent road and jalan rajah are equally gigantic too - about the same size as yours and blessed with loads of windows. Anyway, transforming an old place is always an incredible endeavour - mine will starting soon so I'll find out... Hope to see more pics of your reno.

Hi adidaem, I think you have a beautiful home. I'm sure it's as airy and well lit as in your pics. Congrats again. Nice book shelf at the top of the staircase - can't help it, I just like the visual effect of books aligned together.

Hi sleek, I see your Reno is progressing well. I must say that your kitchen is absolutely cavernous! The 5As should've been the de facto standard for 5 rooms - loads of space. And that equally enormous hall space... If only all 5 rooms are built like that. Sigh. Looking forward to seeing the final result.

What I really like about EMs is the huge potential to have a right sized open kitchen and an extremely generous living area. Since 2001, new flat sizes have shrunk dramatically. I don't even care if there's "lost" space with a staircase. You can never ever buy space with new flats. And that's a real shame...

Totally agree that older HDB designs are much better. Some of the 5 rooms from 1996-1998 before the notorious bomb shelter are so well laid out. By the way, what do you mean when you say this thread should be "stickied"?

Hello Techaview, Nice looking toilets and chairs... Halo Living? Your new flat is intriguing - it's a 5 room but it's 105 sqm and has a bomb shelter. May I hazard a guess - it's at Klang Lane? The layout reminds me of my previous apartment - I think you'll have a fun time dressing it up. Congratulations!

Hi Sanwenchong, Honestly, it really depends: 1. Is this a new or resale 4-room? (which can determine the cost of renovation vs. your budget) 2. What's your budget (which usually determines the extent of your renovation) 3. Of course the ultimate question for me is usually what sort of look I want for the house? If you already know or are crystal clear, maybe all you need is a contractor who takes orders well, or maybe you don't know and are open to suggestions, then perhaps an ID can help you. In any case, good luck on your renovation journey. What ever you decide, I'm sure it will be home

Yeah, there's always that element of fear and uncertainty. That said I remembered a Sunset Way EM Reno blog from a while back - nice ground floor unit with 2 entrances and I saw an alarm installed as well. I guess we all can't take security for granted. The age old cliche comes to mind - low crime doesn't mean no crime...

I absolutely love the toilet tiles. Looking good...

I can totally understand it. Before settling on our soon-to-be-renovated corner unit, we were eyeing some nice, big corridor EMs. But I was a little apprehensive. However I also see there are many people on renotalk who are fine with living along the corridor. A good strong lock is usually a good start along with remembering to close the 1st floor windows. Are you living on a low floor?

The blinds look great. Where did you get them again? What nice shiny parquet - good choice there. You can't beat the feel of teak. Laminated/engineered wood just isn't the same.

Hafiizh, I think your kitchen looks really nice and I'm also a fan of open concept kitchens. Good choice on the white colour scheme!

Newyew, I think interior design cannot just be about quotations and what you think is ok for the potential client. Seriously, take it in your stride, the comprehensive reply that MM sent was a point by point walk-through of the elements that we did not feel comfortable with. You wanted an honest appraisal, you got it. Learn, please and live well. And by the way, I thought the tiles from hafary was a nice gesture - none if the other IDs did that. Indeed you sound angry but guess what, so are we! Hey, let's use this forum for what it is: a celebration of homes and ideas. It is what it is.

That will be the day - me, an English teach. That is a very hard job... I am not one. But seriously, spelling mistakes or grammatical errors on renotalk, I'm not bothered so much because all of us have varying comfort levels with the English language. ****, if our former colonial masters were French, we'll be in a different world today. But what I think is wrong is to not point out words or terms that really don't mean anything because we're all on this forum to learn from each other I think (ideas, costs, experiences etc.).

I've been going through reading the very interesting and colourful renovations done by renotalk forumers - which are mostly fantastic and have presented us with a wealth of ideas. However I have also observed some strange words being perpetuated over and over again. And I am not talking about grammar and all that - I am only interested in the content. For the record, and to the best of my knowledge, the words "Masterbed room" DO NOT exist and should not. It should in fact be "Master Bedroom", whichever way you want it.

Seriously, I think adidaem makes a good point. You just can't replace the feel of real wood. But durability in terms of decades wood is not. I suspect we are going to live here till it's SERS ( possibly overestimating, but this is as good as it gets for us in terms of location Wood tiles, being tiles will last a long time so we hope. I think I can guess what adidaem's talking about the print bit about wood tiles but then, there's also about how the filer tiles and grouts it as well. Gotta disagree with you there. Again, savings from high-end kitchen equipment is good but only in so far as we don't really cook much or entertain guests much. We already cook loads so I think we're going to cook loads more at home. Plus with more people living with us now, that's going to be more mouths to feed. And were talking about stews, oven fare etc. Clearly we'll break the bank with a Miele so maybe de Dietrich although a tad more, isn't really that expensive. According the price guide we got, 3k plus can get you a decent oven. Also it's about spending in some areas and saving in some areas for the Reno, that's true indeed.

Really? Never seen that. Seen lots of swing doors, sliding doors and folding doors covering bomb shelter entrances, but never a jib door.