Posts in category: Modular Kitchen

Last Updated: October 2026 | Reading time: about 7 minutes

Kitchen plinth

The 100 mm strip that covers the legs under base cabinets and closes the gap to the floor. In our HSR Layout table it is an anodised aluminium 100 mm profile at Rs 240 per running foot, quoted as 22 ft for Rs 5,280.

• Aluminium 100 mm plinth: Rs 240 per running foot in our HSR Layout table, Rs 5,280 for 22 ft.
• BWR plywood tolerates humidity and minor moisture but not prolonged water contact (Greenply, April 2026), so it is the wrong grade for a plinth strip.
• One 8 by 4 ft sheet yields about 11 strips of 100 mm, roughly 88 running feet, so a 22 ft plinth uses 25 percent of a sheet.
• A plinth LED strip is Rs 400 per running foot in our JP Nagar kitchen guide, so a 22 ft run adds Rs 8,800.
• Whole PVC kitchens run Rs 650 to Rs 1,100 per sq ft (Metal and More, June 2026), against Rs 1,100 to Rs 2,200 for aluminium.

Mistake 1: Leaving the Plywood Cut Edge Bare at the Floor

A laminated board has two protected faces and four raw edges. When the plinth is cut from a sheet, the long bottom edge sits against the floor, exactly where a mop leaves a film of water. Plywood draws that water up through its layers, the glue line weakens and the laminate lifts from the edge first. BWR grade, which Greenply describes as resistant to humidity and minor moisture but not prolonged contact, is the lower grade, and a plinth strip is exactly where it is tempting to use it.

The fix is a choice, not a repair. Either specify an aluminium or PVC profile for the visible plinth, or ask in writing that every cut edge of a plywood plinth be edge-banded and the bottom edge sealed before fixing. For the ply grades themselves, Greenply sets out the BWP and BWR difference in its April 2026 guide.

Mistake 2: Building the Cabinet Box on the Floor Instead of on Legs

The plinth should be a cover, never a support. The cabinet box should stand on adjustable legs, with the plinth fixed in front of them and the box bottom clear of the tile. If a carpenter builds the box straight on the floor and trims it with a plywood skirt, the carcass itself soaks up every spill.

You can check this yourself before handover. With the plinth removed, you should see legs and a gap under the cabinet bottom, not a plywood side panel running to the tile. A swollen plinth on a leg-mounted cabinet is a strip to replace. A swollen carcass is a cabinet to rebuild. The same 100 mm base is built into our wardrobes, which is why the clear internal height in our wardrobe internal sizes guide starts after a 100 mm plinth.

Mistake 3: Accepting the Plinth as a Lump Sum Inside the Kitchen Price

Many quotes fold the plinth into the carcass price with no length, no material and no rate. That is how a plywood strip gets swapped in for the aluminium profile you thought you had approved. Ask for four items on one line: material, 100 mm height, measured running feet and rate per foot. Our aluminium line in the HSR Layout table reads exactly that way, 22 ft at Rs 240 per foot for Rs 5,280.

The second column of the table is the useful one. A plywood plinth uses a quarter of one sheet on a 22 ft run, so ask your carpenter for the sheet price and take 25 percent of it. That number is what a plywood plinth saves against Rs 5,280. For most kitchens the saving is small beside the cost of a swollen strip, but it is your number to check, and I have not guessed it here because sheet prices vary by brand and grade.

Plinth lighting belongs on the same line. Our JP Nagar kitchen guide lists a plinth LED strip at Rs 400 per running foot, which adds Rs 8,800 to a 22 ft run. For the other lines that decide a kitchen price, see our cost by layout guide and our kitchen quote exclusions guide.

Limitations: the Rs 240 per foot figure is one line in a published myNivasa HSR Layout table, not a quote for your kitchen. PVC and plywood figures are whole-kitchen rates from other publishers, not plinth rates. The sheet yield of 11 strips assumes 3 mm saw cuts on a 1,220 mm sheet width. Swelling behaviour is explained by how plywood absorbs water, not from a dated site record.

Sources

These sources informed the guide: Greenply on BWP versus BWR plywood, April 2026, Greenply on PVC kitchen cabinets, June 2026 and Metal and More on aluminium versus PVC kitchens, June 2026 (a Hyderabad-focused page). The Greenply pages are manufacturer content and favour its own products. Our own figures come from myNivasa published kitchen tables.

