To island or not to island? Kitchen opinions sought - with pictures!

[TheStoryofmyLife]

So I've been persuaded by you lot my architect to keep two entrances to our to-be-extended kitchen (thanks to this thread). That sent me back to the drawing board on layouts.

Now after many hours slaving over a hot Ikea room planner, I've narrowed the choice down to two basic possibilities and would be interested in views of the neutral MNter.

It's a family kitchen, DCs are 9 & 12, we cook a lot and when we're allowed to have people in our house again plan lots of entertaining.

Our must-haves are:
Big table
Plenty of food preparation space
Lots of storage (we're giving up an under-stairs cupboard to a new loo)
Ability to face into the room when cooking

I have lots of thoughts about the pluses and minuses of each option but would love to know yours.

I've done these versions of the plans with plain cabinets as have loads of ideas for the decor (not grey!), it's really the basic layouts I'm keen to know your thoughts on. They're not 100% final so things like sinks or hobs may move. We don't have the width to do the classic long run of units, parallel island, table on the other side layout so these are the two options.

Which would you do?

@weasle nice to know I'm not alone, but sympathies nonetheless! I've never been wedded to the island, always swore off them in fact, and if nothing else this thread has confirmed I shouldn't be going down that route!

@Baxdream it's at the back of the house unfortunately so tricky to do a U shape. I like your window idea and have considered it but there's a change of level to the living room behind and I really want a direct (walkable) link between the two rooms.

So meanwhile I've been playing around with other ideas and have come up with C. Also attaching D which was the very first design I did and extremely similar to the current, unextended layout and therefore deeply boring.

Both could do with some more fiddling around, but you get the idea.

The table needs moving in D. Obviously!

D is really good.
Do you not like it cos sink under window feels too kitcheny at the garden end?

I think it works really well with coming in through corridor with shopping, taking rubbish out(trade entrance) and the recreational entrance being the table side which connects with living room.

Much much better. So much less cluttered.

D is clearly a better layout.

You could also have a longer table in this design, or even a banquette instead of chairs along wall to make it more spacious.

Haha I knew this would happen! I really don't like D very much, it's boring and has exactly the same problems as my current kitchen (because essentially it is my current kitchen, just with the addition of that L shape where the sink is and 1.5m of extra space on the other side of the room).

I hate having my back to the room when cooking, that's one of the main reasons I wanted to change the layout. I know a pp thinks I'm attaching too much importance to that but it really bugs me.

Would love a banquette but have a sideboard to fit in and a load of extra storage to put along the far wall as we're losing an under-stairs cupboard in this process. I don't want it to end up being a room full of cupboards either.

Thanks all, really appreciate your taking the trouble to comment.

I completely agree about D, it doesn't look sociable at all.
I like C far more!

D is definitely the most 'comfortable' use of space.

We are about to design our new kitchen (extending our current dining room into a big new kitchen diner) and we've decided against an island because the room will be a tricky shape and we can fit in either a large island or a large table. We're going with the table, mainly for practical use of space but partly because a table is easily moveable/ changeable/ replaceable/ whereas an island is a much more permanent structure and therefore much harder/more expensive to change if we decide we don't like it!

Not helpful, but all except A. I have just moved to a kitchen laid out like that and walking round the island to the sink and other essentials is driving me loopy.

C

It depends on whether you are happy to be cramped in the kitchen. I don’t think a cramped kitchen is sociable. Add people plus all these bulky bits in the kitchen and it would be uncomfortable not sociable. People would not want to hang about in a crowded space.

If it is sociable you want in the kitchen then make the space comfortable and spacious to host people. Otherwise make another room in the house the social space.

I understand why you don't like D too. We have something similar because we inherited it with the house and the table gets in the way. It also means people in the cooking area all the time.
Personally I preferred the plans from your previous thread. Nicely enclosed cooking area with no people or chairs in it and views over garden and table when cooking. Every design has some compromises and I would take the compromise of walking round from the living room over having the centre of my cooking area as a walkway to the table and the back of the house. Sorry!

I like c but push the table against the wall and lose the little bench seat at the end for day to day, you can alway pull the table out again if you need an extra seat for entertaining but day to day you probably want more space to walk by the other end of the table.

D is my least favourite. I hate that type of kitchen layout, personally,

I think C is the best use of space. But agree with @BigRedBoat about the table/bench

Do not underestimate how much stuff you need out on the counters (unless you store your kettle and toaster in the cupboard, a la Derry Girls). In every plan but D most of your counter space is on the island/peninsula which is fine for cooking, but it will look very untidy if you have things out on it permanently. Your eye is just drawn to the stuff sitting on it from anywhere in the room.

We have this exact issue with our small kitchen and the island, it's just a shit magnet that I can't keep clear. We're planning to move and plenty of counter space against a wall is the main thing I'm looking for in a kitchen.

@CatkinToadflax that's my problem with islands in a nutshell!

@Myshinynewname I can't go back! Though am a little sad for my old design with its clever cupboards...

@BigRedBoat @CoffeeCheeseandCupcakes that would be the plan with the table - the bench would IRL be a banquette running all along that section of wall and the table would be pushed back against it, unless we needed the seating.

unless you store your kettle and toaster in the cupboard, a la Derry Girls

* @TheCraicDealer* this is what keeps me up at night! The microwave would live in a cupboard near the sink (not ideal but only place to keep it out of the way), there would be a shallow shelf all along the wall without cabinets on it for salt & pepper, bottles etc and the kettle, toaster and bread bin would have to be on the counter to the left of the hob, which again isn't perfect but as good as I'm going to get I think.

I know D is most practical, but we're going to have all the upheaval and eye-watering expense of the extension so I want a kitchen to make my heart sing. D doesn't even make it squeak.

Isn’t there a way to make practical D exciting?

C is my favourite of the ones here. I really dislike A (too cramped) and D (no separation of cooking and eating).

B I can’t stand islands unless the kitchen is very large, they just don’t work otherwise.

I think C is your best option. The table in the middle in D I really dislike, it reminds me of a student house I lived in. We inherited the same in this house too and I couldn't wait to get rid of it! I don't like a separate dining room completely but I do like the table to feel separated from the cooking area.

A with table at 90 degrees to plan. Or B with no chairs at the island.

Neither plan is ideal and both can be tweaked.

D will drive you mad. Not enough work space. Unless you use the table. Which will drive you mad.

Why can't you use the table for workspace?? Islands WERE kitchen tables, not so long ago. Think Julia Child.
Galley kitchens were incredibly functional, farmhouse kitchens incredibly "social". It is not that easy to mix the two formats.

Why can't you use the table for workspace??

Because tables are the wrong height, so you'll hurt your back using a table for workspace all the time. And the chairs are in the way to get to the table, so you'd constantly be moving them out of the way.

Is this nation big on spending time in the kitchen prepping and making meals afternoon, evenings, and weekends? Is the kitchen now a great social space for the majority of families?

I love cooking but don’t need a crowd around me when I’m doing it. Our social space is either the dining room or the drawing/sitting room.

When did we become a nation where the kitchen is our social space whilst we cook up a storm every evening?