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Everyone Loves A Kitchen Island
Kitchen islands are almost the epitome of a kitchen now, a place where family and friends can gather to cook, chat or do homework whilst the chef is able to face into the room and join in with the conversations.
Do you have space for a kitchen island?
I always start with the assumption that the wall units will run on only one side of the island rather than within a U shaped putting the island in the centre. This is because you don't want to be playing Piccadilly by running around and around this central blockage, it needs to be practical and we aren't loosing units, we are putting them in the island instead.
I always work backwards when working how much space we have for an island. First of all measure the width of your room. Units that go around the walls are 60cm deep and we also need to account for our magic meter either side of the island so minus 2.6m from your width to give you the maximum width of your island.
What sizes are kitchen islands?
Kitchen islands come in common sizes because they work well with standard cabinet sizes and worktop overhangs. Here are some standard sizes for you to base your design around:
Base units are around 600mm deep and reduced depth units are 300mm.
Worktops can overhang 300mm unsupported and is a great depth to get your knees under for relaxed seating. Some people want to use their islands for more everyday seating and may want extra depth for their feet. This is absolutely fine, just remember to add additional support such as legs and a front rail so you don't snap the worktop accidently.
Stone worktop slabs come at around a 1500mm finished size. Don't go wider than this even if you do find larger tops, any bigger than this and you'll be wiping the centre clean with a mop because it's so far away!
How long should my kitchen island be?
Importantly, leave your magic meter either end of the island, the rest is now a matter of preference, here are a few tips:
Rectangular islands give direction to the room making it feel wider or longer rather than square ones which can look a bit chubby and squeezed in.
Unless your island is creating a galley style kitchen for you in an open plan space, 2.5-3m is probably plenty, after this, you're creating a big block which will become annoying to walk around.
Finish your island roughly around the same point as your wall run to create an invisible line that keeps the kitchen separate from the rest of the room.
Each seat should be given around 500mm so seating for three will need 1.5m of space.
Can I fit a peninsular instead of a kitchen island?
I'm not a huge fan of peninsular as they divide up an open plan room, often into the same sizes as two rooms that have been recently knocked together so use them wisely. My rule of thumb is that if you don't have the width for an island, you don't have space for a peninsular either.
However, they can have their place. In the image here, we used a peninsular to deliberately break up a very long room into two smaller square ones. To prevent a busy chair situation of the bar stools and kitchen chairs bumping into each other, we are using a bench seat.
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