Final Word

Pick the plinth material before the shutter finish, and write it on its own quote line. For related reading, see our kitchen countertop replacement cost guide, our kitchen tall unit cost guide and our quartz versus steel sink guide. To see plinth samples, visit us at 2nd Floor, Sapthagiri Complex, 265/1, Kaggadasapura Main Rd, Vignan Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560075, call +91 94499 00222, or write to [email protected].

Last Updated: September 2026 | Reading time: about 9 minutes

Steel or Quartz: What Each One Costs Installed in a Bengaluru Kitchen

The two materials fail in opposite ways. Grade 304 stainless steel dents and shows every water spot but will not crack, and takes a hot kadhai set straight down in it. Quartz composite, roughly 80 percent crushed quartz bound in acrylic resin, hides hard water marks and washes quietly, but chips at the rim under a dropped brass vessel and marks under a pan straight off the flame.

Our published Bengaluru bands have held through 2026. A single bowl 304 steel sink with drainboard from Nirali or Hindware runs Rs 8,000 to Rs 14,000, and a premium quartz sink from Carysil or Franke runs Rs 22,000 to Rs 42,000. A basic steel sink starts near Rs 2,500. None of those figures include the faucet, the cutout, the waste coupling or any plumbing movement.

Stainless Steel 304 or Quartz Composite, Bengaluru 2026

Criterion	Stainless steel 304	Quartz composite
Sink price band, 2026	Rs 2,500 to Rs 25,000	Rs 8,000 to Rs 45,000
What most 2BHKs spend	Rs 5,000 to Rs 12,000	Rs 12,000 to Rs 20,000
Hot kadhai set down wet	No damage	Avoid, resin can mark
Borewell water spotting	Shows on mirror gloss	Hides marks well
Heavy vessel dropped in	Dents, will not crack	Can chip at the rim
Noise while washing	Needs damping pads	Quiet without pads

A real line from our own bill of quantities. The Sobha The Supreme kitchen in HSR Layout carried a Carysil single bowl quartz composite sink at 600 mm by 450 mm, quoted at Rs 14,500, with a Jaquar pull out spray mixer at Rs 8,500. Both sat outside the modular kitchen total as separate lines. That is Rs 23,000 for sink and tap alone, a figure most homeowners have not budgeted.

Bengaluru water pushes the decision in a direction national buying guides miss. The city runs on over 400,000 borewells, and water treatment surveys put borewell dissolved solids at 500 to 1,500 ppm against 150 to 300 ppm for treated Cauvery supply. On a mirror polish steel bowl that hardness writes itself as white scale within days, which is why we specify matt or satin steel in a borewell fed block.

In eight years of Bengaluru kitchens I have replaced far more sinks for thinness than for material. A 0.8 mm bowl that drums under the tap gets changed inside four years. A 1.0 mm bowl in the same kitchen is still there.

Kitchen sink

The bowl set into or beneath the kitchen platform, with its drainboard, tap holes and waste outlet. In Bengaluru in 2026 the unit alone costs Rs 2,500 to Rs 45,000 depending on material, thickness and bowl count, and is bought by the homeowner rather than supplied inside a modular kitchen quotation.

• IS 13983 requires sink sheet of at least 1.00 mm before forming and 0.75 mm at any point after forming.
• A 304 steel sink costs Rs 2,500 to Rs 25,000 in Bengaluru in 2026; quartz composite costs Rs 8,000 to Rs 45,000.
• The standard caps the sink at 515 mm across a 600 mm platform and 440 mm across a 500 mm platform.
• Minimum bowl depth is 150 mm; we specify 200 mm wherever a pressure cooker is used daily.
• Bengaluru borewell water runs at 500 to 1,500 ppm dissolved solids, so mirror polish steel scales visibly.
• Our Sobha The Supreme HSR Layout BOQ carried a Carysil quartz sink at Rs 14,500 and a Jaquar mixer at Rs 8,500.

The 1.00 mm Rule in IS 13983 That 304 Grade Does Not Tell You

Every sink shop in Bengaluru leads with the same two words. Grade 304. It is a true claim and a nearly useless one, because grade describes chemistry, not construction. IS 13983 does name grade 304 in clause 5. It then does something the shop will not mention. Clause 6.1.1 requires nominal sheet thickness of not less than 1.00 mm before forming, and clause 6.1.2 requires not less than 0.75 mm at any point after forming.

