How to Customize Your Island

You can use any arrangement of wall and/or base cabinets which fits your space, to form the base of your kitchen island. Then you can customize it in many ways:

Shape

• Change levels on part of the island, up to bar height or down to table height
• Make the island an unusual shape. Who says everything has to be rectangular? Try angles and curves: mock up the shape with cardboard and tape to see how it looks and how it works.
• Use several small movable islands pushed together to make one big island, or split them up and move them to where they are needed
• Match the island counter shape with a shape in the ceiling above – a dropped or raised section, an outline, curved track lights, a pot rack or vent hood.

Base

• Don’t use cabinet doors at all – have an “all-drawers” island
• Add feet to the bottom of your base cabinets in the toe-kick area
• Add legs to the ends, or to support an eating overhang. Check antique tables for proportions and sizes: some island legs I’ve seen in magazines are way oversized and clunky-looking to my eye.
• Use small gaps between your base cabinets for cookbook shelves, bottle storage, display niches, cutting board or baking sheet storage, pull-out towel storage, narrow pullout racks for spices, etc.
• Do without a toe-kick and have legs or a pedestal instead, especially in historic houses where this would have been done in the original period. Try the pedestal idea before you do it, to make sure you can still work at the counter without banging your toes.
• If one side of your island faces the living or family room, and that side is not an eating counter, display cabinets with glass doors look wonderful lit from inside. Safety glass and a solid bottom part to the doors reduce the risk of accidents.
• Build your island in an identifiable style that contrasts with the rest of the kitchen: Craftsman, Victorian, Modern, Art Deco or Southwestern can all make an interesting change

Countertop

• Use a countertop material different from that used on your counters round the edge of the room
• Order a special edge treatment: no matter what countertop material you use, the edges can be customized
• Use a custom-shaped countertop which overhangs the cabinets
• Combine more than one countertop material: perhaps a butcher-block prep area with a marble slab for pastry
• Include flip-up or pull-out worktop sections to extend your counter space

Materials

• Change cabinet finishes on the island: dark vs light cabinets, painted vs stained, antique-look vs modern
• Use two-tone finishes on the island cabinets: light and dark wood panels, distressed or antiqued paint finishes
• Customize the non-door ends and sides of your island: panel with decorative materials like beadboard or tile, panels or doors to match your cabinets, even wallpaper or fabric (varnished for protection). You could also use a translucent material and light it from the inside.

Details

• Use different hardware on the island, different in style, material or both
• Add rails, racks, pegs, hooks, holders etc wherever they’ll be useful
• ‘Dock’ a movable island or cart in or under a larger fixed island for flexibility
• Light your island with multiple decorative pendant lights: mini-chandeliers, art glass shades, industrial lighting, whatever fits your style. Dimmable, of course!
• Use corbels or brackets to support overhangs as well as or instead of legs. These could match corbels used elsewhere in the kitchen, perhaps supporting a hood over the range.

Appliances and Fixtures

• Add appliance drawers: fridge, freezer, dishwasher, or warmer.
• Include an interesting sink which would be impractical as your main sink: an odd shape like a trough or unusual material like copper
• An unusual or specialized faucet makes a great island feature too
• Instead of a standard cooktop in the island, use separate burners arranged in a row, or a mix of different fuel types, a grill, or induction units.

Potential Island Problems to Avoid

• Squeezing an island into a space which isn’t large enough
• creating a “barrier island” which interrupts the legs of the work triangle
• expensive plumbing work to have a sink in your island
• expensive ventilation work to have a cooktop in your island
• no visual break to hide sink- or range-side mess on the island
• too-short overhangs intended for eating, resulting in bumped knees
• cramped and too-narrow aisles round the island
• appliance doors which open into people sitting at the island
• pointy corners and edges on island worktops (ouch!)
• appliance doors on the island and perimeter directly across from each other, which interfere
• Lights not centered over the island when they should be
• Safety issues with cooktop too close to diners
• Electrical outlets in island cabinets interfere with interior fittings like pullouts or drawer slides
• Island legs which interfere with diners legs
• Making the island too narrow or too small altogether

Kitchen floor plans can benefit greatly from a custom kitchen island, but only if you can avoid the potential gotchas!

One of the best locations for an island is between the kitchen area and the living or family area of a large all-purpose room. There is usually enough space in a room like this to make an island workable, and the island can mark off the boundaries of the kitchen area and provide seating space without creating tight squeezes in the process.

Things to watch out for:

• creating a “barrier island” which interrupts the legs of the work triangle
• expensive plumbing work to have a sink in your island
• expensive ventilation work to have a cooktop in your island
• visual breaks to hide sink- or range-side mess on the island
• too-short overhangs intended for eating, resulting in bumped knees
• cramped aisles round the island
• appliance doors which open into people sitting at the island
• pointy corners and edges on island worktops (ouch!)

