The latter is rare these days. But I've been shown expensive converted apartments to rent, which had no kitchen. Not even a fridge! And I know that quite often if you rent in a shared space (with landlord on-site, which I thoroughly do not recommend in Asia!) you might be barred from cooking or any use of the kitchen. I think it's generally viewed as pretty shoddy by everyone's standards these days, but it still happens a lot. And unscrupulous rental agents will often try to fleece foreigners into believing that it's 'normal' to pay full price for no kitchen facilities at home. (It is not normal!)
The background to this is that home cooking in places like Singapore is simply not the big deal that it is in the West. Traditionally, people in SE Asia often prefer to eat out instead - not least at the myriad affordable hawker stalls in the region. (I've seen no equivalent to these in the West.) In theory, if you have a good hawker centre nearby, you can buy local food created by specialists, for probably a lot less than it would cost to make it yourself. AND in the days when electricity etc were not always available - no need for storing ingredients at home, or cleaning up afterwards either! A decent Singaporean hawker centre will offer a range of local dishes, desserts, juices, coffees, beers etc; it's pretty comprehensive. And I can see the appeal.
The UK - especially outside cramped London - is very different. The kitchen is the heart of the home. We enjoy home cooking - and today it also guarantees avoiding unhealthy or chemical ingredients added by vendor or to supermarket-bought meals*. Plus it is far too expensive to eat out daily in the UK. But as well as this, the kitchen is the place where meals are eaten, and family and friends will congregate - for socialising as well as cooking, working and many other things!
This has been the case for many centuries (for non-aristocracy at least!) I guess one of the key factors historically was that the fire or stove used for cooking also provided vital warmth (and light) during colder, darker months. So that room became a popular place to hang out. And by the 1950s and 60s it had even become fashionable to show off your kitchen as a nicely designed social space! Even with today's central heating comforts, and perhaps less self-consciousness, we love our kitchens. And it's considered pretty nice to have one large enough to accommodate a table and chairs for eating and socialising, as well as all the facilities for preparing food.
So to a Westerner, the idea of an apartment which actually has no kitchen is crazy - even barbaric! And not a home. A point seemingly lost on Asia's dodgy property agents.
So, back to that stove thing. Even though most modern homes in Singapore have fully equipped kitchens, you might be hard-strapped to find an oven. Ovens are just not common in this region! I have rented a number of very nice apartments in Singapore, but none had an actual built-in, proper, Western-style oven. Because it's not the West. You'll get a modern hob, microwave and other white goods. But no oven/grill. Most East / Southeast Asian cuisines do not use ovens often, if at all. They use steamers, woks, pans... An oven is not a priority in a modern Asian development. And I guess if you really want roast chicken or pork, you can go to your hawker specialist for it!
Expat Westerners wishing for reminders of home have to purchase strange, flimsy, portable ovens, which resemble large, old fashioned TV sets. I've never seen these in Europe! You'll need the space to put one, too.
Proper ovens are expected in all UK kitchens. Because a huge part of our cooking involves baking, roasting and grilling! And as I've said before, we actually DO have good local food in the UK - but you need to find it home-cooked. For some reason it never took off in restaurant form (fish & chips plus soggy 'pub grub'** is not the real story!) Think melty apple pies, roast dinners with all the trimmings, dover sole, hotpot, Welsh rarebit, crisp hot-cross buns, shepherd's pie, jam tarts, cakes, crumble... They all require an oven/grill. And of course these days most of us cook tasty dishes from our neighbours in Italy, France, Spain, Greece, which also require baking and grilling.
I've been lucky I guess. I'm British, but also half Asian and can adapt well enough to oven-free, East Asian-style cooking over here. My upbringing was in an English country cottage - but with a rice cooker and plenty of ginger. UK pies and tarts have still been frequently missed, though!
*The addition of chemicals and unhealthy ingredients is now a problem with hawker foods in a number of SE Asian countries.
** 'Pub grub' means 'pub food' (grub is slang for food). It refers to the usually hearty but not excellent meals you can find in affordable pubs across the UK. Your roast dinner here might be microwaved, for example. It is not a reflection on the best of UK cooking!
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