Kitchen island ideas

Perhaps you want a kitchen with an island so you have an extra worktop space to prepare food. Maybe a kitchen island with seating is going to allow you to have more friends or family over for dinner. It could be that you want to redesign your kitchen layout to allow you to cook from the island while looking out into the room. In each of these cases, you’re solving a problem with your current kitchen: lack of space, seating, and impractical layout.

Once you’ve decided on a purpose, keep this in your mind throughout the entire planning process below so your project has a focus.

Our advice is that you leave a gap of at least 1.2m for you to walk around your kitchen and make it look as aesthetically pleasing as possible. This is particularly the case for an island that has cupboards opposite it.

Where the island is opposite a wall, you could potentially make this gap a little smaller, more like 90cm, but you absolutely need to ensure you can still open the island’s drawers and cupboards comfortably. Where space is an issue, you could consider using open-plan shelving as an alternative. 

If the island will have bar stools, you should leave enough space to be able to pull these out and easily settle yourself into them. Bar stools are usually best placed on the side of the island that faces the rest of the room so you can pull them out as far as you need to. Where you need to position them so they’re in a walkway, the gap should be extended to at least 2m. 

Besides size, the other practicality to consider is how your kitchen will function with an island. In kitchens, we have what is known as the work triangle. This is a generalised layout that recommends your three main appliances (fridge, sink and oven) are placed in a triangle shape. When you have a one wall kitchenl, it can be very difficult to achieve this, which is where a kitchen island could help you.

You can use the island as a home for your hob, while your sink and fridge are located within the main kitchen units to form a triangle. It’s the ultimate practical design for a kitchen with island. 

Dual-tone kitchens are a huge crowd pleaser right now and we love the contrast that two opposing colours can create. Create a multicoloured space by contrasting the colours of your top and bottom cabinets. Alternatively, introduce a whole new colour in your kitchen island. You could try to match what you currently have by simply opting for a slightly darker or lighter variation or go bold by choosing a pigment from the opposite side of the colour wheel. Either way, your kitchen island will stand out in style. 

A different colour island can work wonders, but a different worktop can make the kitchen feel disjointed and unharmonised. To tie everything together, you should keep some elements the same, and the worktop is the perfect way to do this. If you want to add a statement, waterfall edge worktops offer a touch of luxury and will surely be the talking point when your friends and family come to visit (with a touch of jealousy thrown in too).

Statement handles are another way to add some ‘wow’ to your kitchen. The options for handles are almost endless; round, square, bars, cups, loops, silver, brass, gold, matte black. You can truly show off your individual personality and style through the handles you pick.