What do you think about kitchen islands?

[Newtomarket]

DH and I can’t make up our minds about having a kitchen island. We think they look nice but at the same time look like an obstruction. We have the space to put one it but the kitchen I think will suddenly feel cumbersome because of having to navigate around the island.

What do you think about kitchen islands? Do you have one?

We don’t have an island as I like to be able to move freely from one side of the kitchen to the other. But we have a peninsular that separates the casual seating area from the workspace. No bar stools as we have a dining room adjacent to the seating area. It works really well as we have loads of cupboard space in it. Kitchen area is 6.5m x 3.5m.

Mine will sound cluttered and I have no idea of the size of the space but there is ample space. Its a kitchen with a utility room off it, my beloved island and stools, dining table and 6 chairs and then I have my favourite two seater couch beside the french doors but not blocking them. There are three of us in this house so the seating is too much as through the double doors is the sitting room but my kitchen is my favourite place. As a family we have dinner at the table but for lunches or homework the island is where it happens. If you can fit one in then I say get one. Try it out with a table or something in the middle of the room or where you are putting an island and see how you get on for a few days before you commit.

I think that slapped bang in the middle of a kitchen, they don't really work. But used to carefully divide a space, for example an island jutting off a wall, in between a kitchen/diner, then they are great.

@FurierTransform

I think that slapped bang in the middle of a kitchen, they don't really work. But used to carefully divide a space, for example an island jutting off a wall, in between a kitchen/diner, then they are great.

That's a peninsula, not an island

I prefer a peninsula personally but it does depend on the room. Can you share a drawing to show your layout?

I would only have an island in a big kitchen diner that is still quite wide and where you have a dining area on the other side of the island from the kitchen. Our kitchen is 3.5 x 9m, we have a small peninsula to separate the kitchen from the dining area but an island would be obstructive in such a long thin room. DBro and SIL have one but they have an big L shaped kitchen and their island separates the kitchen from the dining room part. I think you actually need slightly more than 1m separation, 1.5m feels much more generous but you don't want to end up with a half hearted island either. Think about where your main route round the island is going to be and make that wider. And don't just have an island for the sake of it. Think about what it's doing and is it better than a peninsula and what's on the other side of the island.

I don’t understand people saying they’d rather have a table. I love my island. But I also have a large kitchen table that seats 8-10 and a couple of cost sofas either side of the woodburner. I wouldn’t have an island instead of a table but it’s not always one or the other. We have a typical large Edwardian house. We knocked through a small kitchen and dining room then added a large extension on the back. To be honest, we rarely use the lounge at all and spend virtually all our downstairs time in this room.

I don’t understand the comments that people don’t like islands as you have to walk around them but then suggesting a table instead, surely you can’t glide though a table!!

My kitchen is big (5m x 8m) but because of the layout and the furniture (round table, five chairs, and a large dresser, it's not big enough for an island as well. However the windows look over a lovely valley, which seems to keep everyone happy. There's room for two people to get on with different tasks simultaneously, plus direct access to a sink each. Each station has several feet of counter space, multiple power outlets and 3 or 4 hob burners, plus there's a tea and coffee station. It's not minimal, but it is a good cooking kitchen. It was planned to cook in rather than look at, and it cost enough but not a lot compared to some I have seen.

Like NellyJames, we almost never move from the kitchen when we entertain. We do have a sitting room too, but it's rare for visitors to leave the kitchen. It's the most important room in our house.

Same here @XingMing we only ever use the kitchen when entertaining, starting with drinks standing around the kitchen table and then moving to eating and playing games at the dining table, hence replacing the kitchen table with an island! At the moment it looks like we run a B&B as we have 2 big 8 seater tables in the kitchen 😂

Do people really enjoy socialising whilst cooking? . If I am cooking I want to be left alone in the kitchen to get on with it ... then sit down and have a drink with my friends rather than trying to look effortlessly relaxed & casual whilst cooking a meal .

I always do lazy one pot cooking when entertaining!

Starter already prepped and in the fridge e.g. prawn cocktail!
One pot main with rice, mash, salad etc depending on the time of year, nice and social and serve yourself at the table
Pre prepped pud (if we even bother)
Cheese

If we do want to do something a bit different we have a hostess trolley 😃 and prep everything before guests arrive!

