A houzz contributor, not too long ago, had made a wine rack out of 4'x4' wooden pallets, that are used in the US to move a load of goods with a fork-lift truck. Perhaps they have them in your country. He cut them in half so they were only two feet deep and stacked them up to high counter height. The wood would be a nice contrast with your concrete, might add a little warmth to the space. cascio.offsite@gmail.com

I had purchased hafele hob 10 months back... I got it serviced 6 times... Now i requested for replacement with new one... Still they have not attended my request...

Hi Purvi, for open plan kitchen you can change the fridge door position to front facing instead of balcony facing. One more option is, you can plan for pocket doors. The advantage of that is if you wish to have the open feeling you can keep it open or close it. My personal advise will be, instead of asking for individual queries you should consult a person and take complete details as per your requirements.

Hi, From your Question, I understand that you are looking to integrate a built-in DW and MW in an existing modular kitchen in your home or a new one you have ordered from a kitchen cabinet manufacturer. In either case, your first phone call should be to your kitchen supplier who fitted / will be fitting the kitchen cabinets. Here's WHY? The kitchen cabinet supplier will confirm the size of appliance required as per the kitchen design. They must have made suitable provisions in the cabinets to accommodate these equipments inside cabinets. The cabinets for DW and MW are different from the rest, since the DW sits directly on the floor while MW needs an escape vent at the back for hot air. 2. You need to confirm whether there exists 15 amp power points at appropriate places for each equipment. 3. For built-in DW, a water inlet and outlet at correct positions are required. The kitchen vendor and/or the built-in DW supplier will visit your home and do PDI to mark the exact location of electrical / plumbing points. It will be useful if the kitchen vendor and plumber / electrician are at hand during this PDI, so as to check and discuss relevant issues on the spot and give their confirmations ( or alternatives ) and close this essential issue to the satisfaction of all concerned. Usually, the actual spot is marked on the wall itself and a line drawing showing kitchen cabinets with exact electrical / plumbing positions marked clearly on it, are shared with relevant agencies to eliminate mistakes, if any. Any corrections reg electrical / plumbing will be expensive and time consuming once the cabinet and countertops are fitted. The appliances are typically installed at the end of the project, when all other works are done and almost all agencies ( read workers ) engaged in the premises have left. So, any mismatch between the initial discussion and actual execution comes to light too late in the day !! To avoid this scenario, ask the built-in equipment supplier to visit once more and verify if their requirements are met. Oftentimes, appliance cos. take refuge in such 'non-compliant' provisions and avoid delivering on committed guarantee / warranty, in case of issues at a later date. It's better to go through this cycle once initially, and get everything right in one go. It is also worth noting here that the positions of electrical / plumbing points vary with brands and models, so once you freeze the brand and model, it is advisable not to change the decision thereafter. However, if your kitchen cabinet maker is a pro and experienced, you may just leave it to him and sit back. A good company / professional will take care of all this. Most of the points mentioned above come with a steep learning curve and are not in any book. They don't teach this in any professional design / architecture course. Once all above is sorted....just check out prominent brands in your city / region. Some names that have stood the test of time are SIEMENS / HAFELE / KAFF / ELICA. All of them have a reasonably good service set up which will get top 'selection criteria' in my book. Also, most of them have enough machines out in the field and that means they are likely to have common spares etc with them, when needed down the years. It is a good idea to buy appliances from a single brand as that saves you the trouble of calling different companies for each appliance. Regarding specific model selection....most machines have all the basic features that are commonly used. A MW may have 58 ( so to speak ) pre settings that you may never use unless you are a Chef. Ask your wife and/or leave this to the family member who will spend most time in kitchen. MW with grill / convection features is a good choice and all above brands have them. Hope this answers your Question, and apologize for a loooong reply. But it's better to know relevant issues and decide. Thanks and good luck :)