Kitchen Island Ideas

I'm going to use my blog as a place to "store" ideas that I come across for the projects we have in mind for our house.

Todays offering is Kitchen Islands that I like. Right now our kitchen is a galley type kitchen. To be honest it's big enough for me...but only me. If John is in there putzing around, he's in my way. When we have family dinners...forget it...I'm ready to pull my hair out by the end because of all the tripping and stumbling over everyone. And it's true...no matter what the size...the kitchen IS the gathering spot. When your kitchen isn't very big...that makes the gathering less than fun.

So we're going to expand the kitchen and dining room area into the existing sunroom using that additional 15 feet to open the kitchen/dining areas up and then that will also allow us to add to the living room area when the dining room area shuffles back. Those 3 areas are already open to each other now. We have a very informal floor plan. I'll have to put some pictures up here when I get the Christmas tree out of the living room!

Anyway...here are 2 islands that really appeal to me:

This first island is exactly what I'm thinking of as far as size. Any island we install will be large. It will also have an electric cook top that has at least 5 if not 6 heating areas. Nothing more frustrating than cooking a large meal and not having enough burners. I also want drawers for pots and pans as well as a place for storing cookie sheets and the like. Then I want enough surface area for eating space at the island as well as the ability to use it to set out food when we have everyone here for holiday dinners. So the size of the above island appears to be perfect for those functions. Ive become very fond of the rubbed black finish...but I'm not sure I want it in my kitchen.


The above island is definitely not large enough but I do like the two levels and I like the eating area. The upper area would have to be much larger and the sink would be swapped out for a cook top. But it's a style that appeals to me.

I'm glad that we've been able to determine that we have enough kitchen cabinets and won't have to replace them. That's going to save a lot of money. I'll admit I'd love to have all new cabinetry. There are so many beautiful cabinets out there. But if we were to do that it would cost us a small fortune and I just don't want to be in debt forever to do this remodel.

I've got to run now but my next post I'll include pictures of the current state of affairs and then write out what it is we plan to do. Stay tuned~