Today, with the increasing trend for open plan kitchen and dining/living rooms the kitchen island is the heart of the home for many families. It’s where you gather in the morning for a cup of coffee and lunch preparation before rushing off to work, where your kids do their homework while you chop the vegetables for dinner, or where you gather your friends for drinks and nibbles at the beginning of an evening.
Planing an Island
When considering whether to include an island in your kitchen design, the first question is, do you have the space?
Preferably you should have a 900mm-1000mm walkway space all around the island as this is enough for people to pass each other comfortably and also keep easy access to cupboards, ovens, dishwashers and pull-out drawers and cabinets.
If you don't have quite enough space, at Emlyn Kitchens we can help you to find other solutions and come up with design ideas to make the most of the space you have.
Social Space
Most people prefer to face into the room while cooking and preparing food, so the island is the perfect place for the hob, food prep areas and plating up, you can also have a breakfast bar or even a dining table space included which works for a social get together, eating and as a home office space.
This is especially useful in an open-plan room, as you’ll find guests and the rest of the family will gravitate towards the island, whether for relaxed Sunday brunches or as a place to do homework.
Extra Prep Space
One of the great things about islands is that they give you a bigger space to prepare food, especially if you add a sink or hob to your island. As well as having extra space, you can also make it more useful by having more than one type pf worktop, such as maybe an area of marble or granite for rolling pastry or a chopping block in a different material.
If you do decide to have the hob in the island there are a number of ways to deal with extraction, although a simple ceiling extractor can often be the best solution.
We can of course advise you about the solutions on offer and help you choose the option that suits you best.
More cupboard space
Depending on what style of kitchen island you choose, we will design your storage to suit your needs. Your island can include everything from wine fridges and wine racks to open shelving, curved cupboards and deep drawers for pans and crockery.
Adding Style
As well as being practical, islands can add some real style to your kitchen. You can use colour or a beautiful stone worktop to turn your kitchen island into something truly special and make it a centre point of your living space.
Finishing Touches
The final step in designing an island is selecting the finishing touches such as beautiful pendant lights that can really finish the project with style. At Emlyn Kitchens we can help you with everything and we also have a fabulous range of kitchen pendant lights to choose from.
Why not contact us for a free, no obligation kitchen consultation.
We plan, design and install beautiful kitchens for all budgets.
The images in this blog post are all kitchens from our range at Emlyn Kitchens.
All our kitchens are FSC certified products.
All our kitchens come with a 15 year guarantee on all doors and drawer fronts and a 20 year guarantee on all cabinetry.
We offer a Customer Deposit Guarantee Scheme on all our kitchens backed up by the manufacturer.
As a commitment to sustainability at Emlyn Kitchens, we plant ten trees on behalf of every one of our kitchen customers.
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