Kitchen island or large dining table

[LoveBluey]

Am planning a new kitchen for once our extension is finished. It's going to be a bigger open plan kitchen / dining / family space.

We have room to have either an island with stools and then a very small square or round table with 4 chairs or no island but a large long table with 8 chairs.
There will also be another family area with a 2 seater sofa.

I'm torn between options. I've always wanted an island and can imagine the kids doing homework while I cook or setting out buffet food for a party etc. But that would mean we only have a small dining table which would be fine for the 4 of us but not sure what we'd do if we had guests for dinner/family at christmas etc.
Would we be better to forego the island and have a larger dining table in its place?
The trouble with that is we lose the option for storage that you have with an island.

I think dining table is more versatile.

Dining table, DC will probably be more comfy doing their homework there than perched on high stools. The loss of storage is a shame though. Can you fit any sort of peninsula as well as the bigger table?

Dining table much more useful and won't date like islands are.

Yes I think you are probably right and I need to let go of the island dream!

I will look in to the peninsula idea though.

This is an interesting alternative. You could use a table that extends, too.

We have a large island and small (4 seater that extends to 6) table and this works really well for us. There’s mostly 2a 2c so the table is fine. The island is the main food prep area and I prefer to be facing the dc as I make dinner and they sit at the table doing homework etc, the eldest prefers sitting at the island. We do have a large table in another room which only gets used at Christmas.

That's an interesting idea @Aquamarine1029

I am really hankering after the island but something is holding me back and it's mainly the worry of not being able to seat lots of people for dinner but that isn't something we often do. We're much more in to informal dining so could have some people at the island, some at the table and some on the sofa.

I think it's silly to plan your house around something you rarely do. Your kitchen, especially the kitchen, needs to serve the life you live. Personally, I would never be without a kitchen island. I utilise it every single day, multiple times a day.

I would want both an island for the storage and prep space, and an extendable table. However, I really wouldn’t want a 2-seater sofa in there. Can’t really see a point of a sofa in the kitchen.

I think they are beginning to date as well.

If you do get an island, make sure it moves. You don't want to be stick with one that you can't shift to suit you.

How about an island you can move and an extending table? This worked well for us. The couple of times a year we needed to seat more people we pushed the island out of the way. Can't have electrics or plumbing in the island of course with this setup.

Dining table definitely

Definitely a big table, but also if possible some kind of peninsula or mobile butchers block trolley type thing to separate the two areas.

Not to scale, obvs, but this is an overhead view of our peninsula kitchen cupboard extension bit, with a breakfast bar on the dining side and space for 2 stools. There is an integrated bookshelf on the far right of the peninsula, on the dining side nearest the wall, and drawers and a cupboard on the kitchen side.

Table extends to accommodate 8 people, we have enough space to keep it extended permanently, it isn't as much of a squeeze as I made it seem in the drawing.

Love the peninsula breakfast bar, we use it constantly for eating, food prep, homework, WFH, etc.

I’d choose a table over an island any day.

Thanks everyone, lots of food for thought.

@MsCunk good to see another vote for a peninsular which is something that wasn't even on the table (as it were). So I'll add that to the plans and see what we can come up with for the space.

The sofa for me is an absolute must. We could get rid of it and have both island and large dining table but I know if we have a more comfortable area with tv it will become the main family space and the lounge will just be a more cosy snug and hopefully a toy free zone.

How tall are you?

I'm short. A table for us is not just for eating at but an extra, more comfortable height worksurface. I don't think I've ever rolled pastry on my kitchen counters, I use the table. So I'd pick the big table every time.

My children are a bit older but they need quiet for homework, and I don't want to cook in silence. Homework and kitchens just don't go together for us. But if they do for you, a child can work as easily at a table as at an island.

How tall are you?

I'm short. A table for us is not just for eating at but an extra, more comfortable height worksurface.

That is definitely a reason I love my island so much. I'm 6' tall and my husband is 6'4". Working off of a table is misery for me.

This.

Literally had this exact conversation with DH this morning.

I was saying.. I wonder if we'll look back on the Island trend in the same way as something like the 70's Serving hatches ?

I wouldn't be without the big table personally. I understand that an island means more storage space, I have a big one, but we use the table to sit around, play board games, kids do homework, dh works from home, I do uni work, people do crafts....ours seats 8 and extends to take more.

Play around with layouts. The peninsula could be a good compromise. Have you got a good place to support planning? We club be that the "normal" places just did pretty bog standard layouts but a localish independent suggested by our builder was fantastic and I don't think we would had he the layout we do without them.

Must day I would be wary of a TV in the open plan room. I would keep that for the snug. But that might just be me. If your intention is for it to become the place the family congregates then do you fair want a TV that will take over and mean that to get away from the constant noise of stayed get your dc decide to watch you have to go to the snug and shut yourself away?

I get the desire for a sofa though. Ours is south facing and the sun streams in and I love my armchair. Sadly the space wasn't quite big enough for a sofa or 2 chairs so have to make do with 1.

Hah @chronictonic I currently have one of those hatches so I guess I'm so behind the times that I have a few decades before I'll consider an island to be dated!

I'm fairly short so that's another consideration I hadn't thought of.

Islands have been around for decades. I don't see how they can ever be "outdated." They are more a structural element than a design element, imo. How they are designed, material, colour, etc, may become outdated, but the island itself won't be.