Our Galley Kitchen: 5 best reno decisions
435
- Mid-Century Modern
- HDB (BTO)
- ~1,000 sqft
- 3 br
- Couple Living
Hello, welcome to the kitchen of @themaomaohome! It's been a while since we last posted. This is one of my favourite sharing cause much thought and research went into the design of the space. 
The kitchen is the heart of our home. We spent much time preparing and cooking food, hence the layout and functionality are important to us. But we also want to make it look chio. Green was chosen as it has a calming and relaxing effect. Cooking used to be more stressful for me. But the experience of cooking in our own kitchen has made a big difference! :) Anyway here goes our 5 best reno decisions. 
1. The Golden Triangle Since we couldn't hack any walls, we optimise our small galley kitchen by using the golden triangle concept. The idea is that when these three elements - sink, hob and fridge are close (but not too close) to one another, the kitchen will be easy and efficient to use, cutting down on wasted steps. I can easily place items on the countertop after taking them out from the fridge. 1a. Ensure sufficient countertop space After staying at our previous rented apartment that did not have much countertop space, we made sure to cater 1m long to prepare our food. 
2. Install LED lights We installed LED lights on both sides of our kitchen. It helped us to see better, and definitely made us feel safer while cutting our food. During reno, we did a last minute swap from warm white to cool white light, as it is more practical (less distortion on the colours of food). It acts as nice ambient light at night too! 3. Open Shelf As we have a small kitchen, we didn't want to install top cabinets at both sides. The thought of it makes us feel claustrophobic. We opted for open shelf on one side, which allow easy access to the items we need. The shelf also expanded the space. On a side note, the moroccan tiles were chosen to add intricacy and details to our kitchen. They are easy to clean as well! 
The shelf serving as both storage and decor space. The ceramic flask and plates were bought at a huge forest ceramic studio located at the mountainous Chiang Rai, called Doy Din Dang (refer to the pic below). The founder, Somluck Pantiboon is a Japan-trained Thai master ceramicist who set up the studio 25 years ago, after returning from an apprentiship under the 13th generation Nakazato Tarouemon, master Karatsu potter in Kyushu, Japan. His wife shared with us that they have taught our local potters from Mudrock Ceramics! On the other note, the cute blue cups were from my grandma hehe. Doy Din Dang Pottery Studio at Chiang Rai. It was a huge place, and this was just a very small part of it. 
Dom enjoys cooking and reading, so you will see books lying around the house. The book on French cooking were adapted from Julia Child, who is recognised for bringing French cuisine to the American public in the 60s. Yes we do refer to them, more so for Dom. They are not meant for decor purpose only haha. 4. Get drawers! Drawers are life-savers, because they allow us to retrieve items more easily. We even measured the height of the biggest bottle that we intend to place in the drawers, for our ID's carpenter reference. You cannot imagine my joy when we could fit the items easily in the drawers! 
4a. Install pull-out bins Due to the limited space, Dom found a brilliant space-saving solution - pull out bins for our recycling bin and garbage bin in the cabinet. 
4b. Install pull-out rack This rack is also a life-saver that helps us to store our baking items neatly, underneath our oven. We bought it at a steal - $32, but to our horror, the price has increased so much since then. The quality is very solid, and we love it very much. 5. Install power track Power track is very useful if you intend to use different appliances, across the countertop space. Ours is 1m long, and has served us well so far. Also love the obscure and brilliant design of our top cabinet and the power track, thanks to our IDs. Now you can see the power track! You can see that this is one of my favourite post, cause repeating it here again - there was so much research and thinking that went into the planning of our small and mighty kitchen hahah. Thank you for reading thus far! We hope these reno decisions have inspired or helped you as new homeowners. Stay tuned for our next post on bathrooms! Cheers, Choo and Dom
- 24 April
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