A peninsula can also act as too much of a barrier, especially if it includes overhead cabinets as well as base cabinets. You also need to make sure there’s enough room to get past the end of the peninsula easily. Another potential problem is appliance doors opening opposite the end of the peninsula, so that the person exploring the fridge for a snack, loading the dishwasher, or taking a hot casserole out of the oven blocks all traffic into the kitchen.

The main downside is that you have two corners to deal with. Sometimes if the opposite working walls are fairly close together you can be better off using the space as a galley rather than a U.

A galley or L-shape can sometimes be turned into a U by adding workspace across the end of the galley, or a peninsula to an L shape.

The main advantages of L-shaped kitchen floor plans are that it’s easy to keep traffic out of the work triangle, they can be compact, and the area opposite the corner of the L can be the perfect place for a table and chairs or an island.

If the L gets too big, though, it can mean a lot of walking. You also have the “corner problem”: whether to put the sink or range there (which restricts usage to one person at a time) or a cabinet which either has dead space inside or requires special fittings to use the space.

The main drawback occurs if, as in the example layout above, you have a door at each end of the space (or even more doors in the sides!). A door at each end makes the galley into a through traffic route. How much of a problem that is depends on your family and what’s at each end of the kitchen. Sometimes it’s possible to block off one of the doors and use an alternative traffic route, leaving the kitchen to the cook.

Another possible gotcha to watch for is appliance doors opening into each other across the center aisle. If possible, offset your appliances so that the doors can’t interfere with each other.

Width of the aisle between counters should be about 4 feet. More will give you more room for traffic, but more walking back and forth: less can be OK if it’s a dead-end galley with only one cook, but can feel a bit cramped.

One-wall kitchen floor plans can be very efficient, provided they are small enough. What’s that you say? Isn’t bigger better? Not when it involves walking back and forth along a long lineup of appliances and worktops! Keep your layout compact, or add an island across from your one wall if you have the space, and turn it into the equivalent of a galley. You could also consider adding a rolling island cart which stows out of the way when not in use, or pull-out work surfaces or cutting boards to add more work space.

Ideally, you want the work sequence to flow from food storage (cabinets, fridge) to prep area (countertop, sink) to cooking center (range, microwave) to eating area. Right to left or left to right is up to you and how your house is arranged. Make sure you also have at least one decent sized (30″ minimum) countertop area to work at.

The tool used to solve these problems in design is the concept of work centers or zones. A work center groups everything needed to do a specific type of task into a single area.

The three major zones are:

Food Prep Center Near fridge, near sink (may have its own sink separate from the main cleanup sink), near trash and compost containers: needs counter space, knife storage, cutting boards, measuring and mixing utensils, small appliances such as food processor or blender, casseroles and baking dishes, flavorings, cookbook storage, graters.

Cooking Center Range (stove) or cooktop and ventilation: oven may be located separately if it’s not part of a range (possibly near the baking zone). If you cook using your microwave, you might include it in this zone (possibly mounted over the range), but if you mainly use it for heating up snacks it could be better located outside the main work triangle where non-cooks can access it without getting in the way. Close to the food prep center so that food can go directly from prep to cooking. If you do a lot of cooking involving large pots of water (pasta for 12, canning, etc) a faucet nearby can be very useful. Small cooking appliances like the toaster, toaster oven, convection oven, deep fryer etc might be located here or in a separate snack center. Storage for frypans, possibly saucepans, pot lids, cooking utensils, salt, pepper and spices (away from heat), oils, vinegars and other flavorings, oven mitts and gloves, fire extinguisher.

Cleanup Center Main sink, dishwasher, garbage disposal, trash and compost bins, recycling bins, waste compactor; storage for cleaning materials, dishtowels, food storage containers and materials, paper towels, garbage bags, colanders and strainers, possibly everyday dishes and flatware (near dishwasher), possibly saucepans (near water source).

Depending on your cooking and eating style, you may have other work centers too:

Baking Center Counter space (may include marble or stone slab for rolling pastry): cookie sheets and baking tins, cookie cutters, rolling pins, electric mixer, food processor, food storage for baking ingredients, cake decorating equipment, cookbook storage, measuring and mixing utensils, mixing bowls.

Snack Center Close to refrigerator, cup and dish storage: includes microwave and toaster ovens, popcorn maker, coffee and tea making equipment and materials, water cooler, microwave-safe dishes and dish covers, oven mitts, snack foods.

Eating Center Eating surface and seating (could be a table and chairs, breakfast bar and stools, or built-in nook); storage for dishes and flatware, napkins and placemats, condiments.

