Whitley Residences Review

The Whitley Residences presents an opportunity to own landed property within a private and gated enclave, protected by security. One benefit that differentiates such projects from pure landed houses is that the surrounding environment such as the gardening is taken care of by the management; the owner being responsible for what goes in within the property only. Furthermore, there are communal facilities like swimming pools available for use to all residents and managed by MCST.

Yet, all the luxuries exclusive to landed homes is inherent in the lavishly designed strata terraces and semi-detached homes of The Whitley Residences.

The strata terraces are sold out while 21 of the semi-detached homes are still available. If Whitley Residences hasn’t been on your radar yet, here’s a few reasons (and pictures) to show why it should be:

Living room

From the open foyer, it’s right through the double doors into an expansive living room where the challenge seems to be, ‘how many pieces of furniture can I fit in until it starts to feel cramped?’

The answer to that metaphorical question is a very real, ‘a lot’. Throw in a big screen TV with 4K and HDR capabilities and your living room becomes an entertainment hub. It’s great for parties and even better when you’re alone and have all that space to yourself.

Why stop at an L couch? Go for a U couch

There’s a little space partitioned off to act as a study but this is for the showunit. In the actual unit, that space is part of the living room.

Realistically, who’s going to use the computer with the stairs, elevator and door at their back anyway?

Turn it into whatever you want – a reading corner, library etc. – or leave it alone. Having the option to do what you want without worry that you’ll lose valuable space is a great problem to have. 

Past the corridor is the dining area and kitchen. Homeowners comfortable with the living and dining space in the same room may question this layout but it is ultimately a superior execution.

Designed with the idea of entertainment i.e. the household hires a chef to cook in the open concept kitchen while guests are seated around the table, the kitchen/dining room is large to handle this (and big groups of people) effortlessly.

To (Every) night, you dine in style!

For the kitchen, everything, from giant hood, to fridge to wine chiller is included. No longer do you need to worry about fumes congesting the kitchen while you BBQ with that giant hood sucking it up as if you were eating out at a Korean restaurant.

BBQ all day

But if fresh air is what you want, then shut the door separating the kitchen from the common corridor and slide the doors to the patio open. Doing so effectively doubles your space or slightly less than that. Regardless, it adds extra volume to an already generous section and provides more ventilation when necessary. 

This 5-bedroom house has a basement. In the basement is the door to the carpark which can hold officially two vehicles but is big enough to accommodate three vehicles provided they’re of an equal, smaller size.

In most basements, after walking through the door from the private lot you’ll see three things; the elevator, stairs to the first floor and the bomb shelter which may or may not come with a small waiting area.

For Whitley Residences, the basement floor can be mistaken for a 1-bedroom condo.

Firstly, there’s the ensuite bedroom.

A comfortable and respectable place to house an elderly member of the family

Then, there’s the common corridor leading to a small hall and a set of doors separating the basement from the yard and what is typically served up as the maid’s room.

In this yard area, there’s the aforementioned maid’s room and a wash centre. The washing machine and dryer is located here as well. This entire space is naturally ventilated. The home vacuum cleaner, that is, a vacuum cleaner installed in every house at Whitley Residences is located here. Every household is therefore provided with the whole set including 5m vacuum hose.

In-built vacuum

This in-built vacuum cleaner keeps things effective as every floor has a wall socket installed thus needing the owner to simply slot in the hose and detach it when done or moving to a different room. No more lugging a heavy vacuum cleaner up and down, or worrying about traversing corners. It’s a fantastic, unique addition.

And if you were wondering where the bomb shelter is, it’s expertly flushed with the wall in the common corridor, adjacent to the bedroom. This type of innocuous design is all too rare with homes in Singapore these days.

Now up to the living quarters, each common bedroom is ensuite and somewhat identical except for one which has balcony access.

A balcony all to yourself

Depending on how you choose to design the bedrooms, they’re good for a single or queen size bed. Additional furniture such a desk or computer table can be inserted into the room with no issues.

A comfortable common bedroom. A rare sight

What really takes the cake here is the master bedroom. To call it large is to do it a disservice. The master bedroom is equivalent to a suite in a 5-star hotel and even then, it puts those suites to shame.

The master bedroom

The walk-through wardrobe leads to the master bathroom which has separated wet and dry areas. All master bedrooms in every house has a walk-through wardrobe.

A walk-in closet

In the wet area, there’s the jacuzzi bathtub and shower head so you’re not forced to take long bubble baths every morning before work.

A bathroom fit for a king or queen

Rooms aside, the houses have pitch-roofs which means there’s no roof garden. But looking at the space provided, including patio, foyer and balconies, that’s not a big deal. The lack of a roof garden or terrace means that the common bedroom on the uppermost floor has a ceiling of at least 2.2/2.3m.

Whitley Residences offers defined spaces where there are clear separations between the dining and living. It also offers large living quarters that are comfortable for big, generational families to live together without running the risk of getting in one another’s way. The houses are move-in ready which should be the last obstacle to cross in securing one of these freehold homes for you and your family.