Proper dining table or use kitchen island ?

[Ozster]

Our kitchen will be small so thinking of space saving ideas but a dining table is a must.
Do I -

1. Get a long slim dining table ?( this men's I have no room for an island :(

1. Get and island and use this as a 'dining table ' with chair around it ? But I'm thinking, would it be annoying / uncomfortable to be sitting so high up to eat ?

Thank you

1. The table could be extendible if you like, too. What do you want an island for? If it’s for food prep you could have a removable surface on it too.

I wanted the sink on the island so it could look out of the French door.
And have some pendant lights over it :)

Table. Definitely - so much more flexible. Unless you have room for a table in another living/dining area. Who wants to eat (for example) Christmas lunch perched at a kitchen island?

If that's your only dining area then definitely a table in my opinion.

If you have another dining area with room for a proper table then go for an island.

My parents had a 'breakfast bar' instead of a kitchen table. Yes, it was bloody annoying and uncomfortable eating all our meals at it (and my hair got caught in the toaster once and caught fire )

I don't think islands work in anything other than pretty large kitchens tbh.

Definitely a table, it would be very strange to always eat off of the island (which would need to be large/have a large overhang to get legs under). I think you only have an island when you have space left over after working out where the table will go.

I think table
I also agree that islands work best in bigger rooms.
My Mil has a dining table, then has a console at the end of it that she used as an island and as a place to put wine bottles etc when eating at the table.

@LadyMonicaBaddingham 😂 Xmas dinner 'perched 'on the island sound awful !

Thank you ! Table it is :)

I will try to post plans ..need to figure out how

There was a thread quite recently where a poster decided on an island with a table at the shorter end. This would work i there's enough space to sit round the table when you need to. You could get an extendable one for flexibility?

Thank you for replying everyone.

You all obviously have much more practical minds than me :)

Can you fit a table/island combo?

Glad you’re going for a table. We had a flat in London with a breakfast bar and high stools (no room for a table). So uncomfortable. For 2 years, we ate all meals off our coffee table, sitting cross-legged on the living room floor!! We were young and no kids. Seems a bit bonkers now 😂

As someone who is starting to suffer from arthritis, I will think twice about going to lunch, where there is only a bar and no table. They are now so uncomfortable.

If you can have both - fine. If not, a table wins.

I also think table.

I'd dreamed of an island and we have a separate dining room, but when we moved in we bought an extending dining table for the kitchen. Meanwhile, Covid hit, DH took over the dining room for his office so now I'm left with the kitchen table.

It's made me realise I'd have struggled with just an island. Yes there are only 2 of us at present, but when the kids and their partners come for tea thats potentially 6 people around a table and as has been said above Christmas lunch perched around an island would be no fun.

Now if DH would bugger off back to the office and give me my dining room back.....😂

I think posters are not really looking at the flexibility you can build into an island. You can have a lowered end with storage underneath. Use the upstand for sockets for charging devices. In a smaller kitchen, don’t waste storage space. You don’t have to have the seating at bar stool level. Also consider building in bench seating. Bench seat lifts up for storage. Just a Plain table and chairs is poor use of space.

Regarding the sink. Do you have drainage? I think a hob is better on an island.

The sink should be where the water is available and where you want a DW and WM.

We have an island for a dining table I love it

A table.

We’ve been eating at our Island for 18 months just because we hadn’t found a table we liked pre-lockdown and then decided not to spend the £ for a while as we couldn’t shop properly for one.
It’s fine as obviously not had any guests, but I am looking forward to a table again.
We have room for both, if I could only have one definitely the table.

Our building work finished recently and we have an island (with induction hob). Planning to get a table at some point but we aren't in a rush, quite happy eating at the island (even ate our Christmas Dinner there!)

Why can’t you just lower the end of the island to table level? It doesn’t have to be either/or.

@PresentingPercy

Why can’t you just lower the end of the island to table level? It doesn’t have to be either/or.

This gives no flexibility though - can't sit all round the table

You can haves section that slides out. The advantage is the extra storage that this provides. I’ve seen some fairly decent seating areas configured like this. If you were looking at a breakfast bar, you would get 4 possibly. The table with storage could seat far more. However it’s not my kitchen!