To think kitchen Islands are the artex of the future?

[GervaseFen]

I was watching a home renovation programme and every time they stick these massive blocks in the middle of the kitchen before ripping out the walls to 'connect' to
the garden. This time the island was a huge rectangle and took up most of the room with a little table in the space at the end. I can so image the future shows having people walking around and identifying these as the first thing to rip out and exclaiming over how much space they gain.

There was a thread on here recently where a Mumsnetter was unhappy at having to live with a turquoise bathroom until she could afford to re-do it. We were all urging her to keep the bathroom! It was lovely and reminded me of my parent's bathroom suite in our house in the mid 60s.

I can see them coming back into favour. Everything comes and goes in popularity, honestly it does.

I love that one, Goosefoot. It's a complete world away from that monstrosity in VinylDetective's link earlier!

Good islands in a well designed and large enough kitchen are great but sometimes they seem to dominate everything.

I'm always baffled by ovens with no surface next to them. I often want to take something out, give it all a toss, then put it back. I don't want to have to either do that balancing on the edge of the shelf with the heat of the oven blasting in my face and nor do I bwant to have to take it out, close the door, turn round, hoping no one is behind me, put it down, do my tossing and then have to put it all back again.

@Thisismytimetoshine

I love that one, Goosefoot. It's a complete world away from that monstrosity in VinylDetective's link earlier!

It's a little earlier, I think, more Art Deco.

I'm always baffled by ovens with no surface next to them.
Yes this, nowadays it seems that the oven is placed in the middle of a floor to ceiling bank of cupboards with no work surface anywhere near so you have to walk or turn around with a hot casserole in your hands.

I hate those eye level ovens in a bank of other units.

I hate eye level ovens in general.

*I hate those eye level ovens in a bank of other units.

I hate eye level ovens in general.*

I can’t imagine not having an eye level oven. Why on earth would you want to bend down to take something out of the oven when you can just have it at the right height. My old house had a low oven, it was awful

What's the cackling for, penberrh? How odd you sound.

My DH keeps going on about having one when we get a new kitchen and I'm just not going with it. Sadly for him, we won't get one.

That's like the one I had Goosefoot! Yes, art deco, was a 30s house. Proper porcelain. It's so hard to find suites like that now.

YANBU. About 5 years ago I had a new kirchen. Every kitchen company looked at me like I was mad when i insisted I didn't want an island. One company still put one into all its design options anyway, because obviously I was mistaken and every new kitchen needs an island!

@MrsMayo I had eye level in my old house, now have a bend down one, hate it want my eye level one back, the constant bending down drives me wrong and they are painful to clean. Next house will be eye level for definite. I have seen both ways and will never go back to bend down. I agree though there needs to be a surface next to it to put stuff down

I don't mind eye level ovens but why are they rarely next to a work surface, just bad design I guess.

Oven schmoven. High, low, as long as it has a work surface near by I don't care.

The real crime against humanity is integrated appliances where the function has been compromised and the price increased just so that the door matches the rest of the kitchen.

I've questioned the practicalities of having ovens on a bank of tall units too. Very fashionable and looks neat tidy and clutter free but how practical is it!?!

My ovens, one waist level one eye level are in a tall unit next to a work surface. I find it very practical. I like to be able to look in to see how my baking is doing without having to bend or hunker down.

Another one here who loves eye level ovens. We had an under counter one in our previous house. Lots of bending as others have pointed out. Then when we moved to our current home the previous owners had installed a new kitchen and put in 2 x eye level Miele ovens. They are amazing. Wouldn’t go back to anything else. Right next to granite work surfaces too so items can be put straight down without worrying about marking anything.

The kitchen has an induction hob which I’d never cooked on before moving here but again really love it and prefer to Gas.

I hate “open plan living”. Why on earth you would want to sit in a room full of the smells of cooking is beyond me.

The real crime against humanity is integrated appliances where the function has been compromised and the price increased just so that the door matches the rest of the kitchen.

Crime against humanity!!!!

I like integrated appliances. They make the kitchen easier to keep clean as there aren’t any crannies and crevices for food to fall down and dust and dirt to gather.

I don't know about you sarahsissions but my cooking smells great, plus sitting on the sofa and keeping an eye on simmering pans is a dream. We have a separate lounge with a TV but having a dining space, sofa in the same room as the kitchen is super sociable. I wouldn't go all the way through though, and I hate the idea of a TV in the open plan bit as we listen to music in our open plan. Each to their own I guess, but most people don't like the idea of a detached dining room anymore.

Why do you cook things that smell disgusting?

Cooking smells nice, that doesn't mean I want to smell it for the next two hours.

Well, some of us have a life out of the kitchen!

I’m not cooking anything that smells disgusting! But if I’m making french onion soup or a curry I don’t want to smell it all evening!!!

I like integrated appliances. They make the kitchen easier to keep clean as there aren’t any crannies and crevices for food to fall down and dust and dirt to gather.

I have not seen your kitchen.

I would have to check the functioning of your dishwasher and whether your fridge had adequate storage before deciding whether to pursue a prosecution.