kitchen island size

Kitchen Island Size - Your First Criteria

When considering a kitchen island size, space should be your first criteria.

Not only does size determine what cooking and serving features you'll have in your kitchen island, but it defines the island’s use in the kitchen's design and greatly affects price.

Nearly 80% of all home buyers consider a kitchen island essential, according to one survey, but knowing which kitchen island sizes are best is another matter.

Interior designers point to the gravitational pull of a kitchen island, to how it becomes the focus of design and activity in the kitchen, but accomplishing that in your own kitchen involves some careful planning.

Large Or Small, Wheeled Or Installed

Large kitchen islands serve to separate open-space rooms commonly found in home design today, and they help direct traffic flow, convert eating and cooking areas to multiple-use areas between meals, keep the cook and guests together-but-apart, as well as complement other design ideas.

Large islands are especially useful in kitchens with large floor plans or odd-shaped dimensions or in open-space eating areas in apartments and condominiums.

Large kitchen islands are usually more expensive, and installed islands may require additional expense for plumbing and fixtures, electrical wiring, outlets, and overhead lighting.

Existing kitchens with little space, or that have floor plans and traffic patterns that limit the work area, benefit greatly by having a small island in the kitchen.

Often, there is no better or more economical way to achieve that highly-desirable workspace 'triangle' between the refrigerator, stove, and sink than to install a small island that frees up the work area while increasing cabinet storage and the overall cooking area.

Small islands are especially useful in kitchens in apartments or condominiums, particularly where two small islands can be arranged efficiently where one large island won't even fit.

A cart or wheeled island adds to the versatility of a small island, and because they are usually smaller, are relatively inexpensive.

Carts can also be wheeled into other rooms or outside onto the deck or patio, in effect making them two for the price of one.

To check out a wide range of styles and sizes click here.