Relax lah bro ... chrome or silver tap will go with any sink. My Blanco is black anthracite and chrome tap looks ok. What you should be concerned with is the size of your tap and sink. A commercial type tap on a small sink will look ugly or vice versa.

Swivel tap is a must for kitchen but pull out type you should get a reputable brand. If not the working of counter-weight to put back the head unit is not smooth. Another issue could be the alignment of the head unit after frequent uses.

Again more moving parts means you should get a better made tap.

Essentially the “best” countertop material is composite quartz. It is tough, stain and scratch and heat resistant. Most kitchens in Malaysia are going for this. Dekton is similar to quartz just different forming process. It is actually more stain and UV resistance. The famous Michelin starred French Laundry kitchen is using Dekton for its kitchen so you know it must be good.

Solid surface used to be popular before quartz. Laminate or Kompacplus are cheaper alternatives but long term durability is not there plus colors are more dull.

If u find hard to decide just buy the most expensive you can afford. Silestone and Dekton are expensive because of lifetime reliability and warranty. Decision is actually not hard. Just wallet limitation is harder!

We are screwed in MY. In US, Silestone and Dekton price ranges are similar and overlapping.

You can approach Cosentino to see the products and get them to recommend reasonably good installer. I don’t think they do installations themselves but I could be wrong.

Almost all reasonable big ones like Signature Kitchen, Unity can do them. But they tend to be more pricey. Smaller installers will be cheaper but Cosentino is the one that will decide which of its products will be on sale. Typically older ranges are cheaper. Those newer N Boost models will be expensive.

Depending on your requirements ... The big Coway or other above the counter machines typically provide hot, cold and room temperature water.

This will work with undercounter water filter but then if the tap has problem you won't have drinking water. Anyway a separate filter tap is not expensive. Well you need to decide between cleaner look and single point of failure.

For option 2, some sinks such as Blanco can accept 2 to 3 "holes" for tap, soap dispenser, air switch and of course separate water filter.

Not very wise as you may accidentally mix drinking water with normal tap water. In addition if the final part of the tap "shares" the same outlet, part of your tap water may be trapped inside the tap before you switch to drinking water. I know Malaysian tap water can be consumed directly (theoretically) but keeping a separate water filter outlet is a cleaner solution. If I have garbage disposal switch, filtered water tap and soap dispenser and I can only install 2 of the 3 on the sink, I will take out soap dispenser since it is nice to have

First, the cheap Foster sinks (<1k) are butt ugly. The decent ones are more expensive than Blanco. Second, country of origin does not tell you a sink is good or bad. If this is the case you need to throw away your iPhone. Kraus is a US brand but solely made in China. Problem with China made products are just that the quality variations are great depending on the brand and quality control. One just have to be more careful when buying products made in China.

This post has been edited by blancpain4470: Jan 13 2021, 04:14 PM

Beauty is in the eye of beholder. I happen to think it is ok. Anyway I always preach function follow form/look. This is especially true for kitchen or any high traffic areas!

Lol. You have something protruding too but you don’t chop it off just because it is ugly 🤣. Similarly it serves a certain function!

Many Franke ss sinks are made in China but some expensive ones are Swiss made. Personally I like some of the Franke modern design types China made or otherwise. It is a good reputable brand. I would put them in my kitchen.

Usually Blanco has some promotions during festive holidays and home furnishing event such as Homedec. Unfortunately Homedec is delayed to end of Apr due to pandemic (and may be further delayed again). Look out for these type of events and they may have sales.

Another way is go to Lazada or Shopee and select any Blanco item to monitor (as “likes”). Then you can regularly monitor if the prices have reduced due to sales.

I used to go around shopping and developed contact with some sales people at the shop. I left my contact info for them to call me when there is a sale. I didn’t have luck with Topidea (may be they are too busy) even I ended up buying from them at Homedec! Xammax guy were more attentive and they will call if there is a sale.

18/10 is not approximately 316. They are different in price by a bit. There is no molybdenum in 18/10

I didn't get kraus mixer but I bought hansgrohe from Amazon. The tubing is standard and same as ours. As long as you don't go too fancy with those sensor type they should be ok

It is incredible how much misinformation and stupidity out there. Hot oil? It won't damage a good sink whether granite or ss. But you won't want to pour hot oil into your sink because it will clog in up. Hot water? It won't damage a good sink but it may create problem for plastic joints. I have poured hot water into my sink before and add long as you don't do it frequently there is no problem.

Nobody selling so called solid surface sink. The choice is granite and SS. There are numerous discussions on this before. In the end it is down to individual preference.

This post has been edited by blancpain4470: Apr 4 2021, 10:13 PM