The one thing I miss most about my old house is probably my kitchen island. I didn’t realize how much I used it until I went to a home without one.
An island can be a simple place to have ample workspace, or it can be elabore with sinks, outlets and the like. You can choose granite, laminate, tile, wood or artificial stone products to top your island. My suggestion would be to get a butcher block insert for cutting so that you can keep your knives sharp and not damage the surface of your island.
Many islands have a cooktop insert. Some folks even put additional cooking units in, like a deep fat fryer or a stove top grill, depending on family uses and tastes. One thing to remember is if you install a cooktop over your island, you will need to install a ceiling mounted exhaust fan.
Speaking of toppers, if you’d like a focal point for your island, consider a hanging canopy over which to thread trailing ivy plants. You could even hang cooking utensils from it.
Once you’ve decided what cooking units you are putting on top, consider affixing other implements to aid your kitchen time. Attaching rollers on the side is an excellent place to hang towels or food wraps. You cannot go wrong with deep drawers on your base for storing those extra large pots and pans. A must for me is a bookcase on the side of mine for my collection of cookbooks.
It is also important to take the island’s height into consideration. As a relatively tall woman, I wanted my island a little bit taller than standard size, which is 36 inches, to ease the pressure on my back. If you bake bread, and do a lot of kneading, a lesser height may be more desirable.
Source: Chet Day
