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.

I don’t like them. Why not have a proper kitchen table and chairs instead where you can sit down and not perch? I don’t like the grey or the granite surfaces either. And I like carpet in the living room.

@yolio

Islands will be out of fashion soon.

As will those huge kitchen diners.

Our parents houses were great, we could all escape!

Yea, I agree.

I have heard a nimber of people mention that open plan will have taken a hit over the past 6 months.
I do like a certain amount of open space but with teenagers and their friends, multiple spaces for them to disappear to is good.. and for us too

No, they’ve been around for donkeys years now. I think they’re only nagging when they’ve been she horned in to an ill fitting space meaning they reduce rather than increase a kitchen’s functionality.

SuperFairy do you have a breakfast table and dining table? How very posh! (where do you eat your lunch?)

I think in your case we can approve the need for an island.

I hated the separate dining room in our house, we never used it. Now have a beautiful open plan kitchen / diner with a big table and a big island - perfect for parties, cooking, everything - I would never go back to the old design of the house!

Watching this with interest as we are about to replace our kitchen and having lots of island / peninsula / nothing at all debates

@IDidntChoseThePondLife

SuperFairy do you have a breakfast table and dining table? How very posh! (where do you eat your lunch?)

I think in your case we can approve the need for an island.

I most certainly do have a breakfast and a dining table.

We eat breakfast lunch and dinner on trays on our laps in the living room/ front room/ lounge 😂

You are not wrong OP.
I am starting to look on-line at houses at the moment, and sigh whenever I see someone has plonked a ruddy great island in the kitchen. I really, really, do not want one, and the vendors are expecting you to pay more for their house as it has a "fashionable" kitchen.

Clearly, a SuperFairy I am not 😂

SuperFairy We eat breakfast lunch and dinner on trays on our laps in the living room/ front room/ lounge 😂

That's the only way in my view!

• Islands will be out of fashion soon.

As will those huge kitchen diners.*

Doesn't it depend on the size of your house though?

Always reminds me of birds of a feather

If it was just me living in our house, I would have lovely shelves with beautiful pulses in kilner jars, but in reality with DH and DD my shelves would be overflowing with cheerios, nutella jars and doritos!

I love my island. it is the perfect staging area for prep, emptying dishwasher, baking surface, reading spot, chatting while cooking. All of things it is meant to do, it does. I love it.

In fact, this thread inspired me to go clean my kitchen so that I could clean the island, and admire it's wonder and beauty.

(I also have wall cupboards. Guess I'm totally out of date.)

I can't imagine needing a staging area for prep...I'm not even sure what that is. Sounds very professional!

While we're talking about kitchens, which would you say are the best of the high street kitchen companies for planning and fitting?

@IDidntChoseThePondLife

SuperFairy do you have a breakfast table and dining table? How very posh! (where do you eat your lunch?)

I think in your case we can approve the need for an island.

Actually, I’m sooooo sorry, lunch is taken on the terrace, at either the comfy sofas or the table with wing back chairs etc.

The fucking sad thing is that we have both, and we don’t use either because the house faces west and we both hate eating outside in the heat 😂

Just in the process of getting my new kitchen (with island) fitted. I was so excited until I read this! I didn't realise there was so much hatred for an island! Too late for me now 🙄

There isn't. Only on on MN and a handful of posters at that.

A well planned island that fits the space is lovely.
I love having all that space to prepare food. We also have a table . I would hate a separate dinning room, it wouldn't suit our life at all.

All fashions change and evolve. Islands will have their day at some point but I think they work for people right now.

I don’t like them. Why not have a proper kitchen table and chairs instead where you can sit down and not perch? I don’t like the grey or the granite surfaces either. And I like carpet in the living room

I think an island should never replace table and chairs but in some larger rooms they work well alongside table and chairs.

It’s not a terrace, it’s a patio that, whilst large, is really really scruffy!

I love my island. It has nothing on it (well it has a load of crap, but no hob or sink). It means I don’t need wall cupboards. It is, however, a big island in a big kitchen. We also have a ten-seater table in there.

It does collect crap, but then the kitchen table used to do that too. When I clear it off it looks fab. If I had to choose between an island and a table though, table would win every time.

@IfNotNow123 oh yes. it did. Truthfully I'm just an eater, not a feeder BUT I know I watch DH prep right on that island then it all goes over the to next to cooktop surface.

:)

Mate of mine who's a builder has already taken 3 out when renovating kitchens for clients.

It does seem to me that the best use of an island is to sit on a high stool swinging your legs and guzzling wine while someone else cooks...!

At the end of the day it all comes down to the same thing

1. If you want an island go for it, it’s no ones decision apart from yours
2. If you do not have space then consider it carefully
3. Whatever anyone else says and if you want to do it just do it