The Kitchen

Well I did say I was going to do a post about my kitchen after a few teasers. It wasnt too much of planning on the kitchen as I knew exactly what I wanted, what material would be used for the types of cabinets. The only part that wasnt expected was a pillar (which is on the right side of the picture) that couldnt be removed due to building structure. Hence, therere 2 pillar stuck in between the dry kitchen and the dining area. Initially we wanted to make a bar with one of the pillar, but now with 2, it would make the bar too big and distract traffic flow. So we kinda skipped the bar idea. Well maybe a couple of years time, and if we need an additional bar well build it then.

Here. we. go!

This is the dry kitchen. Material of use for the wall and tall cabinets are high gloss PU spray paint in white. Spray paints are more expensive compared to laminates or melamin but because I use this oven very often, I didnt want any material to expand / come off / change colour / melt etc. Hence spray paint is one of the safe choice after glass (I dont like glass so technically its not a choice for me) The base cabinets are in brown wood grain laminate. All are handleless, with a 45 degree cut inwards, as handle. The top, is a aluminium rack for stuffs. The gap between the top and bottom cabinet, the one called backsplash (in marble effect) is actually a laminate to make it look like marble slabs. Since white and brown is kinda plain toned, I decided to make it more flowery.Plus, it makes it more designer-ish compared to using glasskote / glass cladding or tiles. Glass cladding are more expensive and partially reflective. Tiles are .. common, so I chose laminate. Best part is if after 5 years and you want to change it, you can just remove it and order a new piece and attac! h it bac k on to a plywood or something. Of course with the help of a carpenter if you need to remove it. You defintely cant do it easily with tiles.

The pic you see now (above) is with a warm light. I have two types of lights installed above the plaster ceiling, warm and white flourescent, so there can be both white (when I make cakes) and warm when were not really doing anything there. For a brighter shade, we just turn on both warm and white. But most of the time we just have it on white cause the rest of the house are all warm lights.

Far right is the entrance to the wet kitchen.

The oven here is a 60cm Teka which I bought at a very very very slashed price (about 70% off) as it was a displayed but never installed unit. I am fine with display but not used appliances. It was only about RM 1500, from the original price of 5k +. It comes with a meat prob, digital display and timer, a pizza function and 3 inner trays. I dont like 4 layers cause theres no middle tray u know what I mean.. YA Im fussy like that.

When choosing oven, I well actually I didnt exactly choose. There were only 3-4 ovens on clearance sales at that time and I chose the most expensive one, since its at 70% off, might as well take the most expensive one! If you ask me what brand or what type of ovens to look for, honestly I cannot give you much advice. I have at most used 3 different brands of oven in my home, a Zanussi in my old house. A teka and a tuscani from a range cooker. Oh wait, Ive used other commercial big big ovens, and a Eka stand alone oven before. I would say that as long as you know how to control the temperature and time, its almost all the same for the same price range. All ovens would eventually come to a problem of uneven heat distribution or inaccurate temperature. If you KNOW your oven well, its the best.

This is from the other side. The top surface is a white solid surface. and em.. fridge at the other end. The island is about 3 ft x 9 ft. Initially it was suppose to be 4 width but because of the 2nd obstructed pillar, the island had to be cut off abit. This pic is taken with whitefluorescentlight. On the other end of the kitchen island, are some electrical plugs and a LAN cable outlet for interneting. Also because our house is a 3 storey house and the main hub is located on the 3rd floor, it makes it hard for any wifi to reach the ground floor. Usually for wifi, 2 storeys are covered, the 3rd is usually very poor. So we had a wifi hub installed on the ground floor so everyone can use it.

The fridge you see here ( pic above) is a LG Top and bottom door fridge. Just dont buy LG for fridges. We bought it about say 8 years ago and its already been in the factory a couple too many times. We were ALL SO WORRIED that after the move, it may go KO, but SURPRISINGLY (touchwood) it worked ok. But still keeping fingers crossed on this one.

This is next to the fridge, where some of the smaller appliances are. From the left, is a lebenstil espresso machine, a Kenwood mixer, a lebenstil water kettle, a mosquitoe killer and a National microwave oven (which we havent really used the oven part of it before). When we first moved in there were alot of tiny bugs around so we just put a mozzie / bugs killer. All are not new appliances ya.,

Espresso machine was another displayed item but not used from the shop.. Oh wait. I think this wasnt displayed but it was on a 50% price slash, turned out to be only RM 600 from RM 1300 ish. Im the most frequent user of this machine cause Im the only one that knows how to operate it. Its okay u know.. ! I make p retty decent latte / cappuccino and its not from a capsule.. The Kenwood is a pretty good 5-6 years old machine. This is another displayed but not used item from the shop, it was the last one on the shelf and there was a discount of 20-30% Ok what!! From this you know I like to buy displayed but not used appliances with a huge price slash. If it works, and looks fine, why not!

