Bargain Hunting...

Saw an advertisement on Saturday papers about Mayer having sale. Didn't really take notice of it as I thought it was advertising the Mayer sale at Great World City where they were selling their display sets for about 25% off. We were at the Great World City Mayer on the first day of that sale (acting on a tip-off from another neighbour) and had almost bought a Ariston Vitroceramic hob. It looked so cool being flat, shiny and all black. And not to mention the touch control pad.

See how cool is that? The retail price was S$1,099 and they were selling it for S$700 plus. Was very tempted to commit but realise that we actually need to change the power plug to one that can support at least 15AMP. The normal power plugs are 13AMP. And 15AMP would only allow you to use two area simutaneously. 30AMP is needed to use all four at the same time. But alas, HDB cannot have 30AMP. I think to the power to 15AMP would cost another $200 plus to $300.

That's alot of money to spend on a hob, especially when both of us do not know how to cook (although my wife vow to cook once she has her own kitchen).

Abit of technical information on the hob, the vitroceramic hobs heat up like normal gas hob (see the red colour circles in the picture?) so you can use any pots and pans and even those corning ware. That would also mean you will burn yourself if you are not careful. There is another kind of hob that looks similar but works in a totally different way. Its call Induction hob. It looks like this:

You can put your hand on the hob itself even when its switched on the max and still do not feel anything. Crack an egg on it and it will not cook. You can even try to play chess on it when its switched on and not get burn. So how exactly is it suppose to cook your food? You would actually need special pots (metal and I think stainless steel) as they transfer energy to these pots via wave. So corning ware would not work here.

If you have one of these hob, do be careful when you are trying to impress your friends by putting your hand on it while its on. If you happen to be wearing metal ring or metal brancelet, it might just heat them up too...

Ok back to my story. Then Sunday came and again I was flipping the papers for sale and a closer look at the Mayer advertisement is actually referring to a different sale. A BIGGER WAREHOUSE SALE!!! I cancelled my golf (P/S: Keith, I cancelled it because it was gonna rain, it has got NOTHING to do with the sale ;P) and ask my parents to drop me off the warehouse before they head for lunch.

Wah that warehouse at Changi damn wulu (meaning far, isolated, deserted...) man... really "bird also dun lay eggs there, dogs also dun go there and shit" kind of wulu place. But there are quite alot of people already. Went one round to scan and see if there are any real bargains and there was the same hob. In fact there were five of them. And they were going for S$599!!!

Excited like a little kid having his favorite ice-cream, I called my wife. Was trying to pyscho her how cool the hob look on our black soild surface, sort of blend in and so stylo (meaning cool). She was abit hesitant on spending that money on a hob but I went ahead (was in impulse buying mood). The price so good how to let the chance go. So I selected the best of the 5 hob and got them to wrap it up... Happy like a bird, I was....

So that was my first applicance purchase. Was thinking of getting a slim hood too but all the good S$99 hood were taken so will look for hood another day.

Next up would be the Comex Show this coming weekend at Singapore Expo and the Philips Carnival the following weekend.