Modular Kitchen Hunt in Bangalore. Review on Tips on Modular Kitchen

I am in process of doing wardrobes and(modular) kitchen for my new apartment.

Disclaimers:

This is just my experience and not specific to any particular modular kitchen makers yet.

I am writing for Apartment specific kitchens where most part are done/given by builder(counter top granite sink, faucets etc).

Not too flashy/fancy expensive /requirement considered.

Only for upper middle/middle class requirement where cooking is done by family member and not by cooks.

I haven't divided or organized my thoughts yet in this review. So I am writing as my thoughts are coming.

I have not done with my own kitchen and wardrobes. So I will be updating this review and adding to this as time passes by. For this reason comments suggestions are also welcome.

Some experience to share with:

All I wanted was a clean spotless finish of doors, handles, hinges and over all elegance of wardrobes and kitchen to put in short.(As most of us would be looking for just these qualities) I was also not very great fan of using ply but was wanting to have MDF or particle board as I felt they would give me better finish.(also I might have influenced by kitchen and wardrobe displays in store which all use these materials majorly than plywood)

I looked around many modular kitchen makes in Bangalore and and most of them would say kitchen can be made in 1.3 lacs onwards. But you look for all the fancy stuff on display and start imagining that you will have some of them in your kitchen, budget would easily shoot beyond 2.5 - 3 lacs. This is just an initial warning and truth about modular kitchens.

To begin with shape of your kitchen and countertop area is what largely effects your cost of kitchen. Parallel or just one side kitchen would be cheapest as it would not have any corners. L shape kitchen would come next as it would have 1 corner. And U kitchen would be costly affair since you would have 2 corners. I will not talk about island kitchen etc as I am targeting only budget constraint people who are looking for good kitchen in reasonable price.

Why corners would add up? That fancy and magic draws/shelf you would see in any modular kitchen display(to make maximum use of corner space) is only good to look at but if you want to have one its easily cost 25-60k for single unit(based on what make and brand it is made up of. E.g Kaff, Haffle Blum etc, .). So more corners more wastage space. More you want to make use of corners more such expensive units you need to buy.

Second deciding factor is Hard push and soft closure doors and draws. Hard ones comes for half the price of soft closure draws/doors. Difference is hard closure doors makes sound when you close draws/doors. Soft ones need not any such efforts. When the door/draw is 90% closed it automatically slides/closes smoothly without making noise. Any body who is thinking of modular kitchen would definitely go for this kind of soft closure doors which adds to the cost.

Third part is all the branded accessory's that goes inside the draws and cabinets. More movable draws and cabinet more you end up paying for. Every thing form simple mat inside your draw to plate and other utensils holder will all add up to cost. So mostly we end up in having plain baskets or cabinets so that you can keep any thing you want without any size restrictions.

Fourth is finish of doors and cabinets. Matt and normal textured ones are cheaper and shinny ones cost more. It depends on what you want in your kitchen and its pretty much subjective.

Height of kitchen countertop is one major issue I am facing and still not able to solve this problem. Most of the kitchen makers are adamant on fixed sizes and heights. This experience is making me think is this really custom made kitchen or its just a pre packed kitchen? Most Indian women would be 5.1 to 5.6 tall and I am confident that 31-33 inch countertop is reasonable and comfortable height.(I have done some ergonomics to arrive at this figure) Surprisingly most kitchen makers give standard height of 34 inch! And they can only increase that further and not lower any more! By taking their word I could come to only conclusion that buyers are not really caring for this height factor OR they are all tall like men(5’ 8” and above perhaps) OR they use men cooks at home and don’t care about the height at all OR totally ignorant about this height factor in long run(if you just stand in once showroom and try mimicking the activity you would never realize this height is an issue. But if you think of working in kitchen for long time with lifting weight looking inside the vessel on top of stove you will realize height matters a lot) One more thing I am assuming here is most modular kitchen wannabees will go for hobs and not the regular gas stove.(Regular gas stove will add another 4-5 inches of height and it will make impossible to cook at 34” counter top)

I will add up names of kitchen makers and other information soon as I finalize things. This mush of research or home work is needed and should be taken care irrespective of any kitchen makers you are opting for.

Thanks for reading this review/research and hope this helps your decision at least a bit. Since I did not find any such data in internet I thought of writing one my self!

Update: 21st June.

After long time I am updating this as I was too busy shifting to my new home.

Kitchen is done and so every other little things as well.

In spite of such care, research I blundered at one step: All my attention was focused on countertop height I completely over looked the wall cabinet height:-(! Another reason for this is I was taken granted for what I saw in model house of my apartment and assumed my kitchen wall cabinet height would be also will be of similar height. But to my horror I realized when everything was done and now I have wall cabinet at an inconvenient height. So never believe your eyes or any other model house/show room kitchens unless you are sure about measurement. Carry tape on your pocket always and talk only in terms of inches when ever where ever you are referring / talking with anyone who is responsible for making your kitchen. [Hard lesson learnt]

Now, some revelation about who did my kitchen.

I got it done with Oaktree kitchens from Bangalore. I would recommend them for anyone for their reasonable service and quality.

Update: 20st Sep2010.

Thanks for all encouraging comments and I am glad that my experience is helping few in making their kitchen better. I do not have much to share more information at this stage as I am happy with my current kitchen. I have just added few photos to this review, so that you can have a look and believe this is coming from real person;-)(In the era of fake profiles and reviews)

Another new found error and point to be taken care of is Steel sink alignment.

Usually while getting done your kitchen granite work is outsourced to granite workers(modular kitchen people takes responsibility) or builder himself(his granite workers) offers to get this portion of work done for you. I prefer to assign this job to kitchen makers as there is some co-ordination required and I like it best to them to take care of these issues than I being middleman and end up owing responsibility if some thing goes wrong. When fixing these steel sinks we usually see for finish, leakage(?) and how nicely edges are done etc and chances of checking for correct level is minimal. Another reason for this could be there may not be water/tap connection at the time of fixing sinks or they may demand it need to be kept dry for whatever reasons. However I advise to check for water flow in right direction and sink is aligned properly and water does not flow in opposite direction on you countertop.(I have issue of water running in opposite direction on counter top while cleaning etc)

Since I had lot of observations, eye for details I am not able to document all in correct order in this review. Please let me know of any particular issue or topic so that I can share my experience on that if at all I had encountered/tackled it.