Is my kitchen big enough for an island?

[Celeste777]

I've had two kitchen designs drawn up. The first one said island fits in ok, second one said I don't have enough room around it for anything bar a very skinny island.
What's the minimum comfy space I need around my island?

About 1.2 m

The very minimum I have seen was 900mm and it wasn't a comfy feeling. Felt very constrained. I would say 1-1.2m is the minimum needed for comfort.

Eek, I don't have that much space. But without one I have a huge gap and too much room between each side 😣

Can you draw up the space with dimensions?

This is the plan

When we were planning our kitchen and size of our island, we were told 1.4m+ is ideal. We have 1.8m on the sides with less room. When we were moving house we viewed a couple of houses where there must have been about a metre and it felt really cramped and cluttered and I think would have looked better without.

We have 1.1 on one side and 1.2 on another and it feels comfy and not squashed, two people can pass or work back to back. My SIL has 0.9 and it feels narrow, you cant pass easily and its a pain. But she wanted an island so didnt care!

If an island is tight, how about a breakfast bar as part of a u shape, or L shape plus peninsula?

Could you do a breakfast bar coming off the 900 unit at the top? We have that and it works great

We were told 900mm would be fine but actually that’s not big enough to open cabinets from both sides & it’s a squeeze when someone is cooking and another person is washing up. We decided to go with 1.5 because that’s big enough to comfortably do things on both sides and for a third person to walk in between.

it is not clear where the other doors go or which way people will walk through the space. but would it work to have a peninsula here (P).

think about how people will move around the room (i.e. which doors are heavily used and which are rarely used, make sure there is a proper corridor to the well used ones) before you think about whether to put an island.

D dishwasher
B bins
F fridge
F freezer
Oven x 2 single
P pantry

Click on for bigger imagine.
S storage for family room

There's no wall between kitchen and diner, the W is for wall housing where cupboards cover a little wall bump

More like this

Can it be done like this?

I wouldn’t have an island in that case.

The top L shaped kitchen area, just increase the depth of worktops a bit. The units will be fitted out a bit, and then wider worktops mean you can have stuff at the back and still full use

Are you dead set on an eye level oven? If not then fridge freezer where hob is and hob with oven under on the peninsula gives you a perfect work triangle. You would need a ceiling extractor fan though (ours was £700, which is rather 'ouch').

Thoughts on the current island plan......as you have a dishwasher, the door will hinge out a long way (much more than a cupboard door) and you won't be able to squeeze past the island when it's open. Also as is, your fridge freezer and oven may feel annoyingly far away from your sink/hob.

Good luck! Keep drawing, keep shuffling round and work out your priorities! If you can literally write out every appliance (kettle, toaster etc) and think where your big cereal boxes would go, have you got mugs near kettle and preferably easy reach of the fridge for milk etc Imagine yourself making breakkie, lunch, dinner...

Our gap is just ever so slightly over a metre - exactly a metre from countertop edge to countertop edge, so slightly wider below and I actually find it perfectly comfortable. It's a listed house and we had to retain certain walls and features and it was the only practical option, so our architect and kitchen designer really thought about how to make it feel usable and spacious.

One one side of the island we have large, wide drawers not cupboards, so they can be opened as much as you want, unlike a cabinet where it's either open or closed. We do have cabinets on the side the island that faces the integrated fridge and full height larder cupboard, but they were planned so the doors on both sides can be open without hitting each other.

The island is a bit like the one below, is visually lighter and more furniture-like than a lot of islands.

Like @Xmaslights1 says, a flat panel ceiling extractor helps cut down on visual clutter. We went with a Westin one like the one below.

We do have a large walk-in pantry/utility and the freezer, wine fridge and most small appliances - toaster, microwave, coffee maker, quooker, live in there.

I just measured and we have a 39cm gap when the dishwasher is open.

Your L shape rooms with the location is the same layout as my kitchen and I hate it!!! When cooking you can’t see the people sat at the table etc - we have a massive island 3m x 1.2m and all that happens is that it gets cluttered with crap and I have no other worktops! I’d defo have a peninsular with a breakfast bar so at least when you’re cooking/making a cup of tea etc you can talk to people sitting there!!!

I have the peninsular at present in that spot and I hate it because it's deep and has fridge under it and so I'm always in the way

There’s an Instagram account called Lehomelehouse that has a really helpful kitchen highlight talking about their island. They have a long, narrow one which I love the look of and is possibly more useable space than a squarer one!

Thanks that's really helpful :)

Rather than have a proper island, could you go for something like this instead that is moveable?

www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/tornviken-kitchen-island-off-white-oak-40391657/

I have one very similar to this from ikea and it sits perfectly in a small cottage kitchen without making it feel crowded.

I have an island with nowhere near 1.2m at the sides. The fridge door opens fully on one side of it and the dishwasher door opens fully on the other - but that's it. So maybe 70-80cm max on each side.

I had it made and it's the best thing I ever did. Doesn't feel too big and it gives me a massive amount of work space, cupboards and a drawer and enough room for two chairs on the other side.