Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You really need a good kitchen designer. My kitchen in NY was half the size of this one and it was set up so much better...our designer did a great job. If I ever re-did this ktichen here I would completely eliminate the island. They serve zero purpose.
I redesigned our kitchen a couple of years ago and we love our island, but it's a seating/storage/chopping island — not a cooking/sink island. We sit at it all the time and the kids do homework at it. It's not an obstacle at all, just a third workspace and a storage space. We tore out a horribly designed 70s kitchen. If you know what you want it's not too hard to design yourself.
I also don't understand the range on the island set up. But I LOVE the island in my kitchen. It's a granite top, so great for bread kneading. If I'm working at the island, over my right shoulder is the fridge, over my left is the sink, and on the wall directly to the left is my range. Over my head is all my pots and pans on my iron hanging rack, at my knees in the island cabinets is all my baking pans, equipment, casserole dishes and the like. The wall across from the island is the pantry, so I can walk to that side, get everything I need for prep, and have it all staged on the island with absolutely no walking back and forth. The island is my primary workspace for all my cooking, and I do quite a bit of it, in part because the kitchen is just so well designed. I get the feeling the previous owner did some remodeling of the kitchen to get it set up with such great functionality, but it's just about perfect.
I hate my kitchen with a passion. It is a horrible design including the range having a full wall on the one side. We cook a ton so think on our next house it would be best to look for a kitchen with decent space and completely remodel to our liking. There has to be a decent kitchen designer out there who can design a usable kitchen vs throwing granite on the counters and stainless appliances to look pretty but serve no purpose.
You really need a good kitchen designer. My kitchen in NY was half the size of this one and it was set up so much better...our designer did a great job. If I ever re-did this ktichen here I would completely eliminate the island. They serve zero purpose.
I love my kitchen island. It's fairly huge. Great for prep work. It's got a sink, though. That was one of my requirements.
The range top isn't in the island. It is directly across from the side with the prep sink, so that helps a ton. And the cooktop is vented. Microwave is in the wall with the oven. I wanna remodel it eventually and put in a larger Viking range with a big oven underneath so I've got double oven space.
__________________
When in doubt, check it out: FAQ
Islands are just vast depositories for all manner of junk.....not sure when everyone decided they had to have one but I too prefer my old kitchen that had a sensible layout with lots of counter space.
Islands are just vast depositories for all manner of junk.....not sure when everyone decided they had to have one but I too prefer my old kitchen that had a sensible layout with lots of counter space.
The house I grew up in, built in 1961, had a section of the counter that wrapped around and divided the kitchen from the dining room (what today we'd call a kitchen eating area), and it had an overhang to accommodate stools.
Today's islands are merely an evolution of that type of design and reflect the larger size of many kitchens and the fact that kitchens now are often open to other spaces - whether dining rooms, kitchen eating areas, family rooms, etc. The only difference is that they are islands instead of attached at one end. The fact that it is detached at both ends doesn't in my view mean it's not a sensible layout.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
9,777 posts, read 15,788,843 times
Reputation: 10886
Quote:
Originally Posted by CHTransplant
The house I grew up in, built in 1961, had a section of the counter that wrapped around and divided the kitchen from the dining room (what today we'd call a kitchen eating area), and it had an overhang to accommodate stools.
Today's islands are merely an evolution of that type of design and reflect the larger size of many kitchens and the fact that kitchens now are often open to other spaces - whether dining rooms, kitchen eating areas, family rooms, etc. The only difference is that they are islands instead of attached at one end. The fact that it is detached at both ends doesn't in my view mean it's not a sensible layout.
Those are called kitchen peninsulas. We had one in our old house.
We had a horrible peninsula in our old 70s kitchen that we tore out. It was awful — had the dishwasher in the corner so you couldn't unload it and put things in the cabinets above it, didn't have any overhang for seating on the backside, nor access to the cabinets from that side, and was completely an obstacle to get around. I hated that thing.
When I redesigned the kitchen I made it work for the way I cook and the way we live. Some people told me to do things differently like not to include an office nook with a desk and cabinet above it because it would never get used. That's where I'm sitting right now and typing from. If you know what works for you, do it yourself and don't listen the naysayers.
Our island is completely functional with seating for 3-4, pullout drawers for storage, a pullout recycling and compost cabinet (so you can prep right on the island and then open the pullout and scrape the scraps right into the compost). It's the center hub for our kitchen. I don't like stoves in the island for me because I feel like I'm one of those Japanese steakhouse chefs putting on a show for everyone. I prefer to do my cooking over to the side.
I love our kitchen. In addition to the design we did almost all the work except the electrical ourselves.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