A large share of what Bengaluru sells as 304 grade is pressed from 0.8 mm or 0.9 mm sheet. It is genuinely 304. It is also below the thickness the Indian standard sets, and after pressing the corners of a 0.8 mm bowl can thin past the 0.75 mm floor. That is what you hear when a cheap sink drums under a running tap.

Two checks take thirty seconds in the shop. Press the centre of the drainboard hard with your thumb: a 1.0 mm sheet gives almost nothing, a 0.8 mm sheet dips visibly. Then turn the sink over and look for bitumen damping pads. Most sinks under Rs 4,000 have none.

Grade still matters, for a different failure. Grade 304 resists the pitting that grade 202 does not, and where turmeric and salt meet standing water daily that becomes rust freckles around the waste within two or three years. You want both: 304 for corrosion, 1.0 mm for rigidity. Ask for the thickness in writing.

Your 600 mm Platform Caps the Sink at 515 mm and the Bowl at 150 mm

The standard Bengaluru apartment platform is 600 mm deep, front edge to wall, and that dimension quietly decides which sinks are open to you. IS 13983 caps the sink at 515 mm across a 600 mm worktop and 440 mm across a 500 mm worktop. A 20 inch deep sink measures 508 mm, so it fits with 7 mm to spare.

That is tighter than it sounds. The standard also requires tap hole centres to sit more than 60 mm from the nearest back edge of the bowl. Push a 508 mm sink back to gain worktop in front and the tap hole moves toward the wall until a swan neck faucet fouls the backsplash and cannot swing.

Bowl depth is the other number to fix before you shop. The standard sets 150 mm minimum from the top edge of the bowl to the base. For a kitchen using a 5 litre pressure cooker daily that is not enough, so we specify 200 mm, the depth at which a cooker sits below the rim and the water coming off it stays inside the bowl.

Bengaluru apartment kitchens rarely justify a double bowl either. At 37 to 45 inches wide it eats the whole run between hob and corner in a 10 by 10 kitchen, and where there is a dishwasher the second bowl becomes storage. A single bowl of 600 mm by 450 mm with a drainboard is what we specify most often.

Buy the Sink Before the Stone Is Templated, Because Undermount Is Permanent

This is the sequencing rule no product page carries, and the one behind the most expensive mistakes we are called to fix. The countertop is cut to your actual sink, not to a catalogue drawing. If the sink has not been bought when the fabricator templates, either the counter returns to the yard uncut, or he cuts to a generic size and you shop for a sink that fits a hole.

Mounting decides how permanent that commitment is. A top mount sink drops into the hole and its rim sits on the stone, so the cutout is forgiving and the sink can be swapped later. An undermount sink is bonded beneath the stone with clips and epoxy and the exposed cut edge has to be polished, which is why fabricators charge that cutout as its own line. It wipes cleaner, with no rim seam collecting rice and turmeric, and it locks you in. The sealed edge also limits undermount to stone, engineered quartz or solid surface, so on a laminate or tiled platform top mount is the only honest option.

Since a Bengaluru countertop replacement runs Rs 4,800 to Rs 13,500 for a 30 square foot counter, committing the stone to a sink you have not yet held is an expensive way to save a week.

One more thing sits under all of this, literally. The cabinet beneath the sink is the first carcass in a Bengaluru kitchen to fail, because the joint leaks slowly and the board softens at the top rail before anybody notices. That base unit needs BWP plywood carrying the IS 710 mark, not the IS 303 BWR adequate for a wardrobe, a difference we cover in our guide to BWP marine plywood cost in Bengaluru.

Frequently Asked Questions About Kitchen Sinks in Bengaluru

Limitations. Every price here is a Bengaluru market band for September 2026 and moves with brand and bowl count. Sink prices exclude the faucet, coupling, cutout and plumbing. The dimensional figures are limits set by the standard, not recommendations.

Sources

• IS 13983 (1994), Stainless Steel Sinks for Domestic Purposes, Bureau of Indian Standards, reaffirmed 2009
• Glen Appliances, Steel vs Quartz Sink for Indian Kitchens
• Futura, Quartz vs Stainless Steel Sink, Indian price bands
• Bangalore borewell water hardness map, 2026

Final Word on Choosing a Kitchen Sink in Bengaluru

Pick the material for how you cook, not for how the showroom lights it. Ignore the grade badge and ask for 1.0 mm in writing. Measure your platform before you fall in love with a bowl. And buy the sink before the stone vendor arrives with a tape, because from that morning the counter is committed.

