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Kitchen Tour: Food is the Language of Love in This HDB Cookspace
This kitchen renovation is a son's ode to mum's culinary style and also fits the family's new dynamics
Chiquit Brammall
8 August 2019
Design journalist and freelance editor. Dollhouse architect. Serial renter.
The transformation into this fresh, airy kitchen is a grown-up son’s act of love for his empty nester mother. Kerhow Wong, architect and principal designer of asolidplan reveals that after moving out, the son faithfully visits his mother every weekend to catch up over a home-cooked meal. He noticed that his mother’s cook space was worn out and in need of a major refresh. He commissioned asolidplan “to make it a better, brighter environment for cooking and dining”. He not only wanted the space to cater to his mother’s love for cooking but also to her interest in edible gardening and requested for a space where she can grow her own herbs and spices.
Photos by Food and Shelter Company
Room at a Glance: Kitchen
Who lives here: An empty-nester and her cat
Location: Tampines
Designer: asolidplan
The most dramatic change in the newly-renovated kitchen was replacing the wall-mounted closed-door cabinets with open shelving that’s designed to be the mum’s ‘home farm’.
“The original kitchen was very dilapidated due to heavy usage. The laminate on the cabinets were peeling off and some of the internal shelves had collapsed. They were useless and a breeding ground for cockroaches,” says Wong.
Room at a Glance: Kitchen
Who lives here: An empty-nester and her cat
Location: Tampines
Designer: asolidplan
The most dramatic change in the newly-renovated kitchen was replacing the wall-mounted closed-door cabinets with open shelving that’s designed to be the mum’s ‘home farm’.
“The original kitchen was very dilapidated due to heavy usage. The laminate on the cabinets were peeling off and some of the internal shelves had collapsed. They were useless and a breeding ground for cockroaches,” says Wong.
The design team suggested open shelves instead so that the homeowner can grow her potted plants in the kitchen instead of along the corridor outside the flat. This allows her easier access to her edibles like chili padi.
Open shelves in blonde wood visually expand the narrow kitchen. White subway tiles clad the wall behind the new shelves, and a back-painted glass backsplash in blue anchors the bright and airy design.
There’s no need for a cooker hood above the simple gas hob, because “the mum is not used to such complicated equipment.” The kitchen’s immediate proximity to the laundry yard and its big window take care of ventilation and cooking aromas.
Open shelves in blonde wood visually expand the narrow kitchen. White subway tiles clad the wall behind the new shelves, and a back-painted glass backsplash in blue anchors the bright and airy design.
There’s no need for a cooker hood above the simple gas hob, because “the mum is not used to such complicated equipment.” The kitchen’s immediate proximity to the laundry yard and its big window take care of ventilation and cooking aromas.
On the opposite wall is a simple dining nook where the son can sit and accompany his mum while she cooks. This is also where they dig into her specialities.
The short side of the L-shaped worktop separates the kitchen from the laundry/service yard, with the counter shielding the washing machine from view.
The short side of the L-shaped worktop separates the kitchen from the laundry/service yard, with the counter shielding the washing machine from view.
“We chose the blue mosaic first, then the back-painted glass for the backsplash to match the mosaic,” says Wong. The designer found out later that blue happens to be the son’s favourite colour.
Even when her son is not around, the mother fills her kitchen with lots of love, tending lovingly to her herb garden and lavishing her feline companion with freshly-cooked fish every day.
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What strikes you most about this kitchen? Let us know in the Comments section below.
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Even when her son is not around, the mother fills her kitchen with lots of love, tending lovingly to her herb garden and lavishing her feline companion with freshly-cooked fish every day.
TELL US
What strikes you most about this kitchen? Let us know in the Comments section below.
MORE
Browse Singapore kitchen designs
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