Are kitchen islands a necessity or a convenience?

Necessity

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by Uncle Ludwig

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The basic assumption in answering this question is that you're trying to be more than simply a take-it-from-the-fre ezer-and-nuke-it-in- the-microwave type of home cook. If that's the case, and you're planning a new kitchen, then why NOT put in an island? (And if you're not planning a new kitchen, why are you asking?)

First off, whose idea was it anyway to put work surfaces against the wall? Let's face it, it's a huge compromise that, frankly, makes no sense. The counters are usually all at "standard" height, and usually only about two feet deep. Furthermore, everything you may read about the infamous "work triangle" in a kitchen (the steps you take between cooking surfaces, refrigerator, and sink) seems to be promoting a contrivance based in around-the-wall thinking.

Certainly, wall space is great for storage space, but home kitchen designers at some point along the way decided that incorporating work surfaces into storage walls was better than the other way around; even though most professional kitchen designs have always put lots of storage in and around the work spaces. The planning of a working kitchen should be focused first on prep area(s) and the reach over to the cooking area(s). Everything else is secondary, including the location of fridge and primary sink.

To me, the ideal home kitchen is just a smaller version of a bigger professional kitchen. The pro kitchens I've worked in always had several work islands. In fact, the only things attached to the walls were the counters connected to sinks, which obviously have to be permanently installed because of the plumbing. Stoves and ovens, too, usually need to protect their connections to power or fuel, so these, too, tend to be considered stationary fixtures up against walls. Nevertheless, islands next to these wall-huggers are the norm in pro kitchens because of higher efficiency, better visibility, and more thorough clean up.

If you're planning to have more than one person at a time in the kitchen, whether working or not, an island is more desirable than just counters along the walls. If you have the space, an island gives access to your preparation area from more than one direction/angle. If you want company in the kitchen (and who doesn't?), if you want to teach someone, or if you simply want to show off your skills, a kitchen island more easily accommodates your needs than counters that force you to turn your back all the time.

I prefer islands that are simply large open work surfaces, but you may want to incorporate a sink or a cook top on yours. A small bar-style sink on an island can be handy during prep, but is not necessary, especially if the primary sink is only a few steps away. If you're going for the cook top, just make sure you have a large enough space beyond the cook top's own work area that still leave plenty of prep space.

Some designers like to incorporate a raised counter on the "social" side of the island, too, but I'm not sure it serves as well as it's intended in this capacity. It can help hide the work area from the rest of the room, of course, but the raised part is simply lost real estate for prep as far as I'm concerned, and it continues that unfortunate tradition of psychologically dividing the "worker" from the "guest" in the room. On the other hand, building work areas into your island at higher or lower levels is an excellent accommodation for people of non-standard work heights and is more easily accomplished than in around-the-wall cabinetry. And if a "social" side is needed, a cleaned-up island can easily become a display buffet for all the prepared food.

Islands can offer lots of flexibility under the counter, too, including drawers or bins that are accessible from opposite sides, scrap collection holes that drop down into easily-emptied containers, and other easily-accessed storage options that waste almost no interior space at all compared to wall cabinets which typically run into wasted storage space when turning corners along the walls. I personally prefer an island that looks like a big free-standing work bench with an open shelf or two down below, but something more substantial may be what you're going for.

More and more people are getting back into the kitchen to cook their meals because of soaring gas prices and other reasons to stay home and save some money. A good work space encourages good work, and because a working kitchen is often the primary staging area of an active life in the home, the kitchen island can and should act as its centerpiece. Designing a kitchen to include an island is far more than convenience. It points to the real importance of the kitchen as the heart of the home, where close interaction, conversation, and comfort are most enjoyed - and lost when everyone's back is turned to one another.

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