To decide the sink inside a proper kitchen plan, our guides to what a Bengaluru modular kitchen quote excludes, modular kitchen cost in HSR Layout and kitchen countertop replacement cost cover the lines on either side of it. Bring your platform measurements to our studio at 2nd Floor, Sapthagiri Complex, 265/1, Kaggadasapura Main Road, Vignan Nagar, Bengaluru 560075, or call +91 94499 00222.

Last Updated: August 2026 | Reading time: about 8 minutes

The Four Numbers That Decide a Kitchen Chimney: Width, Suction, Height, Duct

Kitchen chimney (ducted hood)

A hood above the hob that draws cooking fumes through a grease filter and discharges them outdoors through a rigid duct. Indian widths are 60 cm, 75 cm and 90 cm, rated 700 to 1,800 m3/hr. Faber India listing prices in August 2026 run from Rs. 6,599 to Rs. 26,550 for the Gen-i S series; fitted Bengaluru installations run Rs. 22,000 to Rs. 48,000 for a 90 cm auto-clean unit.

• Hood width must equal or exceed hob width. A 90 cm hood over a 60 cm hob gives roughly 15 cm of overhang each side.
• For regular Indian frying in a Bengaluru flat, 1,200 to 1,400 m3/hr is the sensible floor.
• Mount it 24 to 30 inches above the hob, 26 to 28 for a high flame, with 2 to 3 inches of cabinet clearance.
• Duct diameter follows the hood: 150 mm for 60 cm, 200 mm for high-capacity 90 cm.
• Each 90 degree bend costs 2 to 3 metres of straight duct; a 3 metre run with two bends sheds 30 to 40 percent of rated suction.
• Faber's 1500 m3/hr band starts at Rs. 12,990, below the Rs. 14,080 entry of the 1250 to 1350 band.

Hood Width Follows Hob Width: 60 cm, 75 cm or 90 cm

Pick the hood width from the hob, then check it against the overhead cabinet run. A 60 cm hood suits a hob up to 60 cm and fits the closed galley kitchens common in Bengaluru two bedroom flats. A 90 cm hood belongs over a 75 to 90 cm hob and suits open plan and island layouts.

Overhang matters more than the brochures admit. A 90 cm hood over a 60 cm hob extends roughly 15 cm past each edge, catching vapour that rolls sideways off a kadai. It also changes the cabinetry: cutting a wider gap in the overhead run after the shutters are pressed is a rework charge.

The 75 cm width is under-used. Faber lists 75 cm models at 1,500 m3/hr from Rs. 14,590, cheaper than several of its own 60 cm units, so a 60 cm hob with 80 cm of clear run gets real overhang for very little.

What Suction Rating a Bengaluru Kitchen Actually Needs in m3/hr

The rating on the box is a free-air figure, measured with nothing attached to the outlet. What you live with is whatever survives the duct, which is why a 1,200 m3/hr hood on a short clean duct beats a 1,600 m3/hr hood on a long crooked one.

The practical bands are simple. A closed kitchen with light cooking is served by 1,000 to 1,200 m3/hr. Daily Indian cooking with frying and tempering wants 1,200 to 1,400 m3/hr. A 90 cm hob, an open kitchen, or a household that fries often should sit at 1,400 to 1,600 m3/hr. Do not drop to 700 to 900 m3/hr just because the kitchen is small.

Read that table twice. The 1500 m3/hr band opens at Rs. 12,990 while the weaker 1250 to 1350 band opens at Rs. 14,080, because discounting sits on the popular models. Stepping up a band need not cost more.

Filter choice is a maintenance decision, not a budget one: a 60 cm 1500 m3/hr Faber baffle model runs Rs. 14,550 against Rs. 12,990 filterless, and Rs. 16,950 against Rs. 15,290 at 90 cm. Our published Bengaluru range for a 90 cm filterless auto-clean unit is Rs. 22,000 to Rs. 48,000, with slim profiles from about Rs. 28,000 and downdraft units from about Rs. 62,000.

