Kitchen Island question help

[hilbil21]

Bit of a weird one but if any of you have an island 2.5 metres long and 1.4 metres wide could you tell me if you think it would be big enough to have as your only work surface with a sink and induction hob on it?

Are you planning to have bar stools/eating area on the other side? The workspace would be equivalent to a kitchen in a small flat. And have you planned a space for a toaster, kettle etc?

My island unit is about 2.5m long by 1.2m wide with a (single bowl) sink on it and stools down the long side on the dining area side.

I don't think the extra 0.2m you'd have in the width would make any difference to how you use it.

I think if you had the hob on it aswell, you'd have to space those out, so you'd have very little workable workspace. So no, I don't think the kitchen would function very well with the island as your only worktop.

FWIW, I have a length of worktop about 3m long behind the worktop with the hob towards the end - so have maybe 2m of continuous worktop aswell as the island and that works really well.

I was possibly going to have barstools but they are not a necessity. Originally the person who is doing our kitchen diner suggested a 3 metre in length island but I felt the dining table (which due to having a two year old who cant sit on bar stools we need) would then be too cramped. His suggestion was to have a shorter island but with the rest of his plans (floor to ceiling units on one wall and no other worktops) I am worried kettle toaster plug socket sink and induction hob all being on island will be too much

I would think that by the time you've a sink and hob on there will only be 1300mm of space left and that won't all be together because you won't have the sink or hob right on the end of the island. So it's probably more like 800mm between the two which isn't much. If you have all your other appliances, kettle, toaster etc you will feel very cramped. I would have another stretch of work surface and just hob or sink on the island.

Islands look better when they are uncluttered imo. Might be better to have a run of base units and worktop along one wall and a narrower island opposite? If you have an outside wall, you can vent an extractor out above the hob.

Our cooker is going opposite the island which will be one unit deep with worksurface overhang on the other side for a breakfast bar. The sink and dishwasher are going in the island. The size of our kitchen means there will be about 4m of worksurface plus the island. I anticipate over a metre of that will be the dumping ground for mail, etc as you walk in the room.

With the sink and hob on the island plus toaster/kettle that sounds like it would be quite cramped. Is there any space in the floor to ceiling cupboards to have a shelf with the electricals on it? We've just had our kitchen done and have used a shelf in a full height larder cupboard for microwave, coffee machine and blender - they just wired the sockets into the back panel so we can plug them in and it keeps them hidden out of the way. Although for a kettle which is used more frequently, it might be annoying to have it hidden away. Could you have a hot water tap by the sink instead of the kettle (we didn't go for one in our kitchen but I know people who swear by them).

This is what I am thinking. We are off to Howdens at the beginning of March to discuss plans (may also go to other places depending on price) and I hope they have other ideas! An island isnt necessary we just thought it would work best in the space we have but I'm definitely starting to think differently.

To small really
If you think the sink will be approx 300mm min away from 1 side - leaving small draing area.
The hob should/needs be at least 300mm away from an edge
2 x 300 = 600mm
Then the hob(samll) @ 600 + sink approx 600 = 1200mm
all total = 1800 will leave you approx 700mm / 70cm between hob and sink.
Of course you will have the depth if you want to prep on the other side of the island but if working just on the one side (as you will do) you will be left with not much

As having a bank of tall units you could do the funky hide away sink in the tall units
1200 larder - open doors and have your sink inside with d/washer with a wall unit and shelves if pushed for space

As I said earlier I'd think it was too little space without anything else, but just done a quick google now that you've said you're having a bank of tall units and it could work if you plan it well. Like this for the island, but you'd need an "appliance garage" for all the other bits, kettle, toaster etc.

The wall we are having the units on if we did have an island is about ten feet and is hopefully going to have a normal size fridge freezer double oven and microwave in so could see if there was space for something like that. If not will need to rethink plans. The room itself will be ten feet wide to start with for the first 6 feet then 13 feet wide for a further 13 feet

We have an island 1.9m by 1.3m with just a hob and because we dump stuff on it as we come into the house I would say yours will be too small.

Can you mark out the area with masking tape on a floor somewhere ? Or sticks in the garden ? This helps me work out if spaces are big enough

I can't believe an actual kitchen designer suggested such a layout... How much workspace do you currently use?

We are getting a wall knocked down at same time between galley kitchen and dining room so its hard to mark out and hard to picture. We havent been to a kitchen designer yet, that was a suggestion form the guy who is doing it.... who fits kitchens for a living

I wouldnt say I use that much workspace at the moment because there isnt much to use with the size of the kitchen. Hopefully the kitchen designers themselves can come up with something!

I marked mine out with boxes in the empty space. It's 2.2mx2.2m and I chose to keep it clear so it's all useable workspace.

I have microwave and toaster in large armoire style pantry units and just the sink and kettle are on the worktop around the sides.
Slow cooker and other small occasional appliances are in floor to ceiling armoires but I do plug them in on the side too when in use.

I don't like to see much visible stuff so the only thing that lives on island is the occasional bunch of flowers

A friend of mine has an island with similar dimensions and they manage ok for space - they have both a hob and sink. I use my induction hob on my island as extra work space when unpacking shopping etc. I also have a a run of wall to ceiling cupboards which includes a tambour unit with pull out shelves which houses coffee machine, kettle, toaster etc.

I must admit I am not much of a cook so chances are will never need THAT much room lol

Where will your appliances plug in - kettle, toaster etc? Because if you're having plugs on the island, rather than just tucked at the ends, you're going to have leads constantly trailing on it. It'll look messy and be a crumb trap.

I don't think your design sounds like it would be a well functioning area. I'd re-think it, maybe get another designer to draw something up for you.

I am totally open to not having an island... especially if it keeps costs down lol. This is what we currently have, and behind the units on the right is the wall which is being knocked down. We are also getting rid of one of the doors at the bottom. If anyone has any ideas then please shout :)

This is very similar to my friend's kitchen - she had a smallish galley kitchen and dining room just like this. She now has base and wall units along the wall where you have cupboards 1, 2 and 3 and then full height units along the wall where door C is so it's an L shape. The units where door C is contain the fridge/freezer and double oven plus a small pull out larder unit. Her sink is on the long run of base units, approximately where your cupboard 2 is.

She then has a large island - I think it's about 2 metres long (2 sets of pan drawers facing the other kitchen units) with the hob on. She has overhang and stools on the dining side, and a dining table along your wall B. She has built a bench into that wall so that the table, bench and chairs take up less space than if it were all chairs.

I've tried to attach a drawing, sorry it's not very good!

Thank you so much JW13. This could definitely be an option. I wonder if we could fit a similar size of island in. I am going to definitely see if its a possiblity as we would then have a decent amount of worktop space. Thanks

Having just re-done our kitchen I know how hard it is to visualise it and I think I've got good vision! I have to say that I wasn't that convinced by my friend's plans at first, but I was really amazed when I saw it for the first time. It has completely revolutionised how they use the space (so much for my vision on that one)! Good luck with the project.

Yeah I am absolutely terrible at visualising stuff which is half the problem lol