Kitchen island

[Mummyto3gorgeousgirlies]

Hi! I'm trying to work out my kitchen island for our house renovation. I really want an island that can both house a double kitchen sink and have plenty of counter space both for occasional eating at / breakfast and for hosting guests for large buffet counter.
Has anyone put in a 2.5x deep island (as in 2 full cabinet width plus a lip that they can share a pic of? (I think that would be about 1.5metres deep) I'm looking for length around 3.5 metres length (although not sure from reading if that may be too long for some materials without a join...)
Thanks ahead for any pics or ideas

Our island is 3.1m x 1.4m. We were told 3.1m was the max length without a join for silestone. I am not sure if it could have been wider but we find it gives plenty of width for our hob with bar stools behind. We have full depth drawer units on the hob side and shallow cupboards under the bar stools. If it was any wider I would not be sure how you could reach the middle for cleaning etc.

Thanks @weepingwillow22
Do you have a picture you'd be happy to share?

Here you go.

Thanks so much! Gorgeous kitchen...
I'm also looking at dark slab cabinets- you happy with what you went for? Any other tips...

weepingwillow your kitchen is beautiful!

Gorgeous kitchen weepingwillow
We put in an island like you’re proposing OP in our old house. We had a granite top. It was a struggle to reach the centre to clean but not impossible! We’ve recently inherited a similar sized island on our new house and it’s not been easy finding a new worktop that’s large enough. The choice is very limited as it’s 3.8 long. The width is 1.6 but that’s not the problem. What are your concerns?

@NotDonna I think I'm happy with the feedback not to go too wide - I'm only 5ft so wouldn't want to make more work if too hard to reach the middle - but would really like the 3.5 metre at least if can - what options have there been for tops? I'd really like to not have a visible join

If you go on the websites of Silestone, unistone, cimstone, quartz etc etc etc they’ll tell you their max sizes. They won’t do all their shades in max/jumbo either only a few. Or ring around a few worktop specialists who’ll be aware of the suppliers of larger worktops with more choices. - we went with Zenstone who found a quartz top large enough. It’s frustrating as the fabricators (eg Silestone) will say yeah we do 3.8 but when it comes to it it’s only in one shade, for example. So start by asking what shades are done in the size you’re after. Getting a slab of granite is much easier as you just go down to the site and choose from they have.

What do you mean re the granite? It's not the same as the others - more choices for longer?

Granite size depends on the slabs they quarry. It’s slices of rock basically. So sized, colours, textures all vary. Silestone et al is quartz that’s fabricated.

We had no probs getting massive granite. But getting the same size in a quartz was quite tricky. I’d speak to some worktop specialists or whoever is doing your kitchen as they’ll know the set sizes for quartz etc and know where the granite ‘yards’ are near to you.

@duddleagain you also have a beautiful kitchen! Can I ask the dimensions is your island? And what material you have?

@NotDonna thanks for this! I'm planning to go to the high street for the kitchen but prob elsewhere/independent for the worktops so just starting to do my homework but with tier 4 and schools now being closed I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do in person (3 primary aged kids and OH can't work from home only me) so gonna need to be a lot online research :)
Whole house is stripped and Extension shell is almost done so need to work out soonish where all the gas and water etc is going to be positioned but island size is impacting layout in my mind :)

Our island is 3.05m x 1.26m. It is made from quartz and we went with the 20mm thickness.

Your kitchens are gorgeous @weepingwillow22 and @duddleagain. Sorry OP, I have no advice to offer you, just wanted to comment that I feel really inspired seeing PP kitchens with dark units, and a large central island, something for me to think about when I get round to doing mine in a few years time!

@Mummyto3gorgeousgirlies

Thanks so much! Gorgeous kitchen... I'm also looking at dark slab cabinets- you happy with what you went for? Any other tips...

Yes we are very pleased with the end result. The only thing I would say about our cabinets is that they do show a lot of fingerprints. I think if I was doing it again I would use slightly more of the wood finished ones we used on the island and slightly fewer of the matt graphite ones.

I have been very pleased though with the quality (schmidt) and layout. One side of the island is all drawers which works well and I like the floor to ceiling cupboards. I also like having the hob on the island as it is less intrusive than a sink and I spend more time using it. The integrated extractor keeps sightlines free.

I’d think very carefully about this. No one wants to eat next to the sink op. A hob is one thing, but a sink is not pleasant to eat next to.

Ours is similar in dimensions to weeping willow's above except we chose to have two different heights. Sink part is quartz, eating/ working is iroko.
We all love it. I had the wood part edges rounded
Despite Bluntless's opinion, we're not eating near a sink due to the depth of the island and the difference heights. And have two dishwashers so there's no piles of dishes
Our kitchen is big so it needs a big island

@BlueCowWonders

Ours is similar in dimensions to weeping willow's above except we chose to have two different heights. Sink part is quartz, eating/ working is iroko. We all love it. I had the wood part edges rounded Despite Bluntless's opinion, we're not eating near a sink due to the depth of the island and the difference heights. And have two dishwashers so there's no piles of dishes Our kitchen is big so it needs a big island

Will also be putting in two dishwashers so not expecting them to be a messy station - I'm nervous for kids burning themselves on hob or for it looking too bare with nothing... any thoughts?

@weepingwillow22

Here you go.

Hello, what a lovely kitchen! Our extension start in a couple of weeks. This is the layout of our kitchen and I am going for a very similar feel, in terms of floor to ceiling cupboards & the island. What is the spacing between your Island and the cupboards on both sides, please?

The kitchen designer seems a bit unsure about the walking space, if I proceed with the design.

Sorry only just seen your question. The island is 1.2m from the wall runs. The designer said this was the optimum measurement to give people space to pass and the right about of work room.

@weepingwillow22

Sorry only just seen your question. The island is 1.2m from the wall runs. The designer said this was the optimum measurement to give people space to pass and the right about of work room.

Thank you 🙏