Harriette

16 ft is about 490cm. Wah! Super envious!

Hi, My ikea's solid surface has no joint line at all. I was amazed. I'm also surprised that white quartz has joint line cox it is usually more expensive than solid surface. My solid surface is $115/ft. How much is your white quartz?

Hi, Mr Yeak has a shop in Yishun. I met him there to discuss quotation. Some time after that, he brought us to his client's home at Jurong West to view his workmanship.

Hi JohnB, my kitchen top is white quartz ($115/ft). Ikea has several price range for their solid top. The most expensive is $150/ft. Mine is somewhere in the middle. There are cheaper ones. I also paid an additional $15/ft for backsplash and anti-drip. I also opted for sinks that are integrated with the solid top. I find that this is much cleaner. Ikea's contractors for the cabinet installation (Robert) and solid top (Gigi) are very very experienced. So they know what they are doing. Price-wise, an ikea kitchen will cost about the same as one done by the contractor. Generally, Pros of an Ikea kitchen: the soft closing is very good.as the cabinets are factory-made, they come in uniform sizes and the look is very neat.installation is fast - according to the contractor (Robert), it only takes 3 days for a typical sized kitchen. Mine took 6 days.can fit all ikea's accessoriesit is well-designed and functional. Water do not splash on me when I washed things. I used to have this problem in my previous contractor-designed kitchen. Cons of an ikea kitchen alot of work/hassle in purchasing - you need to tell the ikea staff every module that you want to buy. There are many modules. The ikea staff took 3 hours to key in my orders into the system.if you buy wrongly, you may have to exchange it yourself. I got some sizes wrong. Robert helped me with the exchange, so I didn't have to do it myself.The cabinets are made of chipboard. Not solid wood.Photos below were taken at Ikea Tampines: image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr

You mean now can buy direct from Taobao, using NETS? So no agent (such as Peeka) at all? Who to liaise with about delivery details?

Hi, yes, my solid surface is from Ikea. I enjoyed using my ikea's kitchen. It is very functional and it matches all the ikea's accessories/fittings. While the soft closing provided by Mr Yeak for my other carpentry is decent and ok, Ikea's soft closing (supposedly Blum) is much better. We have no budget for Blum in our carpentry. Buying the ikea kitchen was very tedious: 1. I have to go down to ikea to study and research before knowing what I want and what is suitable. 2. I have to write down every cabinet that I want so that I can tell the ikea guy what I want to buy. I also use the ikea's kitchen planner software, which was not easy to use. 3.Then I have to liaise with the ikea contractors - one for kitchen cabinets and one for solid surface. And inevitably, I bought some wrong sizes for some cabinets. But luckily, the ikea contractor helped me to bring to ikea to exchange. I need not go down personally. Working with Mr Yeak is much easier. I simply have to call him or at most, meet him to discuss. I will PM you Mr Yeak's contact.

Hi mummychua, Generally Jay takes about 2 to 3weeks to come up with drawings. So that is quite long. Mr Yeak (my contractor) takes some time to implement the design, which was quite long too. So my reno took 4 months for the actual reno works. Before that, Jay took 1 month to come up with the designs and I took another 1.5 month to source for contractors. So overall, that's 6.5 months. <jaws dropped> I think Jay's design are very good. His carpentry details and design are very impressive. So if you have the time, I feel that he is worth hiring. I do make it a point to send him friendly reminders every few days. For my case, Jay is quite hands off when it comes to monitoring the contractor (maybe it is because I didn't hire his contractor). Hence I also have to liaise with the contractor myself. Now that I have lived in my house for 1.5months, I would like to say I have NO significant defects and very little minor defects. The minor defects I reported were rectified quickly. I think this is very good. So if you have the time, I think Mr Yeak is worth hiring too. I will PM you the contacts.

Your carpentry compartment looks very well thought out. Seems like it will serve you well.

I have not used such sponge mop before. Is it better than the normal mop?

