if you are planning for duco/pu paints or membrane finishes, you should use external grade MDF. This will give a better finish. Tandem/innotech drawers are anytime better than steel wire baskets if you are going for drawers more than 2ft wide. Wire baskets will sagg over a period of time. Tandem/Innotech comes with soft close as default.

Jaggi, We guess that it is roughly 20-25'x 25-30'.

I have used both with good results. The main difference between Quartz and Granite are 1) price, 2) colour range. Granite generally works out cheaper, because you can buy the exact quantity you require. Quartz comes in large slabs of specific sizes- standard size being roughly 10'-0" x 4'6", so there tends to be more wastage if you don't plan the cutting well. But Quartz is pretty and comes in a wide range of colours and can be re-buffed at a later date. Quartz also comes in various thicknesses- the most commonly used being .75" to about 1.25". And especially when you use dark wood cabinets in a kitchen or bathroom, beige and white counter tops work very well. Some people go even with coloured counter tops like blue, orange, yellow. Natural stone in light colours tend to be porous and stain easily, so I prefer to go with pure black which is safe.

There is nothing special about Kerala climatic conditions that require anything special (yes, I have several years experience with kitchen cabinets there). You can use BS 710 or 303 plywood with laminate on them with excellent results. Several interior firms also use HDF/MDF with laminate without much complaints from their clients.