The lebenstil water kettle is a free gift from buying a cuisinart ice cream machine about 2 years ago. We kept it cause we ddint have any more space to use in the old house.. Kept it well. Now it mostly serves a purpose of providing me hot water to wash off buttercream / cake stuffs. Mistake of not installing hot water at the sink area. Pppfftt..

This is the backsplash which I mentioned earlier, and some wall rackings for spices. There are no hood and hob for cooking but sometimes I do prep work in front at the dry kitchen hence some of the stuffs are at the dry kitchen. The wet kitchen is much smaller (due to some structural problem again) Below this counter is a dishwasher, erm, which we havent exactly put it to good use it. Another price slashed item, less than 1k.

These are some stuffs from the top cabinet, for the props, plates, cups and mould that I use. You can say that these are all my stuffs. My mom doesnt exactly open this cabinet and see whats inside. Lol if she does, Im kinda worried. Worried not because she will nag me on why Im buying these stuffs, but more like she will say why I only buy 1 or 2 items of each type of thing, cause its! so rand om. My mom doesnt agree with using different types of plates when others come to our house to eat. She likes those in a set, all matched up and stuffs. I prefer random coloured plates. But then again these are just some photo probs for the blog n all, cause they are all small plates / bowls/ ramekins etc. Now that I see the red weighing scale.. Haha its an emergency scale. I swear by digital scales ever since I own one.

This is the wet kitchen. Emmmm yeah its well seasoned with stuffs already. Its pretty small, width about just 7 ft, length about 15-18ft. Im not sure about this. Cause we extended a little. Our initial plan was to get it to a 9 ft width but because we need to leave some space outside for a walk way, it has to be cut short. Boo, mom not very happy about it. But she hardly cooks now anyway. The bottom and top are white melamine in high gloss and the top is a black granite. Yeah, our kitchen are all white, black and brown. Hahaha My mom asked me to get a red dry kitchen, a mixture, I said no. It isnt because I dont like red, but red are seasonal colours and it gets aged after 2-3 years. I prefer neutral colours this time. (Not the same applies with my bedroom! haha ) Anyway, back to the wet kitchen. On the right is a 2 ft depth (standard modular size) depth and on the left is a 1 1/2 ft depth cabinet. This one was made to store pots and pans and some appliances under and on top of it. Its not place for chopping anything. On top theres a rice dispensar, 2 toaster, some books and magazines, a steamer and a rice cooker. I dont know but where do people usually put these stuffs without compromising on counter top space We are looking to add some wall hanging racks under the wall cabinets.. Well see..

On the right is a hot water dispensar, juicer and cups ! n all wh ich we use everyday. The stove is a 90cm tuscani range cooker. and a 90cm tuscani hood which we got from Homedec with some price slash as well. Further away from the range cooker are where all the sauces and condiments are. We have like 2 soy sauce, 1 thick soy sauce, 2 tomato ketchups, chili bottles, honey, random spices, seasoning, sauce sauce sauce and more sauce! Oh a 90cm oven is ssoooo good when it comes to baking cupcakes for orders. Its not the best oven in terms of functions / settings but heck I only use top and bottom heat anyway. But if it means baking 100 cupcakes at 1 time, its GOOD. (for me)

The door leads to my maids room.

This is the other side of the wet kitchen. Sink, a more than 10 years old hesstar fridge and on the left is to go out to the yard area. Actually the best was to make the sink the same row as the range cooker and the exit door at where the sink is.(As long as its minimum5 ft apart, It should be ok in terms of the water and fire element not clashing each other). But for some other fengshui reason (my mom consulted a fengshui kinda master. Its more of a North, South, East, West direction that shes more particular of) the master said that its better for water to face this direction. Well, uhm OKAY, if its so, it will be built this way then. The fridge wasnt meant to be so close to the sink. Its meant to be abit further away, but DUE TO some pillar that cannot be chopped off again, the entrance to the wet kitchen was moved slightly close to the sink area, hence the fridge is now very much closer to the sink. 2 person standing here washing is packed.

We also recycle so it can get quite messy at the wet kitchen. My organizing skill is a fail. Lol. We have boxes and bags for plastics / paper and tins / cans. Sometimes there! are gla ss bottles but I find that certain dont take in glass bottles for recycling. They are recyclable right? No ? Then we also make compost with vegetable / fruit skins and waste. You can imagine its quite a scene back here. We are somewhat cutting back on the compost cause it attracts alot of small bugs and flies and all.. Urgh.. not a good scene either.

Em.. ok. thats about it. Next Ill probably do a post about the garden.

Cheers.