Are you able to move the island? if the column was at the end of the island instead of in the middle you can do something like below with only 1 column and/or install a 2nd column at the other end.

Move island to have column to floor next to end of island instead of on it. Take out decorative light box on ceiling and have column top and can lights on flat ceiling. If box is not able to be taken out, can size be reduced and large decorative moulding size also reduced.? Seems like easiest fix to minimize column impact without big kitchen remodel.

Yes, change the island location so the column is on the end of the island and remove the bulky light box. It is terrible and looks worse than the column itself, and draws more attention to the column.

I had a very similar set up but on a peninsula. We removed ALL the trim and painted the steel square post a dark charcoal color to match the Venetian plaster on our large fireplace surround! The post is about 4”. MUCH smaller than all the extra and I’m completely satisfied.

H

I would say, when you're ready to update that kitchen, remove that ceiling monstrosity and have proper supports w/a properly functioning island.

Until that time, not much you can do.

this one isn't horrible. but there is no gigantic ceiling dome either.

Remove that huge soffit or whatever that thing is, (go back to the way it was), repair the ceiling and wrap the column in applied brick or a good faux brick wallpaper.

Who is the world designed your kitchen? While you have someone there, remove the soffits over the cabinets. They resemble tall chefs' hats.

Once removed, use the same product on the wall over cabinets.

^ putting brick on that column in THAT kitchen as it is, would be more of an eyesore. It works in this picture because the brick goes w/style, color and overall farmhouse vibe. in her 1990's kitchen, it would look worse than the column.

But, if she switches over to farmhouse style, it could be nice.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! The house is a colonial and I’ll be keeping with a traditional style for the home. There is a brick fireplace on the other side of the room so I wouldn’t mind wrapping the column in brick. But it’s just so close to the fridge that makes it more frustrating. I’ll probably raise the upper cabinets and remove the soffits or add in counter to ceiling cabinets and maybe remove some of the uppers overall. I just recently bought the house so I don’t know why the previous homeowners did this. My guess is it was a planning oops when they designed and built the house (in 1977) and needed more support for the two bathrooms above the kitchen.

The soffit is really the problem for me. What's in it? If the soffit can be removed and a white counter added to the island, the column might not be so offensive.

What is the soffit part going from the big block to above the oven? It is so odd, it must be covering up a duct of some kind?

When life give you lemons... ;)

It looks to me like someone expanded the kitchen and that support is what's left of what was a wall. It gives me pause to think that one support is all that's needed on that expanse of ceiling.

If you draw and measure the kitchen exactly as it exits? You would get more concrete answers.

That means all the walls,,,,,,,exactly, and the placement of the "offender" exactly.

From what I see? The kitchen needs a major adjustment in appliance location.......the beam running from the hideous soffit suggests some prior reno and expansion, long before ,. and well after 1977! build, and the kitchen was NOT open to a dining or brick fire in 1977: ) No kitchen in 1977, was open to much of anything.

Do a version of this.....every solid wall, the windows , Note where every opening leads.

It is so poorly arranged and thought out? I call it g.u.t

Do your version of this.....

This picture was taken standing in the dining area. Built in 1967, we moved in in '75...sooo your kitchen COULD have been open to the dining room but it's very likely there was a wall where your offending column is.

On rare occasions, people ignore things like this completely, although this is a gas line.

And these are plumbing and heating pipes

I think that box on the ceiling just brings attention to the post so maybe remove at least that .

Consider having a structural engineer look at your set up.

There may well be waste pipes for those two bathrooms in the column, and plumbing in that annoying soffit. I hope it’s just structural.

Remove it and see what happens. Mystery makes life interesting.

In a brand new home built in late 1972, we had similar white soffits over the kitchen cabinets. It wasn't hiding anything. I'm not suggesting you keep it, only that we all survived. From what I've seen in recent online home sale photos. it's all still there, just like in all the neighbor's.

I think the post is the least of the issues that kitchen screams dated so are you willing to do a complete kitchen redo or just hide the post ? The post is needed I bet to hold up the roof or 2nd floor that is why it is there . You will need anstaructural engineer to figure out what it is doing and how it can be changed . We cannot help with thta. For me I would be saving money to fix the whole kitchen , that whole post , box beam thing is way past what we can help with .

Since you say you just recently bought the house I would suggest you live there for a while and get the feel of the place before you start any real plans. The post in the island is not great- but once you start planning on moving it or other base cabinet changes, you will expose floor. And your floor is currently almost all open and the same.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I guess what I was looking for is if anyone has anyone had this issue and turned the column into an archway or pass through butler’s pantry? Or some other unique idea. It is difficult here bc the column is so close to the kitchen and dining room wall. Maybe I can move the fridge. Anyway, I did some visual mockups of how I can design the space without a full gut job and I think it helps make the kitchen look less dated and keeps the colonial style without a huge cost.

Also, the column does go down into the crawl space and the house is 3 stories so I really don’t think I can move it unfortunately without it being extremely expensive and very involved. I haven’t moved into the house yet but I will be taking more measurements, seeing what’s in the soffits, other assessments etc. when I am able. I was hoping to get a running start before moving in.

Live with that kitchen for at least six months and decide if current layout works for you. The high contrast between the column, dark cabinets, dark countertops might be minimized with these possible alternatates:

--Remove upper cabinets on window wall and replace remaining cabinets with more modern ones, pullout drawers, etc. Island should be painted white so column blends in better regardless of finish on remaining new cabinets. It's a supporting column, expensive to relocate, and money better spent on the rest of the renovation.

Kitchen · More Info

--If cabinet boxes are satisfactory, reface all cabinets, upper and lower, in farmhouse style cabinets since you mentioned this is a colonial and your colonial style brick fireplace is in view.

In the meantime, your photo seems like a sensible, cost-effective way to handle that inconvenient support. By showing how you might decorate the entire space, the pillar becomes just one element of it. Many home buyers look at their empty new house and make a lot of expensive renovations before moving in. When attractive furnishings are added, the eye is directed elsewhere and a problem area doesn't seem like a big deal.

It’s hard to believe that any professional would have come up with the design of your island with column. It looks like a homeowner/handyman DIY who may or may not have properly considered the structural changes.

Was the work permitted/inspected by your town and was a structural design review required/signed off by a structural engineer? You should be able to view this information at your town building dept. If not, given the large open floor plan and bathrooms’ tub/showers above it, consider including a structural engineer review early in your design process.

Once you understand the structural requirements/issues, then you and your designer can move onto the aesthetics of the design process (i.e., the fun part).

The column stays. Use it. I would use it as a base for growing herbs or greens in the kitchen.

I’d have been looking in that crawl space yesterday as you’d see exactly what it is!!! I’m sure it’s not done with all that trim there!!!!