How to Choose the Right Kitchen Island
I work as a blogger for businesses although I do a variety of different types of writing. I particularly enjoy writing about all aspects of design and creativity. I think that your home should reflect your personality and that it should change as you change. More about me at www.kathrynvercillo.com and http://diaryofasmartchick.com.
I work as a blogger for businesses although I do a variety of different... More »
One of my favorite things about any type of home design is openness. I love homes with tall ceilings and a lot of windows. I also love big rooms with an open and airy design. It makes me feel freer to reside in a space like this.
The kitchen is an area of the home that often fails to embrace this kind of openness. With a need for lots of storage space in an area often limited in size, the kitchen can be a pretty claustrophobic place. One solution that I've found is to open up the walls a bit and use a kitchen island to create both seating and storage.
In a kitchen that's too tiny, a kitchen island can be overwhelming. However, mid-sized to large kitchens can really be opened up with the right kitchen island. Here's a look at some of my favorite kitchen island designs that I think really expand the rooms they are in.
The kitchen is an area of the home that often fails to embrace this kind of openness. With a need for lots of storage space in an area often limited in size, the kitchen can be a pretty claustrophobic place. One solution that I've found is to open up the walls a bit and use a kitchen island to create both seating and storage.
In a kitchen that's too tiny, a kitchen island can be overwhelming. However, mid-sized to large kitchens can really be opened up with the right kitchen island. Here's a look at some of my favorite kitchen island designs that I think really expand the rooms they are in.
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| This kitchen island is great for multiple reasons. First off, it's small in size so it's possible to create something like this even in kitchens that don't seem to have a lot of extra space. Second, it's got a really unique style with cool bar stools that speak to its design. And third, it compliments the surrounding decor of the kitchen so that it doesn't stand out as the center of the room itself but rather blends in really nicely with the overall look of the room. |
| Here is a look at how a fairly simple table can function as a kitchen island. This adds a lot of extra storage space and counter space without crowding up the room. The piece itself is a little bit bulky for my tastes but the general idea of an open base with a narrow top is exactly the kind of thing I'd be looking for if I wanted to add a table-style kitchen island to my home. |
If your kitchen is big enough then you can add a two-sided kitchen island with one side for food preparation and the other for counter-style dining. What really helps to open up the kitchen here is the fact that the kitchen island is a bright white and the rest of the room also has white/light coloring and lots of different types of lighting. The more well-lit your kitchen is, the more it's going to open up.
| What I really love here isn't so much the kitchen island itself as the bar stools that were selected to go along with it. I think this shows how an open-base stool design can create additional seating in the kitchen area without adding bulk or taking away from the spaciousness of the room. |
This is an example of a large kitchen island that could have gone really wrong if it weren't for a few things. The light coloring helps to keep this island from seeming to heavy. Also, what is kept atop the counter is minimal; if it were cluttered then this could be a really big no-no for opening up the room. However, done correctly, it provides a lot of storage space for the kitchen without taking away from the airiness of the room.
Here is a good example of how to design around a kitchen island to keep the space airy. The table here is long and low and the light above the island is narrow. Keeping other furniture in the room small helps to balance out the large kitchen island. As you can see, there are drawers and shelves for storage in the island but the open design of the island itself also maintains the openness of the room.
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| If you're lucky enough to have a kitchen that is already open in its design, without walls and doors separating it from the next room, then you may find that adding a kitchen island can create a sense of privacy in the kitchen without reducing that openness. Such is the case here where the rather small kitchen is clearly open but the addition of the kitchen island makes it its own space with seating and counter area. |
This is another example of how seating for a kitchen island can actually be almost a part of the next room over and yet add to the kitchen itself. The bar stools here will ideally compliment the decor in both the kitchen and the adjacent room to create a sense of harmony between the two spaces.
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| This is an interesting example of how a kitchen island can serve as art for the home. In this case, the island itself is rather bland but the choice of bar stools, wall art, sculptural art and lighting that surround it serve to highlight it as a key part of the room. Because the kitchen isn't walled off, the island is like the centerpiece of an open area. |
I absolutely love this small bi-level kitchen island. It has a modern design that adds to the overall decor of the room. It's great for a two-person home that doesn't have a lot of extra kitchen room but does need some additional seating. Adorable!
Ideabook updated on Sept. 6, 2009.
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