I only cook in the kitchen. It’s not our focal point for being together or socialising. I like to cook in peace. If someone else is in the kitchen with me they must be there to help and not to chat or stare at me.

Do people really enjoy socialising whilst cooking?. If I am cooking I want to be left alone in the kitchen to get on with it ... then sit down and have a drink with my friends rather than trying to look effortlessly relaxed & casual whilst cooking a meal.

Snap!! But my island-less kitchen seems to be so inviting that I have to shepherd people into the lounge whilst I'm cooking.

Do people really enjoy socialising whilst cooking? confused. If I am cooking I want to be left alone in the kitchen to get on with it ... then sit down and have a drink with my friends rather than trying to look effortlessly relaxed & casual whilst cooking a meal

On a weekday evening when I haven’t seen the kids all day it’s really nice that they get their uniforms off and come into the kitchen whilst I’m cooking dinner. There might be one lazing on the sofa watching the tv but at least one will sit at the island and chat about their day and the other might be emptying their entire school bag into the kitchen table. But at least we’re all in the same room. And once I’ve managed to have a conversation with one I can then engage the one watching tv. They’ll then come over and talk to me. My children all seem to need that output of an evening; they need to talk.
If we didn’t have the room we do, I’d get them in and they’d retreat to their bedrooms for hours. I’d be stuck in the kitchen cooking whilst not having a chance to ask them about their day and by the time we sat down to eat they’d all be on edge and desperate to talk first.

I don’t like them at all and have removed one before.
Would far prefer a table and chairs there where room (even if room elsewhere for a table - well then that where a sofa/chairs could go) and if not room then in my view not really room for an island anyway.
I don’t like perching on stools as main kitchen seating at all.
However I’ve always understood the storage aspect of them.

If we didn’t have the room we do, I’d get them in and they’d retreat to their bedrooms for hours. I’d be stuck in the kitchen cooking whilst not having a chance to ask them about their day and by the time we sat down to eat they’d all be on edge and desperate to talk first.

So you attribute all this to the presence of an island? Wouldn't it be the same with just a table? Genuine question

Our island faces the tv (it’s about 5m away though. Either side of the tv is a sofa and below it we have a wood burner. Then over to my left in front of the doors is a large table. The sofas are big old comfy things with a coffee table between them so it’s very sociable. The benches at the island are used a lot but maybe for chat, not really to eat.

Doing that room really changed things for the better in our family as we now spend far more time all together being generally sociable. The lounge has become virtually redundant.

@Bluesheep8, I think the island allows the cooking to be more sociable and lets me do that whilst listening carefully. The room is very large and the table is over at the end in front of the doors. It would be a sort of shouty conversation whereas with the island they can sit close and chat it show me something whilst I cook.

Islands in the stream
That is what we are
No one in between
How can we be wrong
Sail away with me
To another world

Our current kitchen is the same size and yours OP and we have a peninsular rather than an island but also have a decent sized table. We are about to double the size of the kitchen since the kitchen is too small for the size of the house and we will then have both and island and a table since the room at 7.5 x 6.5 will be large.

I much prefer to have a large table and a sofa in our kitchen instead. Most kitchens are too small for them and once you have one you are stuck with it. Who wants to be perched on a stool at what is a food preparation area? If you have a huge huge kitchen and dining area they can be OK, but on the whole I view them as a bit of a status symbol that doesn't really work in most situations.

@Ragwort

Do people really enjoy socialising whilst cooking? . If I am cooking I want to be left alone in the kitchen to get on with it ... then sit down and have a drink with my friends rather than trying to look effortlessly relaxed & casual whilst cooking a meal .

Yes I do. I had two friends round whilst I cooked up some Fajitas. Everything was prepped, I just had to cook the chicken fajita filling which takes about 10 minutes. Otherwise they would be in another room chatting and I would be alone. I liked the chat whilst I was busying myself with the cooking, I felt part of it rather than a chef locked away.

I love cooking and this is how I like to be, doesn’t mean you have to.

Do you need an island to socialise in the kitchen. Would a table and chairs not achieve the same thing?