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Kitchen Island Philosophy


puntloos

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Hey all,

 

Building an island is almost inescapable, but as someone who never lived in a house with one, and never used one. I never saw it spelled out but am I correct the core idea is to have all your main cooking points (prep, cook, assemble?) close near each other? Anyway, some questions
 

First off:

1/ What is your ideal Island config (does it have a sink? hob? wastebin? anything else? Size?)

2/ What do you use the island for? Prep? Cooking? Kitchen machines? Eating breakfast? Serving drinks? Stand for the recipe book?

3/ What do others (partner? kids?) do at the island if you're cooking? Do they help prep ingredients perhaps? Or just study while keeping you company?

4/ Is the island ever used when no cooking is happening?

 

And some of my thoughts:

- Many islands are 'solid'. I have long legs. This means I can't comfortably sit at the island, but will have to twist my body. No?

- Of course there's the matter of available space but I'd imagine a small table-couch in a corner would be much more suited for both prep and company-keeping?

- Is there a benefit in installing a hob in an island? seems it makes things needlessly hard and you'd have extra distance to carry hot things.

 

Any other philosophical points welcome. How do you make the most useful island?

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I think the biggest advantage of having an island is the social element. 

 

5 minutes ago, puntloos said:

1/ What is your ideal Island config (does it have a sink? hob? wastebin? anything else? Size?)

Hob for me. Some like having a sink on the island, but I prefer having the sink against the wall with a window above. Having a hob on the island means I can look out to my living/dining area while cooking and can interact with guests etc. Depends on your personal preference really. Other than hob, just a big clear space for food prep. Size will depend on your kitchen space. I'd have the waste bin where the sink is - so if you have an island in your sink then yes. I've seen someone incorporate an ice trough (https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/558376053781614786/) to keep wine cool - pretty neat!

 

7 minutes ago, puntloos said:

2/ What do you use the island for? Prep? Cooking? Kitchen machines? Eating breakfast? Serving drinks? Stand for the recipe book?

All of the above! Also an informal dining/drinks area. Would also have power sockets to power all the kitchen appliances (blender etc.) or use it as an informal "work" area. 

 

8 minutes ago, puntloos said:

3/ What do others (partner? kids?) do at the island if you're cooking? Do they help prep ingredients perhaps? Or just study while keeping you company?

Have a drink? Chat? 

 

8 minutes ago, puntloos said:

4/ Is the island ever used when no cooking is happening?

All the time. It inevitably becomes a bit of a gathering point (and also dumping ground by others as much as I try to keep it clear of clutter!)

 

8 minutes ago, puntloos said:

- Many islands are 'solid'. I have long legs. This means I can't comfortably sit at the island, but will have to twist my body. No?

Have an overhang so you can comfortably sit under. https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/220817187966211273/

 

10 minutes ago, puntloos said:

- Is there a benefit in installing a hob in an island? seems it makes things needlessly hard and you'd have extra distance to carry hot things.

I think that depends on how the rest of your kitchen is configured. If designed well having it really is no less efficient.

 

Other points

- Watch out for seat height vs island height to make sure it works out comfortably

- Lighting design is crucial here

- If your island is rather deep, drawers are so much more functional when it comes to ease of access. 

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@puntloos

 

What interesting questions you are asking.

 

Just responding on the other thread.

 

5 hours ago, puntloos said:

Building an island is almost inescapable

 

Oh No it isn't !

 

You are being subliminally conditioned by the Zillons from the Planet Tharg. Take care and at least watch other options.

 

Quote

wastebin

 

I did a fish cookery course last year in the Cook's own kitchen, and she had a hole in the island worktop, with a lid, which went straight through to the food bin below. So just sweep all the waste straight in. Great idea - for a cook.

 

Alternatively, if you build model soldiers on your Island - Bugger! I just lost General Wolfe!

 

F

Edited by Ferdinand
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I think you need to start from the space you have and work from that. Not all kitchens are suited to an island and if you do have an island then what you have on the island should be what suits you. Personally I like my hob on the island but not a sink.

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I had a peninsular bit on my last kitchen so not a true Islam but loved having the hob on it so I could cook and chat to family and guests.  As above, I prefer the sink by a window on a wall.

 

The new kitchen is probably going to have an island but may be a peninsular return when I actually get to designing it in detail.

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Here is ours

 

kitchen_1.thumb.jpg.5b505a69a262a1cf0e9236c6aad3a525.jpgkitchen_2.thumb.jpg.217aa114a424fecd7fb7376c66bc1e2d.jpg

 

The sink and ovens are on the conventional run of units along the wall.  Turn round when at the sink and you are now looking at the hob.  The other side of the island is a seating area or "breakfast bar"

 

The bit that is probably not ideal in our layout is the fridge. Next to the fridge where the closk is in this picture is going to be boxed in as a pantry.

 

It is access to what will be the pantry that makes it essential that this is an island so you can walk past either end of it to get to the fridge or the pantry.  It would be no good as a peninsula from the wall for instance it must be a true island.

 

At the moment the gap between the wall run of units and the island we think is too big.  It is set to that gap to satisfy Scottish building regs but we are near certain after sogn off the island will be moved a little closer to the sink.

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I agree with every word of the first response in this thread.

 

We didn't want the "line of stools" approach, so the dining table side of the island is cupboards and shelves along two thirds of its length. The remaining third is completely open on both sides (and closed on the end by a vertical support), so four people can sit comfortable facing each other without banging their knees. There are double power points underneath this section that can't be seen, but are easy to get to from both sides - good for plugging in a phone or a laptop (on the table side), or a kitchen mixer.

