Kitchen island advice,please

Saver-upper

Aww,this is brilliant,thank you everyone.I do appreciate you all taking the time to reply.And thank you Elliot 341 for the photo.
I am starting to think an island is not such a great idea for us.Yes,I love the look of them,but I am [STRIKE]worried[/STRIKE] very worried about the clutter aspect,and I had also been thinking about whether I would end up seeing it as an obstacle in the middle of the room.
We had some plans possible plans drawn up at Wickes a couple of weeks ago,and this weekend we are doing the same at Howdens.Will think more about a peninsular,which does look lovely.

freshfruitbandit

Doozergirl wrote: »

The Howdens picture you post is what is called a 'peninsular'.

Most people will find that peninsulars fit better in their kitchens than a true island.

We have had a couple of islands in the past. My favourite kitchen had an island but it was mainly to do with the layout of the kitchen and being able to almost pivot on one foot and get everything done. Everything was close and immediately accessible. The island was also huge and that allowed me plenty of workspace (although most was behind me) and the end had a seating area which did get used a lot for homework. We had a separate dining table at one end of the room and I think that was an essential part for me. Guests would sit there, usually.

This is it when it was installed:


My kitchen now has a peninsular. It is my special area again but the seating doesn't get used in the same way. I'm not taking a picture of it! My kids are getting older and I don't enjoy cooking as much.

My son had a square island fitted in his kitchen and it's ridiculous. Anyone with half a brain would have seen there simply wasn't the space for it. Now you literally have the width of an aisle on a plane to move around the bloody thing.

Absolutely imperative that you make sure you size everything correctly and are under no illusions about how much space it will fill, especially when you have people standing next to it etc

elliot341

flea72 wrote: »

What is in that massive cupboard in the corner?

Personally that layout would annoy the heck out of me. Having to circumnavigate the island all the time. Plus the cost of the island, when full depth units along the side wall would have given me the same amount of work surface

For me, a peninsular where the fridge is would work better, as it doesnt obstruct movement across the kitchen, or people coming in and out the door

The cupboard in the corner is a walk in larder unit, we saw it in wickes/wren and really liked it but got a local company to build it for us.



Generally we dont have to circumnavigate the island much at all, we're generally moving from top to bottom (one end to the other) not really left to right. Our kitchen has doors to outside, the stairs and our lounge which arnt obstructed by the island at all. The main reason for an island not a peninsular is having two routes round the kitchen. The number of times we used to get in each others way before with a peninsular was irritating! Also believe it or not, placing the fridge there pretty much enabled us to redo the kitchen! Organising everything u need in a kitchen can be quite difficult.

Because of the size of the kitchen (quite long but not quite wide enough) if we had no island there would be a lot of space in the middle. Because our island is only 600 odd wide it means we can use it all the way round and almost acts as double the length of work surface.

elliot341

freshfruitbandit wrote: »

My son had a square island fitted in his kitchen and it's ridiculous. Anyone with half a brain would have seen there simply wasn't the space for it. Now you literally have the width of an aisle on a plane to move around the bloody thing.

Absolutely imperative that you make sure you size everything correctly and are under no illusions about how much space it will fill, especially when you have people standing next to it etc

I think working out your dimensions is the most important thing to do as youve alluded to. Essentially 900mm either side of an island is preferable, we have made do with 800 by having a narrow island and narrow wall cupboards. It works great for us, but has been made to fit the space in our kitchen.

jm2926

We designed ours not long after moving in, so we stacked moving boxes in the middle of the kitchen to represent island and to see how we felt about walking round it.

freshfruitbandit

elliot341 wrote: »

The cupboard in the corner is a walk in larder unit, we saw it in wickes/wren and really liked it but got a local company to build it for us.



Generally we dont have to circumnavigate the island much at all, we're generally moving from top to bottom (one end to the other) not really left to right. Our kitchen has doors to outside, the stairs and our lounge which arnt obstructed by the island at all. The main reason for an island not a peninsular is having two routes round the kitchen. The number of times we used to get in each others way before with a peninsular was irritating! Also believe it or not, placing the fridge there pretty much enabled us to redo the kitchen! Organising everything u need in a kitchen can be quite difficult.

Because of the size of the kitchen (quite long but not quite wide enough) if we had no island there would be a lot of space in the middle. Because our island is only 600 odd wide it means we can use it all the way round and almost acts as double the length of work surface.

Thats a great cupboard. Especially when you have grandkids coming over and the wine can be shut behind a door. I had a lovely wine rack in a unit but as the kids now can take the bottles out, it's now rendered useless. One of the perils of having the grandkids so close.