Mounting Height and Clearance: 24 to 30 Inches Above the Hob

Glen India puts the hood 24 to 30 inches above the gas stove, narrowing to 26 to 28 inches where the flame is strong and the oil heavy, which describes most Bengaluru kitchens. Keep 2 to 3 inches of clearance from the cabinets either side, for airflow and filter access. One consequence people miss: a tall cook will hit their head on a 90 cm bell profile at 24 inches, a real reason to pick a slim or straight-line hood.

Three placement rules belong in the drawing. Centre the hood on the hob, not on the wall or cabinet module, because those centrelines are rarely the same. In a parallel kitchen put it over the main cooking counter; in an L-shape, over the longer leg. Give it a dedicated 15 ampere earthed socket behind the chimney body.

Where the Duct Terminates in a Bengaluru Apartment

Appliance brochures skip this, and it decides whether your kitchen smells of last night's fish. A ducted hood must discharge outdoors, and a Bengaluru flat offers three legitimate endpoints.

The commonest is the builder-provided kitchen exhaust shaft. Confirm it is genuinely that and not a small toilet ventilator, because the two look alike from a utility balcony. The second is an outlet through an external wall into an open setback or balcony, available only if it is in the approved plan and your association permits penetrating the facade. The third is a common exhaust riser terminating above the roof, which newer towers provide and older ones do not. Whichever route you take, finish it with an exterior cowl or non-return flap.

Four terminations are wrong and I see all four. Do not end the duct in the false ceiling, in a cabinet, or in an enclosed utility room. And do not tie it into a bathroom shaft unless the builder states in writing that it is an approved shared kitchen exhaust route. Bengaluru building regulations provide dedicated ventilation shafts precisely so these services do not share a duct. Settle this with your association before the drilling machine arrives.

If none exists, a ductless recirculating hood is the honest fallback: charcoal filtration returns air to the room, removing grease and some odour but not heat or moisture.

Every 90 Degree Bend Costs 2 to 3 Metres of Straight Duct

Here is the arithmetic that ought to be printed on every chimney carton. Each 90 degree elbow imposes a pressure loss roughly equivalent to 2 to 3 metres of straight pipe, costing 15 to 25 percent of extraction efficiency. A hood on 3 metres of duct with two bends and a roof exit loses 30 to 40 percent of its rated free-air suction.

That gives four rules to hand your installer in writing, before the cabinetry drawing is frozen. Keep the run under 3 to 3.6 metres, or 10 to 12 feet. Hold it to two 90 degree elbows, three at the limit, and prefer two 45 degree bends over one sharp 90. Use rigid circular aluminium pipe at the manufacturer's diameter, because circular section produces less turbulence, and never step it down. Seal every joint with aluminium tape.

Frequently Asked Questions

Limitations and Sources

Prices here are Faber India listing prices captured in August 2026 and move with offers and stock, so treat them as an anchor, not a quotation. Suction bands are guidance, not standards; no Indian standard mandates an m3/hr figure for domestic kitchens. Duct loss figures are rules of thumb. Shaft availability differs building by building, so verify with your builder first.

Sources used for this guide:

• Glen Appliances, chimney installation height and duct sizing, 24 November 2025.
• Faber India, 1500 m3/hr kitchen chimney listing, accessed August 2026.
• Faber India, importance of kitchen chimney suction power.
• Beyond Appliances, chimney duct bends and their impact on suction.

Final Word

A kitchen chimney is the one appliance whose performance is decided by the designer rather than the manufacturer. Get the four numbers right in the drawing, hood width matched to the hob, suction sized to how you cook, height at 24 to 30 inches and duct at the specified diameter on the shortest route the building allows, and a Rs. 15,000 hood will outperform a Rs. 40,000 one fitted badly.

To have the duct route resolved before the shutters are cut, visit our studio at 2nd Floor, Sapthagiri Complex, 265/1, Kaggadasapura Main Road, Vignan Nagar, Bengaluru 560075. Call or WhatsApp +91 94499 00222, or write to [email protected]. We work across Marathahalli, Whitefield, HSR Layout, Sarjapur Road, Indiranagar, Koramangala, JP Nagar, Bellandur, Hebbal, Yelahanka, Electronic City and Bommanahalli.

Related: what a modular kitchen quote leaves out, our HSR Layout kitchen cost breakdown, and the JP Nagar shutter and hardware comparison.