 

We have the hob on the island and the sink against the wall behind and slightly offset so both can comfortable be used without standing back to back. It's planned so that you walk into the kitchen from one side with plates etc, scrape into the bins in the cupboard on the left of the sink, rinse if needed, then load into the dishwasher immediately to the right of the sink. Cups, glasses and crockery can all be put away from the dishwasher without any movement other than bending and pivoting.

 

We've lived in the house for over three years, but it took us over two years to find stools we didn't hate that were the right height for the space under the island. Since getting them, we hardly ever sit at the dining table any more. It just seems more social to sit up at the island. In fact, we had a couple of friends over last night for supper. We all sat at the island with drinks and nibbles while dinner was being made, then it just seemed natural to stay where we were rather than moving everything over to the table. Obviously we're limited to doing this when there are only four people eating, but that often works out just fine.

 

You do need to be scrupulous about not letting junk accumulate (we don't really manage it), but to be fair this is going to be a problem with all horizontal surfaces in a kitchen.

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I have an island that is roughly 1m X 2.5m. I have the hob in the bottom right hand corner. It works brilliant in our house as we have an over hang on 2 sides so can sit 5 easily so when your doing a nice Sunday breakfast the family can sit and watch you like little puppies waiting on their food. 

If you like baking then it also gives a really good space to roll out dough and prepare all your ingredients. Then if you are having a house party you can get near 15 people round drinking and eating from good sitting in the middle.

Think about extraction of your going to put the hob in the island plus things like pop up sockets to plug other things into. Then you have lighting to consider so its well lit up. I have 6 downlights over mine.

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8 hours ago, puntloos said:

Building an island is almost inescapable, but as someone who never lived in a house with one, and never used one. I never saw it spelled out but am I correct the core idea is to have all your main cooking points (prep, cook, assemble?) close near each other?

Not true. Wendy doesn't like islands in a kitchen so we designed a kitchen without one.

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So we have a massive island in our new kitchen. We thought of it as a "thing" in itself, rather than actually part of the kitchen, although of course it is functional. It is solely drawers, no cupboards at all, and has a prep sink (quite small), quooker tap, hob, waste disposal, and bins. Ovens, fridge, freezer and pull out pantries with ingredients are directly behind the island prep area, so you can turn around and take stuff out of the oven without walking all over the kitchen with it. 

 

We don't have any other work surface in the kitchen - all the units behind the island are full height against the wall, so we deliberately made the island oversized. There is (controversially) no seating at the island though - we've had it before and found it uncomfortable and not really used. Our dining table and bench seating is next to the island, so we'll use that instead. I love it! 

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3 hours ago, lizzie said:

... Not all kitchens are suited to an island and if you do have an island then what you have on the island should be what suits you. Personally I like my hob on the island but not a sink.

 

 

Some kitchen design dilemmas I am facing would evaporate if I could convince myself of this point. The problem is we have been so wedded to the range in ex. chimney alcove concept for years it will be difficult to flip the proposed kitchen around.

 

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Just a few thoughts:

 

If a kitchen is too small to support a communal seating experience at the island there is still the option for a cook's perch. For this function the overhang can be less as the cook will typically sit at 90 degrees to the counter. @ProDave's photo is close to what I have in mind.

 

I lived with a small dual height island for a few years and saw some benefits, the lower portion was a tea making area and hid the associated surface clutter.

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My island which incorporates a seating area similar to @jack is 5.2m end to end.  I have split the surfaces to delineate eating and working. I have honed granite on the working end (where the hob is) and river washed oak on the seating end.  I have my sink back against the wall slightly offset of the hob so its not cramped if two are there.  Usual ovens, fridges, dishwasher bins etc are on the sink wall. Very happy with my island and kitchen as a whole

8D13CB78-0FAA-4435-AD0A-903B64E877DB.jpeg

7D0A5C42-6FB3-4588-94E1-DCB419B30CCE.jpeg

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1
54 minutes ago, lizzie said:

My island which incorporates a seating area similar to @jack is 5.2m end to end.  I have split the surfaces to delineate eating and working. I have honed granite on the working end (where the hob is) and river washed oak on the seating end.  I have my sink back against the wall slightly offset of the hob so its not cramped if two are there.  Usual ovens, fridges, dishwasher bins etc are on the sink wall. Very happy with my island and kitchen as a whole

 

 

Lovely kitchen @lizzie! The lighting really makes the space. 

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Here is mine. It has 2 overhangs for informal seating when needed, and a ‘drawer’ fridge on one side (the middle set of drawers). Other than that the island is used for food prep, eating, and general workspace as the sink and hob are elsewhere. It was the largest island we could get in a single slab without a join. 

 

5440AF70-0A79-4C9C-A855-6521DBEEFA40.thumb.jpeg.a0b8ae1a7b3ee368e238480f60cef822.jpeg

 

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5C1F95E4-7FD5-41A9-85F2-4D1A38398F02.thumb.jpeg.7d8f77431eee4c038c781405d00c2712.jpeg

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38 minutes ago, EverHopefull said:

Out of interest what is the distance between the island and the cooker units? 

I have been discussing this a lot lately and want to get that gap right! 

 

 

I measured this on a kitchen display at a trade show and reckon not less than 1m. Small kitchens are efficient though in your specific case does the cook have to allow for passing traffic in the gap?

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42 minutes ago, EverHopefull said:

Out of interest what is the distance between the island and the cooker units? 

I have been discussing this a lot lately and want to get that gap right! 

 

Isn’t this defined in building regs? 

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