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.

My current home has a “peninsula”

I have an archipelago.

@IfNotNow123

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...!

And your problem is?

I’m just in the process of knocking our formal dining room into our kitchen, getting rid of the kitchen table and adding an island which I think will be far more practical. We hardly use our dining room, it just becomes a dumping ground. We have plenty of room for wall cabinets and the island. I understand why complete open plan might not suit everyone but we have a den, sitting room and play room as well as the kitchen so I don’t feel I can’t get away, it’s just the heart of the home is our kitchen and so it makes sense to expand it and the island just works and is a great high for doing all sorts at, not just cooking. I certainly wouldn’t want or need two tables to eat at in the same room!

If kitchens are huge islands are great, small kitchens not so. I am sure in years to come people will be ripping them out just as breakfast bars were ripped out after they became dated.

I don't have a problem with it SuperFairy!
I'd love for someone else to cook for a bloody change.

What's artex?

@BogRollBOGOF

Islands are fine if there is plenty of space. Breakfast bars are normally a mistake.

We removed the breakfast bar when we re-did our kitchen. At first everyone thought we were mad. When it was done it became clear that it was more open and felt larger giving more comfortable space for a big table and no loss of cupboard space as the corner wasn't well used anyway and gaining the wall for another unit. Breakfast bars are just clutter hotspots, and pointless with a table in the room.

I try not to look at the artex. It is a period feature... except where walls have moved, it's a bastard to apply it to match the patterns, and it smells like vomit for a week while it dries.

I thought the point of a breakfast bar was for when you don't have the space for a seperate table. In our old kitchen which we have removed there was no where we could have put a table and the breakfast bar was the only place to eat.

I think islands are great the the right space. The problem is when they are shoehorned into a room that is too small just becuase the owner wants an island rather than becuase it is the most practical solution. In our new kitchen there are only 2 walls so an island is necessary to give more unit and workspace.

No way. Kitchen islands provide storage space and somewhere to sit and eat.

In my kitchen cupboards provide storage space and a table is somewhere to sit and eat. I hate islands but each to their own.

Our island is fab but only used for food prep. Can't imagine eating at it.

We never use our kitchen table but it would seem very empty without it, or without the island

I think islands are great the the right space. The problem is when they are shoehorned into a room that is too small just becuase the owner wants an island rather than becuase it is the most practical solution

I think my opinion might stem from having seen too many islands as above. If they work properly in the space, then fine.

I just converted the dining table into one, the extra storage allowed me to get rid of the wall cabinets. Anything out of proportion looks silly, be it a big arse tv or a bath shoe horned into a tiny bathroom.

We’ve got a large kitchen with an island in the middle. The island has 2 double cupboards and 3 deep drawers on one side, and space for 4 bar stools on the other. We’ve also got a table that seats 6.

The kitchen was here when we bought the house. The only thing I’d change would be to reduce the width of the island by about 10 inches - the side with the stools only needs to be half the measurement of the average bum to knee (or the measurement of a stool seat). We didn’t realise that it was an issue until elderly parents came to stay and they couldn’t get their ‘walkers’ down that side to get into the living room.

The island is good for food prep and putting hot pans on (granite so doesn’t need chopping boards etc), it’s where DD sits doing her homework and can spread out. I wouldn’t get rid of it, but I would ‘shrink’ it a bit.

This might be stupid but I genuinely didn't realise that some people had islands instead of a table? I always assumed it was as well as (which is why we'd never have one, our kitchen isn't big enough for both). I quite like the look of islands but I don't understand why anyone would want one if it meant no table - it's not nearly as comfortable to sit high up, with nowhere to put your legs. A table also feels a lot more flexible - our toddler can eat at the table, I can work at it.

We have a peninsula island (fancy name for attached to the wall one side!) with the hob and cooker in. It’s like my command centre as we have a large family room with bifolds so I have a clear line of sight to my children at the table, on the sofa or in the garden while I’m cooking or baking. It makes for a much less stressful life! Don’t see the point of ones with sinks though - who actually uses a sink to wash up any more?

