What do you wish you'd have known when designing a kitchen island?

[QueenOfIce]

In the process of designing an island I'd like a storage drawer for jars for things like pasta, rice, baking stuff and spices. It's going to be around 1.8m long so not massive and I want to make sure I get it right in terms of storage.

We won't have a hob or a sink in the island, just an empty work space for all cooking baking and eating breakfast as it'll have bar 2 stools one side.

What do you think is an absolute must and what should I try and avoid?

Thank you

I have a bin in cupboard in mine.
I do all my prep on island and can dump veg trimmings easily into food bin

Oh yes good idea, a recycling bin?

A pop up tower of plug sockets? Make sure it's good quality as my cousin's one slowly sinks back in after you bring it up...

Means you can plug in the mixer/blender etc

Also get USB sockets for charging phones in the plug sockets.

(or you could get a couple of sockets on the side of the island - less moving parts to go wrong, and less risk of spilling something on them)

Not so much a design issue, but once in use you have to strictly enforce a No Dumping rule, otherwise it will just get covered in stuff 'temporarily'.

I ended up with a peninsula rather than island as didnt have enough space but would recommend -
plug sockets at either end (we went plug socket mad! so have 2 doubles at the wall end and another double at the other end...its great (extra bonus works with left handed ds which hadnt thought of) DH doesnt like towers ... I didnt put usb in to stop people charging stuff on my worktop! but will probably change one as use the ipad for recipes frequently so would be handy to charge)

I have a bin pull out (not had for long) which is great for rubbish from food prep but am not sure if will get manky in the future
I copied an idea from an earlier thread and turned a cupboard round so have a set of drawers facing out into dining area with table stuff..
I would curve (even gently) the worktop ends as we can catch on corners - we are v clumsy

Friend regrets getting her cutlery draw on her island as getting table set whilst using the worktop is a pain

I wouldn't go 2 units deep that just seems to attract more clutter!
however would have liked to have been able to go base unit plus wall unit as that gives lots of storage :) but one is fine for working on

make sure you have a decent gap either end at -90cm at least
hth

Imo pop up towers of plug sockets ruin the beautiful smooth expanse of marble, granite or whatever you picked. And they gather crumbs around the edges and make it difficult to wipe the bench down. I much prefer having my sockets on the side of the island.

We have a double pull out bin in ours with a food waste caddy alongside. It's great but I put it at the wrong end and it's right in the way of the person preparing food. Next time I'd try put the bin on the far end away from the fridge\sink or even have it pull out from the end. I wish I'd made the pot/pan cupboard a pull out drawer. It all gets shoved in and I end up on my knees rummaging. We have an overhang with bar stools that I love as well.

I have my hob on the island and what I love is a 300mm pull out cupboard between my work space and the hob. It houses chopping boards (in a rack) with oil bottles / salt at the top and spices below. So all to hand for both prepping & cooking.
I have a popup socket - it is in the right place for me to stand and blend stuff / plug in the pressure cooker etc as I prep. If the sockets were at the end it would be too much of a stretch.
Make sure you have enough room at eth island for you to open cupboards etc. That's the most important thing!

I don't have a pull out bin on mine. I have a prep sink at one end so not enough space in that cupboard for a pull out bin but our joiner was clever with his shelving and it takes the food bin and the recycle box so handy enough. I originally wanted a bin built in to the worktop so all I had to do was sweep the food waste in but would have taken up too much worktop space.

My island is going to be virtually the same size with no hob or sink. My essential is having a two zone wine fridge underneath.

If you have a microwave, maybe think about somewhere to keep it ( and a socket obviously) where it's easily accessible but not on show all the time as they're not the most attractive appliances. Our island has shelves for cook book storage too although they don't get used so much these days.

Haggis that sounds amazing! Daft question, but where is/are your oven/s? Underneath in the island, or on an opposite wall? We're going to have our hob in the island, but not decided on ovens yet (have a range cooker at the moment so has never been an issue)

Sockets are a must. My SIL didn't put sockets in hers and it's a pain when you want to blend something or someone sitting there wants to charge their phone. You end up with a lead trailing where people want to walk.

If you want an island not just practically but to also complete the look of your overall kitchen visually, DONT go for plug sockets. They completely break up the otherwise lovely lines of a well designed island and your eye is immediately drawn to these and distract from the overall look. We have an island, without sockets, I've honestly never missed them. If you view top kitchen makers websites (for eg. the stunning deVOL Kitchens) look at most pinned kitchens- most will feature islands without an ugly socket.

I’m with @sundowners sockets are fugly and it’s easy enough to blend elsewhere

Def get a bum if it’s going to be your primary prep station

Bum?? Bin

I have to agree about plug sockets so we hid one under the seating bit. I'm so glad we didn't get one on the worktop itself

If you are doing prep on the island then a shallow draw for knives/chopping boards is handy. And a deeper draw for mixing bowls, measuring jugs etc is also good to have handy.

We have the hob on ours. Under the hob are utensil/cutlery/pan drawers and a narrow cupboard each side - one for bins and one for chopping boards, baking trays, and tall oil bottles.
We also have three cupboards on the other side facing the dining area. They would be handy for plates etc, but actually have tupperware and other unbreakables in. DH wanted a breakfast bar, but it's right next to the table and cupboard space was a priority.
Our island has a metre space all around. I don't think I'd want less, especially by the oven.

How are sockets ugly? my island has a double socket on the side, I doubt anyone has ever noticed it, and I use it a lot.

@haggisaggis any chance of a photo of that drawer you have? Sounds great!

Thank you for the great suggestions, in my mind the island will be where I morph into Mary Berry and the like and whip up a storm on a daily basis..in truth it'll be somewhere I sit drink wine and read trashy magazines I love the curved worktop idea.

I put the hob, oven and dishwasher into my island. I also have a breakfast bar, where people sit and watch me cook, but that’s ok 😉
I used graph paper and a slide rule to measure out distances between appliances and my DH said “you need to get out more” Remember that doors need to have space to open.
I’m a cook who doesn’t like others cooking with me so my kitchen is really personal.
This is my island and my kitchen is finished now.

We have pullout 600 bin ..perfect for prep and agree no to pop up sockets ..it would ruin our beautiful run of quartz ! Have double socket with 2 usbs facing away from the kitchen so you don't see it on your way in ..was going to have both sides but looks better without on entrance

Photos of pull out cupboard etc as requested. You can just about see the “ugly” pop up socket on the island too! It’s my kitchen and it was designed mostly for ease of use - not to be in a kitchen design catalogue!