A Smart and Functional Kitchen

366

Contemporary
HDB (BTO)
~1,200 sqft
3 br
Couple Living with Kids

Another exciting part of the house where most of our money is spent! Hence, it is very crucial to plan wisely for this part of the house. We are glad that we get to enjoy a rather wide kitchen as the bomb shelter is located at our entryway and not here. Scroll down for some of the main considerations and features that we like. :)
Backsplash and Countertop Material We got sintered stone for both our backsplash and countertop as they look neat and easy to clean with no grout line, except for the connecting joints between 2 slabs. A more budget friendly alternative for backsplash will be bigger size tiles or quartz as these also have minimal grout lines for cleaning. KompacPlus is also a popular choice for home owners nowadays as they are aesthetically pleasing and more budget friendly. However, one downside we understand is that bubbling may form over time if there is prolonged water ponding.
Drawer or Cabinet? Drawer is definitely more useful as many suggested but one area that we feel not suitable to have drawer is actually under the sink. Many built U-shaped drawer under the sink but the drawer runners actually eat up a lot of space and leave you with very little space to store your items.
Smart Lightings We have installed smart lightings for our kitchen ceiling so that we could use the motion sensor. The motion sensor basically detects movement from us and on the lights automatically. This is a cool and useful feature as it saves us the hassle of finding the right switches especially during the night.
The motion sensor that we placed on our kitchen counter top. It is actually very small and not obvious.
Side Panel This side panel between the fridge and counter top is actually quite essential as they prevent things from falling into the gap. Although most contractors will build it even without asking but we still see some that come without it. Probably one thing to take note for new home owners. :)
Niche Underneath Top Cabinet One of the features that we really like is the niches underneath as they help us hide all the switches and sockets. These niches actually make the kitchen look neater and we do not need to drill holes on the sintered stone to cater for the switches and sockets. Of course one downside is that you will have lesser space for your cabinet. Aesthetic wins for us! Haha.
Socket for our Water Dispenser :) Many are installing water dispenser and planning the socket location is actually important.
One more thing these niches help us hide is our kitchen paper towel. The space is just nice for it without the need for us to place it on counter top and eating up space.
Storage Planning storage space for all pots, pans, plates, bowls, cups, utensils etc. is actually a big headache for us. Do measure your things beforehand especially big bulky items before deciding on the length and height.
It is a must have feature for us to have a pull-out sauce tray.
Our snack drawer ;) We put our bulky items like rice cooker inside the drawer underneath too.
For those who have many containers or bottles might want to carefully plan out the height.
Our utensils pull-out drawer is actually on our island as shared in our earlier post. One advice is to plan for a deeper utensils drawer as bigger item like soup ladle is unable to place here. :(