One slow Saturday with V-ZUG: inside a multigenerational family bungalow in District 10

Set on a corner plot in a leafy pocket of District 10, the home is a newly built bungalow designed from the ground up by ACO Architects, with interiors by SuMisura and Gray Design Consultancy, and furniture from Marquis Furniture Gallery. Its dark, crisp facade gives little away from the street. Instead, the house turns inwards, towards a raised swimming pool and a garden whose young planting will, in time, grow into a lush green screen between the family and the outside world.

Inside, the home is quietly, deliberately practical, designed for timelessness rather than trend and for the way a large multigenerational family actually lives. Rather than feeling like a showcase, the interiors balance considered design with comfort, functionality and the rhythms of everyday family life.

Double-height volumes open the interiors up vertically and create diagonal sightlines between floors, so a parent in the living room can glance up and catch a child on the landing above, and a child upstairs can always look down and find a familiar face. In a household with four young children, that easy visibility is as much about peace of mind as it is about light and space.

It is a home designed around many lives at once. Yuen’s father-in-law, the family patriarch, lives here with his three children and their families. His eldest daughter and her husband have three children; Yuen’s husband, the middle child, and Yuen have their first; while the youngest son is still studying. The house has been planned with room for the family to continue growing.

The brief was as practical as it was generous. The family wanted a home that was easy to maintain, with finishes made to last and to be kept looking their best with little fuss, communal spaces where everyone could come together, and private corners where each household could retreat. Above all, they wanted room to eat, indoors and out, because this is a family that loves to entertain.

“Our home wakes up slowly,” Yuen says. “We’re a big family, with different generations all under one roof, so before long, the kitchen fills with familiar sounds, the smell of breakfast, little footsteps coming down the stairs and the excitement of another day together.”

That love of hosting shaped the heart of the house, which has two kitchens and two dining rooms, each with its own mood.

At its centre is the main dining room, anchored by a long marble table that seats the whole clan with room to spare. Along one wall runs a Valcucine New Logica system that doubles as a social kitchen. It can be opened up when the family is entertaining or closed away neatly when the room calls for calm, while its generous counter houses a two-zone V-ZUG induction cooktop, allowing food to be cooked or kept warm right where the family eats.

The second dining room is more relaxed, opening straight onto the pool so that breakfast can drift outdoors and wet swimmers can wander back in for seconds.

This is where the real cooking happens, and where most of the family’s V-ZUG appliances live. Its most devoted user may come as a surprise. “My father-in-law is actually the one who cooks the most,” Yuen demurs.

On a Saturday morning, it does just that. At the island, the V-ZUG CombiCookTop combines induction cooking with an integrated downdraft that draws away steam and smells as they rise, so pancakes can sizzle away without an overhead hood breaking up the room. Along the wall, a line-up of V-ZUG ovens divides the rest of the spread with Swiss precision.

The Combair V4000 grills beautifully, toasting soft white bread to that perfect, comforting crunch.The CombairSteam V6000 takes care of the rest with absolute love and precision, it gently cradling half-boiled eggs at an exact 80°C and simmering apples into a warm, fragrant compote for the pancakes.

The compact CombiMiwell V4000 completes the line-up, while in the WarmingDrawer V4000, glasses of soy milk wait at just the right temperature for whoever wanders in next.

Like most mornings, the intuitive Regeneration function steps in, using a gentle, humid heat to breathe life back into soft pau and pan-fried carrot cake. Every bite is restored to just-made freshness, staying wonderfully moist and exactly as delicious as the moment it was first crafted.

“I love taking care of my family,” Yuen says. “And with so many of us at home, I love knowing that our kitchen can take care of everyone, too. It works in the background, preparing meals for the whole family and keeping everything beautifully warm until we’re ready.”

The two-zone V-ZUG cooktop keeps a pot of porridge, crowned with braised peanuts, spring onions and you tiao, warm through the morning. It means breakfast can be served in waves: one of the children wandering in from the pool, or Yuen’s husband between laps, can help themselves to something warm and head straight back out. No one is called back to a cold plate, and no one has to stand guard over the stove.

With four children in the house, calm is relative. The cousins are growing up side by side, as close as siblings, and Saturday mornings bring the kind of noise that only a big family can make: splashing, laughter, small hands reaching across the counter for one more pancake.

Yuen wouldn’t have it any other way. “Some of my favourite mornings are spent playing with my daughter around the pool,” she says. “Watching her discover something new. Seeing the children play. Laughing with family over coffee. Making memories I’ll probably remember long after I forget what was on the menu.”

It is warm, beautiful chaos, and the house, and its kitchens, have been designed to hold it. With breakfast taken care of, the family is free to linger poolside, to let the morning stretch, to be together without watching the clock.

“The food will wait. But life won’t,” Yuen says. “I love that our home gives me the freedom to step away, knowing everything will be just as it should be when we’re ready.”

For a house of this calibre, it is telling that what she prizes most isn’t how it looks, but how it lets her family live. “Because to me, home has never just been about beautiful spaces,” she says. “It’s about creating the space to be present. To slow down. To gather. To savour every moment together.”

For those inspired to see V-ZUG’s Swiss-made craftsmanship up close, the brand offers a complimentary product experience consultation, where visitors can explore its kitchen appliances first-hand and get personalised advice for their own homes.

Appointments can be arranged directly with V-ZUG at the V-ZUG Ion showroom at #02-07B ION Orchard, tel: 6926 0878.

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