Clearly, there is some overlap between the equipment and materials needed in each work center. Where you choose to keep what depends on your cooking style and needs, the size of your kitchen, and placement of centers near each other. You might also choose to duplicate some items (anything from measuring cups to dishwashers) in several zones if you have the space and it makes work more convenient.

Many of the free tools for kitchen design online are available from manufacturers websites, and in that case they concentrate on products from that manufacturer, plus a range of things like appliances.

Cabinet Liquidators Online Design Tool

• Free, browser-based
• Works with Foxfire and Internet Explorer
• How it works: choose a basic kitchen shape, customize to match your kitchen, choose cabinets.
• Cabinet and appliance selection is limited
• Printed plans are basic but clear.
• Create an account and plans can be saved as a template (so you can make multiple kitchen layouts for the same space) or a plan.
• This tool worked well and quickly, and was simple to use.

Merillat 3D Kitchen Design Planner

• Free, browser-based
• Internet Explorer only (requires download of an ActiveX control)
• How it works: there are three pathways. You can use a wizard to walk you through an initial kitchen design, you can start with a template, or you can start from scratch in the advanced designer.
• Wizard is simple to use, though slow. Layout designer non-intuitive, very similar to HGTV below, with a slightly different interface.
• Create an account and plans can be saved.

IKEA Kitchen Planner

• Link goes to a multi-planner page which allows you to download the kitchen planner as well as those for bedrooms and offices
• Free, downloads to your own computer
• Slow
• Easy to use
• Allows you to enter custom sizes for appliances, you’re not limited only to IKEA’s
• If you’re considering an IKEA kitchen, check out the IKEA Kitchen Secrets ebook

If you’ve already decided on a cabinet line, check the manufacturer or retailer’s website to see if they have a kitchen planner tool featuring your chosen cabinets.

The next option includes products from a wide range of manufacturers, not just one.

HGTV Kitchen Design: Online Designer

• Free, browser-based
• Works only with Internet Explorer, not Foxfire or other browsers, and requires installation of an ActiveX tool.
• How it works: you choose a basic layout (galley, L etc), then choose from a range of pre-built plans for that layout. You can then customize the products (appliances, etc) used in your plan, but not the layout. The separate layout planner tool is used to create a plan for your own kitchen: I was not able to see a link between the two modes.
• Very product-oriented
• You can save your designs and product lists by creating a free account. You are supposed to be able to do this after creating a plan, but I had problems doing it this way round and recommend you create your account first. Signup requires a valid US address and zip code.
• Slow (even on high speed cable)
• Flaky - refused to display my chosen base plan until I’d viewed the tutorial, then every time I tried to save a plan, it told me the name was in use, no matter what I typed in.
• If you have a small kitchen, you’ll need to choose a larger size to begin - minimum size in the Layout Planner is 10′ x 10′ - then adjust the size downwards later on.
• Definitely not intuitive to use.

Paid tools can be browser-based or desktop software. Most have a free trial available so you can try before you buy.

Plan 3D

3D Home Design Tool: Create custom kitchens, bathrooms, landscaping, etc. online - Free! www.Plan3D.com

• browser-based, paid tool (free trial available)
• Much more detailed and powerful than free tools
• You don’t buy this software outright, you buy a subscription to use it on the web.
• Cost depends on length of subscription, but you can subscribe for just one month

As well as kitchen design online, there are other paid tools which run on your own computer, including Chief Architect, SoftPlan and SmartDraw. A followup article will describe these tools.

There are several things to consider when you start working on a kitchen island design.

Do you have the space?

First, and most important, do you have space for a kitchen island at all? You need aisle space on both sides of the island. The recommended aisle width is 48″, although 42″ will do and 36″ is a tight-squeeze minimum where there is no through traffic. For the island itself, a minimum useful width is 2 feet and most people would want their island wider than this.

Here are some example plans showing the amount of space taken up by an island in various situations.

Kitchen with Central Island

Using the minimum island width of 2ft, 42″ aisles, and 2ft deep cabinets and countertops round the edges of the room, you would need a room 13 feet wide to fit an island into the middle.

L-shaped Kitchen with Island

For an L-shaped kitchen with a 5′ x 3′ island tucked into the L and 4 foot aisles, you’d need a space 9 feet by 11 feet.

Single Line Kitchen with Separator Island

If you want to use a 3′ 8″ x 7″ island opposite a single line counter, to separate a kitchen in a larger room like a great room from the rest of the room, for a four foot aisle allow a space 9′8″ deep by the length of the main counter.

If your kitchen is simply too small to allow a built-in island, like my own 8ft wide galley kitchen, you can use a kitchen island cart instead. With a cart, you can roll it out into place when you need it, and tuck it away when you don’t.

