Kitchen Design Help Island or No Island and other solutions?

[becsmeister]

Planning app submitted but things like location of sink, electrics etc will need to be finalised soon so trying to get the best layout for the kitchen diner.

I would like an island ideally but I realise my layout lends itself to a U shaped kitchen so whilst that would be functional it would mean the kitchen takes up just 8 square meters in a 32 square meter room. Might just feel like a kitchen added onto a room.

see pics:

Option 1 is to leave it just as a U shape

Option 2 is an Lshape kitchen with small island. Just leaving units off one wall of the U may create enough circulation and also pull the kitchen out into the room a bit more

Option 3 is keep the U shaped kitchen with sink and hob and everyday cooking stuff but have shallow cabinets/units on the opposite wall for things like overflow pantry, wine glasses, serving dishes etc, then have the island in the centre under the skylight with drawers for knives and forks and setting the table stuff, Then have the dining table at the back, would be a bit darker but could be cosy with nice lighting.

Option 4 is the U shaped kitchen but add a peninsula (no image for that)

What do you think and any other ideas welcome.

The room is 6x6 meters with 6 square meters cut out for the utility and WC so 30 square meters.

Think about why you want an island. do you want more storage or do you want people to sit and eat there? given you have a nice dining table, you won't need an island for eating, and in both images you've drawn the island looks too small for that.

I'd put a dresser in the dining area for extra storage of fancy plates / glasses etc.

then i'd have the U shape kitchen and add a comfy chair or two on the opposite wall to sit by the patio doors.

Or a radical idea - put the kitchen as an L shape in the space labelled 'dining' (with an island) and then put the dining table in the space labelled 'kitchen'. That might make better use of the space.

it lost an extra paragraph I wrote - option 3 with the big island in the middle is the one I like least. the island blocks the route to the patio doors, and people will either be sitting with their backs to the garden (no view) or with their backs to half the room (seems odd). I'd rule this one out.

sometimes it helps to think about how people move through the space. which routes do they walk on and what should be on those routes?

How many of ye will use the space?

Thanks, yeah I should have said the wall at the top of the image by the area marked dining is the party wall to attached neighbour so things like plumbing and extraction etc would be a problem. It may be possible but I would prefer to keep the kitchen sink and cooker where they are planned. It would be a great idea otherwise

and there will be 4 of us including 2 teenagers

We have the same layout as you. We have option c, so ovens and an extra work surface on the opposite wall. But we have no island. It would feel very cramped with an island. As a result I have this lovely space where we dance and roller skate especially if we move the dining table to one side we have a good circuit round the kitchen area to pick up some speed!

Island has to be adjacent to kitchen units running parallel for it to work. In your case its a floating island away from kitchen units, due to tight space at kitchen L which is a bit odd. Forget the island and buy a lovely kitchen table. Place it perpendicular to kitchen units and create a snug area in the top left space.

I like option three. I'd make the shallow cabinets floor to ceiling and only shallow at either end, full depth in the middle to maximise storage without affecting the window, and bookended for symmetry. I might even be tempted to take it all the way across and into the dining area for a full wall of storage, but if I did that I'd need to think about the design more carefully so it doesn't look like a block.
I'd have an island on casters so I could move it around the space depending on what I was doing.

4th option

Do you have a separate living/TV room?

or maybe this is better so you don't have to do the long walk round the peninsula every time you want to go in or leave the kitchen.. dining table would go in the corner marked dining.

I assume you are paying all this lovely money for this extension with nice new windows so for love of god don’t block the view!

None of these make much sense to me OP. You have an island for the sake of it, with no purpose anywhere you propose.

it's all disjointed.

I think I would treat it as two spaces

Thanks @Tortephant it has a lot going for it. it's interesting how you blocked up the entrance from the hall with the pantry so you turn into the dining/loading area first. I have to think more about that.

The only doubt is that the long island would block the sightlines to the garden through the sliding doors but I could make the island a bit shorter.

I'm seeing you working at and perching at the island. The family around it chatting/working/ on their phones. Eating breakfast at it. I think it will be used more than the dining area. that was the purpose of it, and making use of the garden outlook.

There is no point shoe-horning an island in just for the sake of it. It will make the space clunky and disrupt the flow around the room.

the only way it might work is to move the kitchen to where the dining room is where it can be L shaped with island in the middle. The dining table is then under the skylight with a snug where you originally have the kitchen.

Thanks @SchmuckNorris yes, unfortunately that corner is all internal/party walls so no good for plumbing/extraction.

Yes, I get the sentiment, don't want to force it for the sake of it but just wondering if there is a layout that would let it work.

Think I would go u shape, no island perhaps a peninsula with the dinning table (under the skylight) beyond looking out into the garden and put a snug area where it says dinning room. I have very similar with a utility room where yours is. My space is 45.4 sq metres in total including the utility room. Think having a snug area would be so so useful. We live in our Kitchen / dinning room/ snug all day. It hs easy access to the garden.

I think this could work other than blocking the entrance with a pantry.
it’ll get annoying quickly to have to go through the dining space to bring shopping in rather than straight to the kitchen.

id also get a round (possibly extendable) dining table. It’ll feel much nicer and give an easier flow around the dining room

Yeah, it does look good and agree I wouldn't block the entry with a pantry.

Ideally I would wait until the space is close to built and mark it out on the floor or get some massive cardboard boxes and place them where the island etc would be. However, for example if I put the hob on the bottom of the island like @Tortephant did, which seems like a good idea, I would need the extraction overhead or one of those down draft ledges that pop up but that will need fitting in when they are building the roof or floorboards plus electrics for the hob so the decision will have to come before the space can be visualised for real. The other options are less risky because they maintain the services on that bottom wall so it's essentially just furniture that can be picked after the structure is in place and the space visualised.

How about a long run of units on the wall at the bottom of the pic, not a u shape, just a straight run. Then a big, deep peninsular in front of that, off the window wall. Shrink the doors to the garden a little if you need to so the peninsula can be 120 deep at least.
Then dining table where you've originally planned and a sofa opposite the kitchen.
I'll try to draw it but I'm rubbish at that on my phone thb

Like this.

We extended our kitchen and replaced the U shaped kitchen with an L and whacking great big island. DH and I are happy with it, but DD1 is sad that her dancing space is gone.

This a very popular layout which we thought about too but in a way you may as well join it into a U shape to give you extra cupboards which we did. Having said that you then get x 2 corners which we have.

Actually I think your layout would work very well as it’s a Smaller space than my kitchen.