We don’t have bar stools though as too close to the kitchen table to bother - we don’t use it to eat but it’s great for holding a spread for parties.

I LOVE our island. It has loads of storage, seating and I use it for preparing all food. I have never used our worktops for food!

The kitchen was put in nearly 13 years ago with an island so it can't be that faddy? It is much smaller than the current trend for massive ones.

We do also have a large table though, and if I had to choose between a table and an island it would be a harder choice.

DH is very much of the 'separate kitchen/rooms' persuasion and I'm much more a fan of open plan. We've compromised with large glass french doors and bi-folds between a few large rooms, so they flow but can be closed off. We also have a grown-ups sitting room that the kids don't go into at all, and that is a luxury I am grateful for every evening

Ours looks fabulous and is very practical but we have space for a large table and plenty of space and other reception rooms for people to distance themselves if they want to. It’s all about getting the work triangle right but that’s not news to anyone. Would not go back to a smaller kitchen and separate dining room we used a handful of times a year just so we can be less fashionable/more middle class in MN land.

We also have tasteful artex in two rooms in fact I saw a beautiful kitchen just recently and they had the plaster out a textured finish on the walls and it looked amazing. No fan shapes though!

Crikey namechange your kitchen is about the size of my entire ground floor! You almost have room for a squash court, let alone a table tennis table.

I like U shaped kitchens so there is an island but connected, I want the sink at the bottom of the U so I can see out when doing dishes.

I do not like eating at an island/breakfast bar I like to eat at a dining table of on the sofa

I guess I could handle an island but for me they would be junk collectors and I don't like hobs or sinks in them so then I think what would I use it for?

I am very disbelieving of any idea that artex is back, by the way, but then I am biased because we just paid a lot of money, had a huge amount of mess in our house and had to spend hours painting sodding ceilings to get rid of all of ours! We each look up at the ceilings about five times a day and say 'isn't it so much nicer', so I don't think we're going back...

Kitchen Islands arent new. Theyve been in at least 30 years, so if they were going to date wouldnt they have done it by now?

I love my artex so fuck you OP

Another one here who loves their island. The previous owners put our kitchen in a few years before we bought the house. They had lived in the house for many years before installing a new kitchen, so a lot of thought had gone into it and the flow it would create.

The island is very large, over 4m in length by 1m wide. It’s granite, and like others have said, is almost bullet proof. Hot pans come straight out the oven and are put down on it - so no worrying about where to put them or finding trivets. All prep is done on here, loads of room for baking, plating up etc. It also has an induction hob and vegetable prep sink on it and can seat six. The granite still looks in perfect condition 10 years on.

Kitchen has a six seater table too, which is where we tend to eat most meals. However if given the choice of having a table or island, I’d go for table though, as prefer eating round a table than at a bar.

The kitchen sold the house to us. And gets (positively) commented on by everyone that visits. I can’t see them going out of fashion anytime soon.

Islands aren’t a fad. It’s always the same on these threads when something that is generally quite expensive and requires space, a small number of folks come on and slag them off 🤣

Islands have been around for a long time, they are hugely versatile, use the space well etc. The seating has also come a long way, for example ours are High backed and heavily cushioned with a bar for your feet, and are at the lowest height setting, so not dissimilar to a comfy dining room chair, and my feet hit the ground when I sit down on them. Islands themselves when built correctly are the same height as your worktops so not overly high.

It does make the kitchen very sociable, we socialise a lot and guests always congregate and sit round it.

Unless they have a hob or sink in them they are generally just big tables with storage underneath.

@Freddiefox

I hate my island, it’s too big. Not enough space to move. When i have the money it’s going. I liken it to conservatory’s in theory great but not in practice

I'd love a conservatory. But only in the winter. With decent heating so I could snuggle up with cats and read and listen to the rain...