HomeThe Heart of the Home: An Open Mod-Scandi Kitchen that Flows with Life
sz.themaison
a modern scandi maison to a family of 4 + 2 furkids.
The Heart of the Home: An Open Mod-Scandi Kitchen that Flows with Life
119
- Scandinavian
- HDB (Maisonette)
- ≥1,500 sqft
- 4 br
- Couple Living with Kids
We’re back and this time with insights into our kitchen! The cats are feeling so generous with their cameos, it was quite hard for me to get them out of some of my shots. 😂 
Here’s the entire view of the kitchen from the entryway. The kids’ learning tower has found permanency in the kitchen as well. At this point, it might as well be a kitchen furniture too. 😄 I’ve mentioned this before and I’ll say it again. I love an open concept kitchen. I feel that it is the heart of the home where everybody would, and should gather. Where chats happen over cooking meals and not only at the dining table. Where the events in other corners of the home can be seen from where the sizzling of garlic happens. Where I can break up a living room playfight between the kids while cracking an egg! It was a feature in our previous home that I wanted to mimic at this place too. 
A unique feature to our home is that we built a store room in the kitchen. Executive Maisonettes (EMs) do not come with a generous space to store utilities. In the floor plan, the official storeroom was designated to be under the stairs. Obviously, this wasn’t enough space for us. It was also not practical due to its low height, hence devices such as cordless vacuums cannot be stored. We designed a diagonal opening to the store to maintain the openness and flow of walking into the kitchen. Just right beside the storeroom, is an addition that our ID suggested to build after finding out that we had a side-by-side fridge. The idea to have a narrow cabinet was to ensure we have clearance to fully open both doors. This extra space we had then became the dry pantry where we keep our snacks and other dry goods. 
A standalone kitchen island is my non-negotiable. With ample space to walk through and around, I want to ensure that gathering around the kitchen island is almost impossible to resist! 
This isn’t our first time having a kitchen island, but what we did differently this time was to request for rounded corners. More so for its practicality (bumping into edges as it is a high traffic area, safety for the kids) than aesthetics. Love how it turned out! We also opted for quartz countertop, after a long decision between that and sintered stone. 
Based on experience, we wanted to install a power track on the kitchen island so that we can plug in more of our kitchen appliances. As we use the rice cooker and Ninja Foodi multi-cooker the most, we’ve homed them there for easy daily usage. When we do plan to host large groups, these appliances can be stored away and the kitchen island can be cleared for additional space. 
This is the configuration of our island. 2 large cabinets on either sides and middle column are all drawers. 
Right most cabinet for dinnerware as they’re nearer to the stove, while the left most cabinet stores mugs as they’re nearer to the water dispenser. 
Smaller drawers store cutleries. Larger drawers store kids’ dish ware and other miscellaneous kitchen needs, such as a colander and mixing bowls. 
Where the sizzling happens! Opted for a glossy, herringbone tiled backsplash as a feature for the main part of the kitchen. I’m also pleased with the ample space between the stove and sink (I had expected it to be narrower due to space constraints) because it is undoubtedly the most important area when you’re prepping wet ingredients. Our hob, hood and dishwasher are from Bosch. We did thorough research on these items, but decided to go ahead with Bosch as they offered a great price during their roadshow. Sink and tap are from Kohler. We intentionally chose a smaller sink for 2 reasons: 1) more counterspace and 2) we have a dishwasher. 
Under the stove, we store the pots and pans. I’ve also organised them with the kitchenware organiser and have been enjoying the neatness. Larger, heavier pots and blender are stored at the lower shelf. We also stored away our rice dispenser in this cabinet. 
Also what I consider part of the kitchen, is this tall unit - home to the microwave and the oven. We also have ample storage around the tall unit, created due to the need for boxing up of thicc pipes running behind them! Top cabinets store kitchen rolls, wet wipes, storage bags. Bottom cabinet are bakewares and the narrow cabinet on the right hand side store everything cat-related - canned food, kibbles and packs of litter. I am very particular with storage spaces and what goes where, to ensure the flow makes sense. 
…and this is the view from the other end of the kitchen. Though figuring out what works for us in the kitchen is a continuous process, we hope you still find inspiration in our kitchen!
