I just moved into a home with a two level peninsula from a house with a single level island - plain island, no sink or cooktop. We sat at our island everyday. We never sit at the counter now because it's too narrow for anything other than a plate - no newspaper, laptop, etc.. I also don't like climbing up on bar height stools - much prefer sliding on and off counter height.

I have a second home with a counter height island with sink. Like the counter height but not the splashing from sink. I would not choose to put a sink or cooktop in an island unless the island was very large so the fallout of cooking didn't hit the seating area of the island. I guess that is an advantage of two level - there's a vertical surface to contain the splatter.

There's a vertical space but grease splatters up, steam/smoke/odors billow up and expand quickly as they rise, etc. I assume you will have a good range hood that's at least 6" wider than the cooktop and 27" deep...and installed at the proper height.

For seating, be sure the counter surface is at least 18" deep so you can put a plate and glass on the counter at the same time without the risk of knocking one or both onto the counter below.

Be sure you have a minimum of 12" of clear leg/knee space for your seating overhang.

Are you sure you want a flame on front of your visitors?

The sink would be better in the islanda and then you can do your prepping while visiting with friends and family. You spend 70% or more of your time prepping and only 10% of your time cooking. You need water for prepping so it makes more sense to put your sink on the island.

We rented a place for two weeks with a raised counter behind a gas slide-in range with a downdraft ... venting was lousy grease shattered, steam billowed into people's faces, etc. I banned anyone from sitting directly behind the range when I was cooking. I hated it!

I have a 2-level island with sink. I would not want a cooktop there. The raised bar is to hide the kitchen more than to be sat at (it also wraps around the side for this reason). The lower level is about 28" deep and the top will be about 21" deep if I ever get a countertop for that section picked out. After a year of plywood, though, I'm getting used to it. :)

We don't intend to use it for eating. We COULD, but why the heck would we want to?

The bar top will be 24" deep, and we have a 36" 650 cfm hood. Moving the cooktop off the island is not an option, as we have a large window on the perimeter wall that I am not willing to lose. We chose to do the two level island for safety reasons - to create some separation between the cooktop and seating. Anyways, still hoping to hear from folks who love theirs!

I regularly rip them out in favor of single level islands. It has been 3-4 years since I last did a dual level island. It's not about "popularity". It's about functionality. You gain comfort. You gain prep space. You gain a sense of spaciousness.

I would suggest that you post your layout. An island is much too valuable to have either a cooking zone or cleanup zone located on it. A prep sink, sure. You have to have other walls in the home! If you don't, perhaps the open concept has been taken too far.

We're getting ready to begin our remodel and we're getting rid of our two level peninsula, making it all one level. No one ever sat there...it felt like a wall, it was a barrier for some reason. I will say that if that's where the cooktop was and I had no choice about its location, I'd be keeping the two-level. Additionally, our cooktop was in our island and we're moving it to a perimeter wall, not the peninsula. I hated having the cooktop there. I'm sure there are folks who like it, but both the cooktop in island and two level counter on the peninsula were the top two things I wanted to change after 6 yrs in this house.

Funny. Mine is intentionally a barrier/wall. :D

I have had a 2 level island, hated it, and took great joy in taking a sledge hammer to it 2 houses ago. I have had an island cooktop and absolutely hated it. I think I might possibly go mad if I had to have both at the same time. (just sayin'....) I might think different with an island like 20 feet long or something like that.

Thanks for all the negative comments, but the layout is not changing at this point, we're too far into it.

It's never too late to make something work better!

Sounds like you are trying to justify a decision already made.

I don't think ours is comparable. It's a penninsula between our living area and kitchen and the bar wraps around the non wall side. It's 38" deep by 8'. Our slide in induction range is in it. It's not meant to sit at, so the white oak top is only 8" deep. We had a single level with the counter occupying the same footprint and we added the bar to visually separate the kitchen during our recent kitchen refresh. Now from the couch, you can't see either counter. It's usually just my DH and me, but the single level was also an inviting expanse for keys, mail, winter gloves, cans that got dropped instead of making their way into the recycling bin, etc. We are happy with our decision.

I showed up here 3? years ago with a professional kitchen design and dead set on a cooktop in the island. These fine folks talked me out of it and I'm grateful.

We decided on a single level island mostly for the workspace. I wanted a wide expanse of counter for rolling out dough. I love it and now when I'm in kitchens with a two level island it feels like it's all useless space.

Lived with an island range for 25+ years. No room in present house and I miss it. My last kit had large double windows on both of the kit walls.

Wow, such comments. I think you should post your plans.

I have seen two level islands work where the second level is higher and is meant to be a barrier so that the main work surface is not seen. It looked fine, but it was in a 40 x 30 kitchen....with seating and better views elsewhere.

From a safety perspective, I like the idea of an induction cooktop. It would prevent someone from accidentally sending their newspaper or homework into open gas flames through inattention.

Would you consider switching to induction if you're so set on having your cooktop on the island?

I had an "island" in my condo with a raised bar. It hid the stuff in my sink. In my new kitchen I'm doing counter height. I'm getting too old to try and pull myself up onto those higher stools.

In answer to the title question, no I did not love my two-level island or two-level peninsula (same kitchen) and took great pleasure in removing both when I remodeled. The peninsula got the clean-up sink, the cooktop was against the exterior wall (next to a window, not in front of it). In my current home, I have a 4 x 10 island with NOTHING on it (I would have put the sink there, but couldn't move the plumbing).