Hi, Your place is very nice. I like the white and brown colours, and the kitchen. Your storage looks very functional too. How do you find the Bosch dishwasher? I have been using a LG dishwasher for the past 6 years. Recently, it sometimes cannot detect the water supply. I might have to get a new dishwasher.

PM-ed. Thanks for reading my blog.

Hi, will your "hole" make it difficult for you to change the T5 light? For my upstairs "milk station" at the foyer, the sides of the top cabinet are slightly longer than the base and these hide the T5 light and casing. image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr The inside of the top cabinet: image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr The messy but very useful milk cum computer station where the T5 light is hidden from view. image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr

PM-ed.

BO concept sale - for information I didn't find anything suitable at BO Concept. For those who like BO Concept, this is for your info. image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr

PM-ed.

Hi, I have been using a LG dishwasher since early 2008. I find that it is a good help, especially when you have guests. My thoughts: 1. You need to place the dishes such that there is sufficient space for the water to spray onto them and jet away the debris. So you can't cram everything into the dishwasher. 2. Corelle washes better in the dishwasher, compared to cheap ikea dishes which I used to have. My main reason for buying Corelle is that they are supposed to be break resistant and therefore child-safe. 3. Dishwasher cannot handle stubborn stains. You still have to scrub those yourself. 4. Non-sticky pans (ie. teflon) can't be washed in dishwashers. Overall, I like having a dishwasher. I find it useful.

Hi, I think ventilation is important for toilets. In the long run, you will be glad that you have installed ventilation. It is still not too late.

Hi Jiawen, I refer to your post on the T5 light for your kitchen cabinets. How many light points are there for your T5 lights? I also installed T5 lights below my top Ikea kitchen cabinet. If you have only one light point, your internal casing will look like the photo below. It is very little, so I don't think you need to worry about it. To see the real thing, visit Ikea. image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr My top kitchen cabinets come in 2 heights, so I have more casing. Still, it doesn't make it difficult to store things. image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr

Nice drawings. Lots of interesting colours and contrasts. Show more pics!

Anyone tried Philip PerfectCare Azur steam iron? I saw this advert about Philip PerfectCare Azur steam iron. It supposedly will not singed your garment. 3 of my shirts were singed badly before - 2 by part-timer helpers and 1 by me. I wonder if I should invest in this iron. image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr

My functional mop station I would like to show some pics of my low-cost and very useful mop station. It doesn't look that nice, but it is very useful and flexible. The mop station comprises one Grundtal towel rail ($12.90) and three Grundtal rail ($6.90 each). All are from Ikea. Mr Yeak's workers did the mounting. image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr I can use S hooks to hold detergent bottle and mops. image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr I can use water jug to hold laundry powder. image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr

Ooh, you are expecting a kid soon? Congrats! Your kid will love your toys. Hee, you will need to protect the toys from the kid and the kid from the toys.

Hi, your toys and toy display cabinet are really nice. I notice that you didn't have a lock in the toy display cabinet. This means your future kid will be able to open the cabinet and grab the toys easily. I also feel that your display cabinet don't seem child-safe. Are the glass shatter-proof? If not, you could easily arrange for a 3M transparent safety film to be pasted over it now, or in future. As a mother, I think about child-proof and child-safety alot.

Techno radiant stove This stove can be used for any pot including Corning Ware and Corelle. It has a timer, which I use when brewing soup and steaming food. I can also set the heat to just "1" (the minimum) to keep the soup warm. image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr Steamboat dinner for 9 people We recently had a steamboat dinner for 9 people. There was ample space. image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr

Tefal Actifry We have used the Tefal Actifry to cook curry chicken, fried bee hoon and fried prawns. Very convenient. This machine is able to contain the smoke, oil and fumes well. A kitchen hood is not necessary. image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr image by Harriette_Tan, on Flickr We chose the Tefal Actifry coz it can cook "Chinese/local dishes" like the above-mentioned, instead of a Philip AirFryer which can't.