I agree Molly. However, I know here, even in the over 55 communities people don't expect to stay in them "forever". They think of them as transitional - from the homestead, to the over 55 place, then to the assisted living. So most people at that age don't want to visualize that they couldn't get around the barrier island in a wheelchair or a walker. So your assumptions are correct. They sell them as 'boomer' communities, NOT retirement communities.

My parents, at 75 and 80, are the YOUNGEST folks in their townhome area. God love 'em, they take care of every one of their neighbors.

This townhome is lovely, but the kitchen is, as you say, poorly designed for anyone needing assistance from a walker, wheelchair, or even a cane. IMH TKO opinion, it's just poor design period. It's a U-shaped kitchen, with several doorways, and a square island in the middle. The refrigerator door barely clears the island, the aisles are so narrow. There is no landing space to the right of the sink, nor on one side of the slide-in range. Actually, what should be the landing area for the refrigerator is the rangetop itself. Makes me crazy.

I can't go on because I get worked up about it, but SOMEONE was not thinking when that kitchen was thrown together, uh, designed.

Have you looked at the kitchen magazines with a Sweeby eye? I hadn't looked at my stack (five years' worth) at all since finding GW :) Went back through them looking for the one a poster recently requested and was truly appalled! What I mostly used them for was visual design ideas (finishes) rather than space planning, but, yowzah! What bad space planning most of the kitchens have!!

While I agree with Buffettgirl's point about the "boomer" rather than old folks' mindset, it's good universal design to make the aisles passable by all, not have protruding handles, have a good workflow, etc. The problem comes that nowadays kitchens are supposed to have islands. They're "features". No one (besides us TKOs) talks much about whether the island is functional.

In a word, "NO!" Some of those builders that build homes do NOT think, do NOT cook, and do NOT know who to trust when it comes to planning spaces. It's ludicrous.

We wanted to use a well known home designer's plan and were willing to pay the few thousand for HIS PLAN. However, I wanted the kitchen laid out differently to correct some problems I saw. The owner of the plan would NOT ALLOW any changes. He has a complicated contract drawn up so that if you cannot modify his design. This was my CUSTOM home and I intended to cutomize it with or without his approval. I drew our house plans myself and we are very happy with the results and thrilled. All of our interior doors are at least 36" wide or more and all halls and walk areas at least 4' or more wide. How very nice to live in a home with room for once.

No they aren't, but then, they don't cook much either!

You KNOW I agree Mollyred! And it just isn't that hard! I evaluate a design from the perspective of what you do in the space -- how you work:

- Prepare food (fridge to landing zone to sink to prep area to cooktop)
- Help kids with homework or visit with friends or family while prepping food for cooking (prep area open to seating space)
- Put hot food onto plates or serving dishes and serve (ample counter top near prep area)
- Kids set the table and get drinks (dishes to table path and table to fridge path NOT crossing the prep to cooking zone)
- Clear the table and wash the dishes (table, trash, sink & DW)
- Put away the dishes (DW to dish storage)
- Put away groceries (Landing zone close to fridge and pantry)

You can make a clear, simple list of how your optimal design will function, then TRY, try, try to get it all to work. If you can't move every doorway and/or have very limited space, then there may have to be some sacrifices. But after you have the functional floorplan - THEN, and only then - work on making it beautiful. Personally, I think you can take any functional design and make it attractive; but you can't take any beautiful floorplan and make it functional.

This just got me thinking, not all large islands are barrier islands. It really depends on how they're planned.

For example, most people who saw a picture of my kitchen (see below) might consider my island to be a barrier island (and believe me, I think they're incredibly stupid too). But it isn't. Not by a long shot. Sure, it's big, sure it's in the middle of the kitchen. BUT, it was planned for ease of use and work around in a two cook kitchen. The prep sink is near the stove which is also near the fridge. And we allowed alot of extra distance in the "aisle" that is the stove to island space so that we can have oven doors open, and people can still get past with great ease and space. So when you're working, only this half of the island is in use on either side. the fridge side for prep work (with it's own garbage/recycle under the sink) and the main sink side for doing dishes and with garbage/recycle on that side too. We also allowed enough space to be able to have the dishwasher open and walk past (although it is tighter here, I admit, it's perfectly workable).

So, in short, I never have to walk around my large island, i go from one side of one end, to the other as need be. THe other end, the dining room end, has the wine fridge and glass storage. Perfect.

I'm sure that most humungo islands are poorly planned, no doubt. But you can have a large island in a very efficient work space.

Our kitchen is about 14 X 13 and I can't remember how big our island is, but you can guage from the pics.

Ivette

Here is a link that might be useful:

Geesh- How I wish I had read this before my kitchen was done! Even though I love my island, the placement of the refrigerator relative to the island could have been better. I only have 36 inches between the island and fridge and that doesn't include the handles. It all looked good on paper- oh well.

I'm so glad you posted that Ivette!

Ivettte's example is the perfect illustration of a USEFUL island.
(And since it's very useful, by definition, it ISN'T a barrier island.)
Simply by putting the prep sink in it, that island creates an efficient work triangle for a cook: fridge to prep sink and prep space to range. Now WITHOUT that prep sink, the island could have been a 'barrier' between the fridge and sink -- hence, a 'barrier island'.

Yup. Thanks Sweeby.

In fact, I went through 14 iterations in my kitchen design (I've saved my notebook, it was quite the puzzle) and when I hit this one, it was perfect in every respect, except for that. Then I had a lightbulb moment: "Heyyyyyy, what if I put a prep sink here?? OMG! BINGO!"

: )
Ivette

Silly question what is a "barrier island"? I learn so much here. Thanks in advance.

A barrier island is a geographical term used to describe an island near the coast that protects it from storms.

But I use it in kitchens to describe an island that (in reality) functions as a barrier between two key points -- ex. the sink and fridge, or sink and range. You'd think professional kitchen designers and architects would know better, but you see them all the time! I just went on a home tour where 5 of the 6 kitchens had beautiful but useless barrier islands!

For many, simply putting a prep sink in the island eliminates the need to go around it to get from any point in the traditional work triangle (fridge, sink, range) to the other points, thereby transforming the island from a beautiful annoyance into a great work space and creating a two-cook kitchen.

It's not official 'kitchen jargon' -- but as evidenced by how quickly it's caught on, the term sure fits!

I have a large island (8x3) that at first glance probably looks like a barrier island (I love that term, btw).

However, I like to take all of my ingredients out of the fridge and pantry and place those onto the island. My island IS the landing zone. So, I can "do the pivot" to fetch things and place them on the island.

When I have everything out on the island, I go to the other side where my range and prep sink are 4 feet apart on the perimeter. I use what I want from the island (just a pivot) and put the containers back on the island. My DH puts things away for me, or I do it when I've finished prepping the food. This way, I'm not carrying things around the island.

By having the pantry and fridge out of my prep zone, my DH and sons (when home) can get beverages/snacks and use the microwave or toaster oven or coffee pot, or clean up zone (trash, sink, dw) without being in my way.

I have 51" aisles on all sides (thinking ahead to mobility) but also because it's not unusual to have 1-4 people cooking at once. We can walk around each other. We can have oven doors or dw doors open and still walk around. There are no bottlenecks.

I went into great detail about the functionality in the kitchen. As you'll see, my decor is very simple.

That said, I've toured a lot of homes and have seen the barrier islands and the lack of work zones. I've seen amazing bottlenecks with the sink, dw, range and trash squeezed together while the rest of the kitchen was unusable space.

Cameron

Here is a link that might be useful: kitchen defined