Singapore Expats

Hi, we will be moving to Singapore this summer. Was wondering if we should bring my kitchenaid stand mixer (I use it a lot and would hate to leave it behind but there will be issues with the voltage) and a bbq grill? It is a large propane grill, not sure if it will fit on most homes.

Do we really have to buy new electronic appliances, such as coffee machine, blender, slow cooker, panini electric grill, etc? Has anyone bring any of this with you and continue to use them? I am just thinking of cost of setting up a kitchen all over again. If we move again to Thailand or Indonesia, are they using the voltage and freq. as Singapore?

Thank you,

Olly

OMG, you bring the whole kitchen with you. dont forget the kitchen sink.

thailand, malaysia and indonesia all use the same voltage as singapore.

Leave 'em all home in storage if they are high-end models. If you are coming over here for only a couple of years then buy replacement models here that use the correct voltage. Buying converters is a hassle and not that good for anything that actually has a motor in it (like a mixer) due to phase differences.

You will also find that eating is the favorite pastime of Asians. Therefore food courts, hawker centers and restaurants abound. Most here don't bother to cook that often and the kitchens are on the small side because of that. It's pretty cheap or damned expensive to eat out here depending on your tastes and ambiance requirements but there are places to cater to every budget.

Before you leave just have a garage sale (equivalent of yard sale back home).

NewtoSing:

Without knowing what your long-term plan is, it's hard to really give you sound advice. I can tell you that I bought a new kitchenaid mixer here (S$799 ) and left my original one in the house we have in the US.

Coincidently I bought a new gas grill here over the weekend. They are very expensive here, this one -- which is nothing special at all, was a whopping S$950. Many are over S$2,000 and the tiny ones are S$500. The trouble is they rust out here very quickly because of the high humidity, I've never had one that has lasted more than 3 years. I'd bring your BBQ if it's not a very good one or put a new cheap $200 in your shipment. If it doesn't fit in your new place, you can try to sell it when you get here.

We bought all new electronics when we moved here: TV, lamps, stereo, blender, all of it. The company we moved with gave us an allowance to help with the cost (but it didn't come close). Now packages have gotten smaller, which definitely can leave people in a bind. There are lots of sources for good second hand items through clubs, schools -- even supermarkets.

Hope this helps.

Very ... very helpful. Thanks to all. I have now have a better picture of what to pack and what items are up for garage sale. We will most probably be staying around Asia for the next 5-7 years.

grill eh, hmm, if u have a patio up front maybe but in an apartment, its too stuffy and hazardous.

NewtoSing wrote:Hi, we will be moving to Singapore this summer. Was wondering if we should bring my kitchenaid stand mixer (I use it a lot and would hate to leave it behind but there will be issues with the voltage) and a bbq grill? It is a large propane grill, not sure if it will fit on most homes.

Do we really have to buy new electronic appliances, such as coffee machine, blender, slow cooker, panini electric grill, etc? Has anyone bring any of this with you and continue to use them? I am just thinking of cost of setting up a kitchen all over again. If we move again to Thailand or Indonesia, are they using the voltage and freq. as Singapore?

Thank you,

Olly

I would definitely bring the kitchenaid and other appliances. I really regret not packing all my electrical goods.

I've since wasted a huge amount of money on new toasters/irons/kettles/juice machine etc... all at a much greater cost and with limited variety as back home (Australia).

I'm a HUGE homewares fan and Singapore has a very limited variety. It's either VERY cheap or VERY expensive. I left this great wine bottle opener back in Sydney and I saw the exact one displayed in Singapore for $199.00 (same brand)....it only costs $25.00 back home

If you're not heading back home for another 5-7 years there's no point in all your electrical goods collecting dust...and anyhow what's to say you return and you realise half the stuff are old and needs upgrading.

Good luck with your move.

It's true, the relocation people tell you don't put one thing into storage which has a plug...

I just moved here from New York, and I'm wishing I had left a number of electrical appliances home. I see you're from the US, so you have to consider the voltage difference. Anything that you have that accepts 110 - 240 V, bring it. You only need to buy a cheap ($3) adapter to use them. For items that do not accept 240V you need to buy a power converter/transformer. These will convert the 240V coming out of the Singapore sockets to 120V. Note, however, that they are rated for different wattages.

I brought my 42" plasma, which uses 345 watts, and my home theater system, which requires an additional 100 watts. For these items I purchased a 1000 watt transformer, which is a big honkin' box about a foot long by 4 inches by 4 inches. It cost $95. Transformers capable of handling 600 or 800 watts are the same size, but a bit cheaper. I've been told that items that have a motor or that generate heat - blender, juicer, toaster oven, panini maker, espresso machine, etc., should not be used with a transformer, so if you have items of this type that cannot accept 240V they'll be useless here. Even if you could use them with transformers, these items usually suck up the wattage - the juicer I brought sucks up 600 watts and the same goes for my Cuisinart. Therefore even if I could use them with a transformer I'd have to have huge pieces of equipment all over my kitchen.

Your mixer would also fall into the useless category, assuming it can't accept a 240V power source.

While we're on the general topic of appliances - sort of - I'm in the market for a gas grill (some people call them "barbecues") - does anybody know of a good place to buy one?

monkton wrote:Your mixer would also fall into the useless category, assuming it can't accept a 240V power source.

While we're on the general topic of appliances - sort of - I'm in the market for a gas grill (some people call them "barbecues") - does anybody know of a good place to buy one?

Bah! A transformer will fix the mixer problem. A transformer is $100 a mixer is $800. Easy math, even for me.

The DIY at 6th Avenue has BBQs and so does the BBQ place at 2nd Avenue Junction. Paris Silk and The Butcher at Holland Village, etc... Look in the buying guide under 'Barbecue Equipment'.

Thanks for the grill tip!

As for the transformer/mixer problem - I've been told, and I believe someone else in this thread also mentioned, that a transformer shouldn't be used with anything with a motor - something about phase differences perhaps? Also - I imagine it would require a pretty large transformer and that could become quite an eyesore and cause clutter if you were to purchase transformers for a kitchen's-worth of appliances.

monkton wrote:Thanks for the grill tip!

As for the transformer/mixer problem - I've been told, and I believe someone else in this thread also mentioned, that a transformer shouldn't be used with anything with a motor - something about phase differences perhaps? Also - I imagine it would require a pretty large transformer and that could become quite an eyesore and cause clutter if you were to purchase transformers for a kitchen's-worth of appliances.

Not a kitchen's worth -- just the kitchenaid mixer

Thanks for the BBQ tips - I saw some at parisilk so far. They're ridiculously expensive here.

If the original poster were to bring everything he/she was asking about - "coffee machine, blender, slow cooker, panini electric grill," then you would need some serious transformer power. And, again, I've been told that you should not use a transformer with anything that contains a heating element or a motor.

I'm pretty sad that I have to look at my panini maker, my Cuisinart, my ice cream maker and my espresso machine collecting dust; but I also can't bring myself to shell out the cash to replace them all.

So did you ultimately buy a gas grill there? Am moving from the U.S. to Singapore soon and was thinking of buying a nice grill here and bringing it (since everyone says they are expensive there) but I think I saw another post saying that they rust out relatively quickly. I was thinking of bringing a nice Weber (US$650) but am having second thoughts.

Thanks for posting the info about your panasonic plasma . . . we're about to bring over the same type of set-up.