What Will Your Kitchen Island Plans Include?

You can have an island which is simply all countertop, or you can include appliances, a sink, an eating area, etc.

Island Cooktops

The two main issues to consider for a cooktop in an island are venting and safety.

Venting: obviously, with an island cooktop you can’t have a ventilation hood above it on the wall because there is no wall! You have three choices - a vent hood suspended from the ceiling above the cooktop, a pop-up vent, or a downdraft vent.

Safety: an island cooktop is accessible from more than just the front, which makes it easier for children and even adults to accidentally contact a hot burner. A narrow island where the rear of the cooktop is right at the back edge of the island is particularly bad for this. It can also be a problem when you have an eating area at counter height at the back of the range. A solution to this problem is to have a two level island where the eating area is above the range, or there is simply a raised ledge at the back of the island protecting the range (and perhaps also acting as a leaning or serving shelf).

Island Sinks

Sinks don’t pose the safety issues of cooktops, nor do they need venting in the same way. They do need their own special plumbing vent arrangements though, which can be quite awkward. Depending on the specific arrangement of your kitchen, water feed lines and drainage lines might also be more or less difficult to arrange.

Many people also dislike the idea of “sink mess” being on view as much as it can be with an island sink. This mostly applies to main cleanup sinks where dirty dishes are stacked before being washed - small prep sinks don’t seem to create as much mess. A raised area, eating counter or ledge at the back of the island can hide the sink mess from view, and provide a useful location for electrical outlets, without cutting off the views in and out of the kitchen.

Eating Areas in Islands

The most common kind of eating area combined with an island is an overhanging counter-height area at one side or end, or possibly both. This is used with stools or counter-height chairs. However, you can also have more than one level on your island, raising your eating area to bar height, 42″, or lowering it to table height, 30″. The overhang needed for an eating area depends on the height: table height needs 18″, counter height needs 15″, and bar height needs 12″. In general, allow 24″ of width for each place setting if you don’t want adults bumping elbows.

Watch out for the clearance needed behind your chairs or stools. If there’s no traffic passing by behind, you need 32″ from the edge of the table or counter to the wall. If there will be people passing behind your seated diners, 36″ will let them edge past, but you’d be better with 44″ so that they can walk past. If there are appliances on the wall behind the chairs or stools, you need even more space to allow for appliance doors to open.

How Will Your Island Relate to Nearby Work Zones?

Your new island needs to be designed in relation to other work zones in the kitchen near it. It might indeed form part of nearby work zones. For example, a refrigerator needs a landing zone close by to put things down as you take them out of or put them into the fridge. An island across from a fridge can serve as the landing zone. This is works especially well with side-by-side or french door fridges, where both sides of the fridge are “hinge sides” so you can’t put a landing zone beside the fridge on the side away from the hinge.

Similarly, if you have a prep sink in the island it should relate to your food storage area and your cooking area.

If possible, in cases like this, the aisle you cross from landing zone to fridge, or prep sink to cooktop, should not be a through traffic path.

Custom Kitchen Islands

Unless you’re using a movable island like a kitchen island cart that you can buy off the shelf, just about every island is custom in the sense that it is unlike any other, and is made to fit your space and needs. Custom kitchen islands cover a range from the completely custom-made and custom-finished island to match your custom cabinets, to a much more economical island made out of standard size cabinets and countertops assembled in creative ways.

Custom Touches for Your Island

Given some arrangement of cabinets (wall and/or base) which form the base of your island, you can customize it in many ways.

• Change levels up to bar height or down to table height
• Combine more than one countertop material: perhaps a butcherblock prep area with a marble slab for pastry
• use a custom-shaped countertop which overhangs the cabinets
• Panel the non-door ends and sides of your island with decorative materials like beadboard, tile, end panels from your cabinet range, even wallpaper or fabric (varnished for protection)
• Add legs to the ends, or to support an eating overhang. Check old farm tables for proportions and sizes: some island legs I’ve seen in magazines are way oversized and clunky-looking to my eye.
• Use corbels to support overhangs as well as or instead of legs. These could match corbels used elsewhere in the kitchen, perhaps supporting a hood over the range.
• Add feet to the bottom of your base cabinets in the toekick area
• Do without a toekick and have legs or a pedestal instead, especially in historic houses where this would have been done in the original period. Try the pedestal idea before you do it, to make sure you can still work at the counter without banging your toes.
• Use small spaces between your base cabinets for cookbook shelves, bottle storage, display niches, cutting board or baking sheet storage, pull-out towel storage, narrow pullout racks for spices, etc.

Don’t forget that the best kitchen design for you is likely to grow out of multiple possible kitchen layouts. Don’t get stuck on just one idea - and have fun creating your custom island!