Month: January 2011

Appliance Shopping : Part I

After numerous days of researching online, doing price comparison, and visiting stores, we’ve finally purchased our first few pieces of household appliances.

The lucky store? Mega Discount Store.

For a long time, Shan and myself thought that everyone bought their household appliances from mega stores like Harvey Norman, Best Denki, Gain City or Courts.

Well, we thought wrong.

Just a little advice – do check out some of the recommended stores, such as Goh Ah Bee @ Kovan, Everjoint @ Ang Mo Kio and Mega Discount Store @ United Square. You will be pleasantly surprised at the prices they can offer you. All you have to do is to provide them with the model number of the appliance you intend to purchase.

During our three weeks of appliance hunting, we’re lucky to have come across many helpful sales personnel. Feel free to approach any of them for advice.

(1) Sam from Goh Ah Bee
(2) Angie from Best Denki, Takashimaya
(3) Henry from Mega Discount Store, United Square
(4) Lady from Rina Electrical, Shaw Centre

If you are going to purchase multiple items together, you may be able to bargain for a better price! Below are our purchases for today!

[1] Fujioh FG792GL : 2-burner inner-flame gas hob

[2] Brandt FC842XS1 : catalytic cleaning oven

[3] Samsung RT54EBPN : 2-door 410-litre fridge

[4] Bosch Maxx 7 VarioPerfect WAE24360SG : 7kg front-loading washer

[5] Bosch Maxx 6 WTA74100ZA : 6kg sensor dryer

Fun First Appointment at Ted Collection!

Finally get to go for my first official appointment with Ted Collection! This is the time when gown designs and colors are confirmed!

So we reached Ted Collection at 1PM for our appointment with Yap, my gown designer. So as always, Yap asked me if I have done any homework. Haha! Honestly I did a lot but nothing really caught my eye as much as one gown by Amy Michelson. As always, not going to say which one since my wedding gown is inspired from parts of the gown by Amy Michelson. 😀

So I showed Yap all the photos that I collected on my MacBook Air, though not a lot, but Yap was able to get an idea what kind of look I was looking for my wedding gown. As for the evening gown and cheongsam, these two were more difficult for me to know what kind of design fits me.

So, one hour was spent discussing with Yap over the design of the wedding gown to try to find out the best look for me since my concern was my bony build. After some drawings and looking at photos in magazines, he finally spotted a lovely front design and the whole look fits perfectly with the back design of the Amy Michelson gown. And he also incorporated the color that I want instead of just a plain white wedding gown! Am so happy the whole gown design looks great! 😀

Then we moved on to the design of the evening gown. Since I don’t have much ideas to the design of the evening gown and it has to fit a CERTAIN requirement, I decided to let Yap try to think up of the design for me. Since we are trying to have a different look for all 3 gowns/dresses and upon spotting a toga, I suggested a toga design and the rest was all nicely and lovingly suggested by Yap. It really has a special design to it and never will I thought of something so interesting. Haha! The tougher decision was the color to use. So after some consideration and recommendation by Yap, decided to go with something vibrant. 🙂

Next we have my cheongsam! Yap showed me an album on all the cheongsam designs categorised into 4 categories. So after some explanation of the differences, I made my mind and then once again, the COLORS! This was tougher considering I don’t want something too dark for cheongsam since I’m going to wear it in the morning for the tea session. So after going through the remaining palette, we have decided on the color combination too! Hehez.

So once mine was done after 3 hours, it was Feng’s turn! Feng decided to have both his suits made at Ted Collection since it will be more convenient to have fitting at the same place and easier to match my outfit. Hehez. So after some flipping of files and magazines and with the selection of the cloth, ALL WAS DONE! Yay!

So now we have one big item down and shall wait for our first fitting! 😀

Ted Collection Gown Designs

Appliance Shopping: Shan’s First Wishlist Item

As the date of key-collection for our barn draws near, Feng and I had also started doing massive homework and research on what appliances we can buy for our future barn after settling our mattress. 🙂

One of the most important appliances to me is of ‘cos THE OVEN! Having experienced the fun in baking and the restrictions in using the small oven at my house, it’s a must for me to invest in a bigger oven! And we decided to go with a built-in oven since Feng and I thinks that we will use the oven more than the hob, influenced by baking anything from Jamie Oliver. 🙂

So I have shortlisted the 2 basic models from Bosch (HBN331E2J) and Brandt (FE811XS1). After having read up a lot from Renotalk, I still didn’t have a decision as to which to get since the reviews are 50-50. So Feng suggested I go with my gut feeling which includes making trips to try to find the ovens and taking a look at them. I must say after visiting some stores to find out more, personally I think Rina Electrical gave the most un-biased comment when I briefly asked the comparison between the two models. And not forgetting the lady there has a very good knowledge of the products she is introducing.

But by then, I have already set my eyes on the oven I want. The Brandt FC842XS1. Why so you might ask. If you’re considering between the two basic models, Bosch will win with its digital timer as Brandt’s one is a manual timer. But both of them has a manual temperature instead which I am more picky on since I don’t want to buy an oven thermometer as yet though some will tell me oven temperature is not accurate. Haha! But if you’re asking me which manual temperature knob looks to be more accurate, go with the Bosch as they have a 10s divide unlike Brandt. 🙂

So my gut feeling told me to go with Brandt though Bosch has a better reputation overseas but I trust my gut feeling since Brandt is the sister company of De Dietrich so it can’t go too wrong right? And since the basic model has no accurate temperature marking, I decided to go with the 2nd model which is the FC842XS1 which has catalytic cleaning function and a rotisserie and some additional functions from the basic model. 🙂

Brandt FC842XS1

Here’s some price guide for you after Feng’s diligence in calling the various recommended shops. 🙂

Brandt FE811XS1: S$775 (Everjoint), S$820 (Mega Discount Store), S$899 (Original Price)
Bosch HBN331E2J: S$625 (Everjoint), S$639 (Mega Discount Store)

Brandt FC842XS1: S$1150 (Goh Ah Bee), S$1200 (Everjoint), S$1260 (Mega Discount Store), S$1400 (Original Price)

Note: Everjoint only accepts cash or cheque that is probably why the price is lower than many places. Mega Discount Store has a 5% interest on installment and 2% additional for using credit card. So take note! 🙂