That's pretty much my dream kitchen.
Homes and kitchens in different countries
- Thread starter LissaC
- Start date
I think I fixed it unless you wanted the last photo deleted?
Pic of my kitchen:
View attachment 72317
It’s open, so to the left is the dining area. It has large sliding glass doors to close it off. They’re not brilliant tbh and if I make something like a steak then the house will be filled with smoke. In those cases opening my balcony door and my kitchen outer door will blow/suck it out.
Through the outer door is a sheltered utility area:
View attachment 72318
..and if we go through and hang a left that’s where my appliances are:
View attachment 72319
..and beyond is a ‘maid room’. Many Singapore apartments are designed with a space that is commonly used for a live-in helper. We don’t have one so that’s a pantry and storeroom. At right is a shower/toilet intended for the maid’s use, but that’s the one I use when the others are all occupied.
Oh - I hate to say it but I'm feeling claustrophobic looking at your images - especially as I know you are in a high rise apartment. What is this thing about maids...?
I love the size of that kitchen but the cabinets and marbled counters are really not to my taste at all.
My former boss who lived in Hong Kong and worked around Asia said it's common for well to do people in Singapore to have a live in housemaid. Usually the maids are poor women from Asian countries like Laos or Cambodja, and some are treated like slaves...
Apropos, as I was just reading a few articles about the differences between American and UK/European kitchens, and one of the things mentioned time and again is the fondness Americans have for raised cabinet doors with pulls and UK/Euro residents overwhelmingly like the sleek look of flush cabinets with no visible pulls.
I hate those plastic looking plain cabinets that feel sterile and futuristic. Much the prefer the cosy American style.
The grass is always greener, so they say.
rascal
Forum GOD!
I do wish it was at least 50% bigger. Counter space is what I am most short of.
Regarding maids, yes, what LissaC says is more or less correct. I read that something like 1 in 5 households in Singapore has a maid. The majority of them come from the Philippines, then Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka.
Like I said we don't have one now, but we had in the past when my kids we very young for a couple of years. TBH they're more trouble than they're worth (especially because they live in). If you have a very large house I can see the advantage of one, and other people have them as carers and so forth, but the majority are just cleaners, nannies, cooks and general household dogsbodies. My neighbours (whose apartment is the same size as mine) have two, though they have 3 kids aged below 3.
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It's true - some are treated like slaves, but at the other end of the spectrum there are those who are treated like family. Each year you will see a couple of people in the newspapers being sent to jail for maid abuse, but you will equally see stories such as 'I've been with the family for 19 years and they paid for me to go to college' so like most things with a large enough sample you've got a normal distribution with the majority in the middle.
[EDIT] I also want to point out that it's not just well-to-do people who have maids here. Families across the income spectrum have them. The cost to have one with all their pay, associated fees, health checks and levies works out around USD $10000-$12000 a year.
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Nice spacious kitchen. That would be a joy to cook in.