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

@Prestonsflowers love how unique your island is, very cool!

We're having similar to a few of you. Hob with drawers underneath (1 internal for utensils), downdraft extractor, pull out storage either side (one for spices, one for chopping boards) a 600mm bin unit & a small prep sink. It works out as 2.5m long by 1.7 inc breakfast bar. We'll also have 2x double sockets each side but like Jigsters, it's only seen if at the end. Other side is 460 deep cupboards under the breakfast bar, I've ordered push to open catches for the cupboards under the breakfast bar and the 300mm cupboard each end as we will be using them for stuff we don't use often and it'll look cleaner without handles. We're also using doors as end panels for the island. I can't wait to have our new kitchen, but it'll be October at least 😞

Chopping board made of the worktop material that is part of the worktop but lifts out for you to use it, with the hole where it was being above the food bin.

thanks @haggisaggis! Definitely will be putting something like that into my island. Perfect.

Thank you for posting photos, love the kitchen island porn!

PlumsGalore sockets are ugly as they are cheap, plastic, fussy things that definitively leap out from any otherwise beautifully designed island. Most islands are a combination of wood base/marble or quartz top, a clean, smooth beautiful run of materials- to then see a plastic square with holes plonked in the middle of it, only to be oh so practical, definitely looks bad.... Why would your friends comment on it?!

As requested...wires coming up from inbetween the two back to back units ( 300 and 600 )

Sundowners having checked DeVol kitchens on Pinterest, there are definitely islands with sockets on the ends and any photos that don't show them are strategically photographed. Do you believe in no sockets at all in a kitchen? At the end of the day for a lot of people the kitchen is a workspace, unless the £50k + kitchen is just a showpiece to flaunt to your friends and you never actually cook, then I guess sockets aren't needed!

I think there's a bit of miscommunication here.

The comments above about ugly sockets are (I think) about the pop up ones, not the ones on the end wall of an island.

I want on of these. www.rev-a-shelf.com/glideware.aspx

4yearsnosleep re. DeVol, 70% of their kitchens do not feature them on ends of islands as they look awful and totally jar with the overall traditional, natural shaker effect of their kitchens. If you think they are "strategically photographed" to not show ugly sockets doesn't this exactly prove my point- they are awful/fussy and completely distract from an otherwise beautiful, simple but striking island.

To me- an island should be a show piece in a kitchen, as unfussy as possible.

Sockets against a wall = fine (of course) - as they always are there you expect to see them and don't even notice them. Plenty of work space not on island to do mixing etc rather than purely using the island for this. I can still do most of my food prep eg, chopping on island if I wanted but use other work surface and sockets there, as and when I needed to plug in blender.

I guess it depends on whether you are more of a serious cook/ or more into your interiors ( as I am) as I want a practical kitchen that while great to cook in, ultimately looks as striking/stunning as possible.

Hmm interesting

I am planning to have an island with hidden sockets at the back of a shallow drawer - this was intended for ipad and phone charging, but I'm now thinking it could work for mixers too. Obv would need to have a notch in the drawer front to allow the cables through.

Our island has no plugs, hob or sink, it was specifically designed to be a social space with a couple of cupboards at one end for baking supplies and the like.

It was also deliberately designed so that the cupboard doors did not open towards the oven (and had to be rebuilt because I specifically wanted it that way and the kitchen fitter did not build it according to the plans).

It suits our needs 100%. I love it; I think it is both functional and beautiful.

I like your thinking, Vase. Only Champagne and flowers going on my island top.

My mil has a job in hers and she really wishes she didn’t- having a dangerous surface her grandchildren can reach from all four sides is, shall we say, not restful.......

Hob. Not job.

Honestly you just come across as a complete snob From a practical perspective it makes more sense to have sockets on the island, but then my house is a home, not a show piece.

I think the safety perspective of the hob depends on the size of the island. You'd only be able to reach ours from the front

Agree with having double plug socket on each side, with USBs. We use them a lot. Also agree that having cutlery drawer in island is annoying as DH always wanting to open it when I am stood there doing something.

We had 2 x undercounter freezers in ours so that we could have a full height fridge elsewhere, and they are so useful to us but probably quite specific to our family and kitchen.

Make sure you have checked "knee room" under the worktop for stools. We just let the designers choose, and with hindsight, it is ever so slightly shallow, but not a huge issue as mostly it's the kids who sit there.

Our island is rectangular, but with corners rounded off like a ten pen piece (IYSWIM). Never catch ourselves on them.

@Baxdream I love your island - have you considered swapping your white plastic socket for a matt black one?
We swapped our (builders') white ones for brushed stainless steel and it made such a difference

I'd love to have sockets in our island but it was retrofitted several years after original kitchen so not possible

We have a double socket with usb ports at one end of our island, under the overhang. You don't really notice it but it's handy. I plug the Kenwood Chef into it when I'm using it.

Is it just me that thinks Devol are the Smallbone of this decade? Overpriced for what they are imo. If we'd spent that kind of money on our kitchen we'd be heating baked beans in the microwave every night instead of cooking.

We also have a double plug socket on the end of our island. Don't think you need them on both ends so would suggest you don't have them on the 'noticeable' end (away from sitting area / not on the end of the island you see as you want into the room) - you'd only be able to see ours if you were stood in the garden

Ha, yes! There's a few bespoke companies I lust after on Instagram, but at the end of the day, £20k on cabinets would be a 1/4 of our entire build budget, so I'm very happy with my £8.5k on cabinets (big kitchen!) from DIY Kitchens. I think the Norton is gorgeous and I'll be proud of it. I aspire to one day have solid wood units as I love the smell, but at the same time I'd rather pay my mortgage off earlier and tick off some destinations from my bucket list 😊

Wowfudge, I agree. Ive been to the DeVOL showroom and their kitchens are beautiful but I absolutely cannot justify the cost (and am on the long running thread to imitate their units for much less). Bit of a digression, and aside from the plug sockets, I've seen many a photo of a DeVOL kitchen with a big old American fridge freezer stuck in it so not particularly traditional.

If I went for DeVOL I think we'd be spending £30-40k just on the units.