Gone Shopping

Saturday was a packed day. Travelling, searching, sourcing, making decisions and spending copious amounts of money...nearly copious. We never swiped our cards for so many 4 digit figures in a day.

We went to Chuan Heng at Jalan Besar. Chuan Heng has 3 shops there so their wares are quite widely spaced out. Most people on forums don't think very highly of Chuan Heng. We guess it could be they don't seem as friendly and don't seem as widely knowledgeable...or perhaps they only offer information when you ask. Their range of hobs and hoods is quite wide, with Elba, Ellane, Rinnai, Techno, Technogas, Uno, Fujioh, and some other obscure brands. My (ally's) problem with them is that most are 86 - 90cm long, or the 60cm variety. Techno seems too metallic, and some of the others seem more crude in style. Rinnai has gorgeous black glass top hobs, but the ones with the size of 70cm or so only have 2 burners, feature the inner flame, and come with a higher price tag. We decided the glass top was too big a risk, although so much easier to maintain, and even with the lifetime warranty on the glass, it was too troublesome to worry about it.

We also went to Poh Joo (opposite Jalan Besar Food Centre branch). Poh Joo has tons of sinks and taps and toilet stuffs. The nice lady was quite stoned at 10am in the morning and ignored us. Boss came to talk to us, and showed us the MN brand sinks, which were better than Teka because the steel was thicker by .2mm. We didn't make a decision on these until much later in the evening. Decided to get the Teka sink because the stopper was integrated to the sink, not needing 2 hands to operate. The MN brand had a better waste management system but because it came in 3 parts, the stopper had to be placed elsewhere when not in use...too ugly ah.

More tips about Poh Joo. Everything is bargainable. We thought the MN brand, being a relatively less famous brand of sink, would be able to fetch a better price. But boss only allowed $250 max. Teka was going for $250 too but to our surprise, boss suddenly said, "you really like this ah, their sinks getting more and more expensive, we want to sell off and don't carry already, let you have at $230". Ok, wasn't expecting that but yay. However, the price another guy quoted us on the storage heater was "wrong". Apparently it was $220 instead of $210. A tactic to earn back some cash? Who knows...hmmm...

Also, a sink we saw at Sim Siang Choon at $202 was selling at $143 and we believe it can be lower.

We also went to Sim Siang Choon at Changi South. Our contractor often liases with a lady there and asked her to give us some discount. We've never been to this outlet and must say it's pretty nice to shop in. Lanes are huge, it's big and airy, and with lots and lots of choices. Our favourite toilet design is sold here. Most shops have limited variety for the 5" size toilet bowl, so we were glad we didn't just settle on something Chuan Heng showed us. We also decided to get the whole lot of toilet accessories and a cheapo shower mixer for the common toilet. They have the most designs of sinks here as well and we found a nice one for our master toilet at only $90+.

After lunch and short recce at Parkway Parade, we went down to Goh Ah Bee (Hougang) to order our fridge, washer and microwave. At the risk of prices rising, we recommend calling Goh Ah Bee for all your electrical appliance needs. Their prices are incredible, no need to bargain as well. The boss there is REALLY strange. An ah beng uncle who actually speaks english, he gives you the funniest answers. Don't even bother bargaining, he'd give you the "you want, don't want, i dont care" look or answer. He didn't even bother taking a deposit.

Home & Bathroom at Balestier was next. Ally: I wont' even start on this. Hansgrohe taps are not cheap, and it didn't help that I wanted high riser taps for the sexy slim look. It took a while to consider but a friend had been using Grohe taps for 10 years and they have proven their reliability, so I thought I should go for the whole german made thing too. Kim thinks otherwise of course, but I hope he doesn't spend years complaining and just enjoy the beauty and quality instead. I bargained like mad of course, so there's some consolation there...

Last stop, Mayer, to check out hob & hood. The Great World City branch ONLY has Ariston products just to let you know. We could not see the Delizia hood or the Indesit Oven except from the catalogue. The sales guy there Freddie is very good though. He explained the benefits and features of each item and helped me calculate a package that was cheaper than the quote we got from the Plaza Sg branch! He also told us the benefits of topping up for a better hood and oven but agreed that the basic package was good enough. To top it all off, there was free cutlery and poultry scissors, and 2 free baking class, not bad ah for $1367!

Some final points:
1. Sim Siang Choon at Changi South has a "As Is" corner. Stuff with slight defects going at dirt cheap prices!
2. Joven storage heater has 10 year warranty on non-leakage, compared to 5 years for many other brands.
3. 25 litre storage heater is enough for a 4 or 5 room flat.
4. Rainshowers don't really work in HDB flats as the water pressure level is not powerful enough.
5. Good brands of taps come with pop-up waste for the sinks. (figures, since you're paying so much for it)