Talk to me about kitchen peninsulas

[ItGivesMeTheRightHump]

We have a rectangular kitchen, and currently the units run across one of the short walls and part way down a long wall, in an L shape.

A bit more counter space and storage would be nice, so we're thinking in the redesign about adding on a peninsula so the units form a u shape. However, the sticky out peninsula bit would only be 1 unit deep, there wouldn't be an overhang for seating and we wouldn't put a sink or hob on it. Would that be weird?

The room proportions and location of the doors means that even though it's a decent sized room overall there isn't room for an island.

This type of thing.

We have a peninsula that’s about 3 units deep. No seating or hob or sink in the peninsula. I think it looks good. We have a tv on the other side (in view of a corner sofa) and some shelving and cupboards.

We had one like that (one unit deep, no seating, just surface no hob etc), but the kitchen was more square so it was longer - it had four cupboards in the bit that stuck out. I don’t think it was weird, it was really useful.

Thanks. This would only have one cupboard in the bit that sticks out, it would have the corner until plus a 60cm or maybe a 90cm. So the dimensions would be quite like the photo.

@LattePatty do you mean yours is 3 units side by side coming out from the wall? I'm presuming you don't mean from the cupboard fronts to the back panel is 3 units deep.

I still think it’s a useful thing to have. We had a massive corner cupboard with those pull out shelf thingies (the kitchen was there when we moved in so not sure what they’re called) which was really useful. And extra surface space is always good.

Do you mean the corner unit where the shelves swivel out, kidney bean shaped?

Our table will be the other side of it, so I'm thinking it could be useful for dishing up on.

Yep - otherwise the corner cupboard would have been big but annoying and stuff at the back would have been forgotten.

Ours was the same. And it was useful for that, and for clearing the table after dinner, and for meals with dishes that didn’t all fit on the table eg a big roast

You can have a normal unit in the corner, but opening into the dining area.

I've got very similar. Ours accommodates a beer fridge, one cupboard and one set of drawers. No overhang/bar stool seating etc.

I think this looks good, and is becoming more popular - probably in response to all the ridiculous mini-islands that serve no purpose!

We have this, and it helps to zone the room, as well as being useful for the extra storage. As our room is quite small, we have built in bench seating on the other side of it, ie the back wall of the kitchen unit serves as the backrest for the bench.

We’ve got a similar set ip
and I can honestly say it’s the most used area of worktop in the whole kitchen. We’ve got our dishwasher underneath plus a corner unit which houses the unit for our boiler tap.

Oh this is all very positive! The internet is full of photos of peninsulas with bar stools so I wasn't sure if what we were thinking of would be a bad idea.

@Choccyp1g, I did wonder about doing exactly that, as I'm not a huge fan of corner cupboards. Hmm. 🤔Will go to Ikea and have a play with one of the kidney bean contraptions. The other corner will just be a standard carousel I think, due to space.

Same. Love my peninsula

That looks like DD’s kitchen! Her peninsula does have enough overhang for two bar stools facing towards the kitchen, on the same side of the peninsula as her dining table and chairs, it’s really useful for dishing up and a nice spot for me or DGC to perch and chat when DD is in the kitchen!

We recently renovated and originally thought we'd get an island because the space was quite large. In the end, we went for a peninsular and love it. Ours is a longer and wider than yours, but it certainly adds more work space and storage.

We too don't have a sink/hob in it. Make sure you get drawers rather than cupboards and also lots of plug sockets. We were advised not to get those pop up types. We have 2x double sockets at the end of the peninsular and another 2x double ones at the wall. Ours does have a slight overhang, but no one sits there. We don't have kids and people mainly just sit at the dining table which is at the other end of the room.

The only other option, which my in laws have, is an island on wheels. Not this exact one, but you get the idea.

Yes sorry that’s what I mean. Our worktops are a bit deeper than normal so we’d have more space.

Good tip about the plugs, thanks, it hadn't occurred to me at all to put plugs on the end of it. We have a decent number round the walls, but one on the end of the unit would be very fancy indeed.

@Gazelda tell me more about having your dishwasher there. I have room in the window side of the U to have a dishwasher, the sink and 2 x 20cm cupboards (Ikea say you shouldn't have a dishwasher next to a corner cupboard without this). So are your dishwasher and your sink at 90 degrees to each other? Or is your sink in the peninsula too?

I've typed the word peninsula so often it doesn't look like a real word anymore.

We have a peninsula and love it! As PP says, it zones the room. We have a table the other side so yes it's useful for dishing up but also I do nearly everything on it. So very useful to have such an expanse of plain worktop with nothing over it (except pendant lights). We don't have seating at it, chose to have the worktop full width of it to allow a unit on the other side (i.e. it's one and a half units deep).

We also have a corner cupboard that has a very clever pull out thing fitted, where you pull a handle and the first set of shelves comes out and turns the corner to sit against the peninsula, while at the same time the second set trundles into view to sit where the first one was. Those shelves can then be pulled forward so you can easily get to the back of them. We have another corner cupboard with the same thing in them.

We have a ‘waterfall’ granite work surface at the end so couldn’t have a socket on the side. But we have a pop up plug at the end of the worktop (like a flap that you press and it turns over) - it still works after 4 years so hope will continue to. We also have a warming drawer but I wouldn’t bother with that again because it takes ages to warm up.

While I have you all, can anyone suggest elegant solutions for where to store washing up liquid, dish mops etc? Mine are currently in a caddy in the windowsill but I’m thinking there’s probably a better way.

I'd make use of any spare space, so if there is a space next to the sink, you could keep sponges/tea towels on there. Otherwise, have under sink drawers.

Also, if you need extra storage space, plinth drawers could be a solution but only if your floors are flat.

PLINTH DRAWERS??!!! This is a new world of magic.