What was our thought process while planning our kitchen? Some of the things we discussed with each other and with our ID. Honestly the first convo we had was the height of our countertops. Made couple of posts on this but feel free to reach out again if you have more questions! Our countertop height is 93cm and it is perfect for us! 
One thing we specified is to have the dishrack door removed. Looking at our parent's place, the dishrack door was always left open and dust collected on it. We had to change our ID initial plan to flush the sink to the right as we wanted a water dispenser. Since the water dispenser has to be beside the sink for the water supply and water out flow, we decided we prefer the sink on the right to not disturb the flow of the kitchen. We prefer not to have any wires hanging down but there was a miscom. Since our water dispenser is pretty tall, guess we dont mind it for now! We had a strong preference for sink as well, looking high and low for a wide one with tap landing. I dont like it when the tap comes out from the counter top. That means the water from your hands will pool on the counter top when you turn the sink off! We actually requested for flush mount but ID did not install it right and it was too late since the countertop was already installed. Countertop we chose sintered stone. We actually went down to the factory with our ID to choose the exact design we wanted and we also highlighted which part of the stone we wanted for which countertop (kitchen/island). Very detailed but thats the beauty of the home reno process! 
On the left of the sink, we wanted space for food prep which we use very well now! Everything we need is in reachable distance and we have ample space as well. On top, we have our switches which are well hidden by our carpentry door at eye level. Switches have to be intuitive. From the right we have the hood, lights, induction and dishwasher. We have our induction stove on the left and we made sure to centre our carpentry doors under and above it. (Things like that might sound obvious BUT its not to some ppl? pleaseeeee check your carpentry drawings clearly with measurements ‐ we made many changes on these) 
How did we plan our carpentry? We spent on a lot of things but drawers is not one thing that we thought we needed to splurge on. For every drawer, we have to top up $80. Not a necessity to us as we dont see a big deal reaching out for items hidden behind. Also because we dont have many things that belong in the kitchen, we dont foresee having our kitchen carpentry full (yet). ID gave us complimentary 3 drawers and we have them 90cm long under our island counter. Small, medium and large drawers for our utensils, bowls and plates. As of today, 11 months after moving in, this is enough storage for us! We had a friend gift us our multipurpose oven before we even moved in so we knew the measurements and the dimensions for ventilation required which we took into account when planning our carpentry. so FYI, very important to know what are your appliances already so that you can plan more efficiently! Somehow one thing we failed to plan is to leave additional space for the fridge in the event we might want to upsize it. Not a today problem so we can still live with it! 
We did top up for 2 drawers under the oven where we keep our snacks and noodles. These are very well used and we can effectively say we already breakeven from using these drawers very well. Last but not least, like i mentioned above, its best if you already know what appliance you want, another thing you have to plan for is the power plugs. as we have quite a long kitchen countertop, we decided to put a 1.2m line 8 power track on the left side of our kitchen in case we have more appliances than we expected. To my ID's dismay, I requested for it to be installed in the centre instead of higher (which she claims is the most aesthetic). Not all appliances come with long wires and i dont fancy the look of many wires hanging down. If possible I would prefer if the appliance can hide the wire but "no one installs the power track so low!". Hope sharing these will help you identify some pointers to take note during your reno. Let us know what are some points that you found useful!
23 August
