If the kitchen is the heart of the home, the kitchen island is what keeps it beating. It’s a place brimming with life, where family and friends and kids gather to eat, drink, be merry or just do a little homework or watch a show on an iPad. Today, kitchen islands are more than the name implies. They’re not some deserted entity poking out in the middle of the room. They’re more like a Swiss Army knife, packed with function.
These four kitchens — uploaded to Houzz recently by their respective designers — show just how important hardworking islands have become. They make these spaces complete. Without them, each kitchen would lose a significant amount of storage and function. Here, the designers dish on what make these kitchens, and their islands, work so darn hard.
Designer: Randy Blom of Better Built Inc.
Plan of attack: “First order of business was to allot particular spaces for normal kitchen functions — prep, cooking, storage, cleanup. The new kitchen needed to have a circular flow, since the new layout was to become an extension of the adjacent dining area and living room, as well as work with the large triangular clerestory windows to allow natural light into the main area of the kitchen. This wall provided a perfect location for an appliance garage to store countertop appliances, a tall pantry for food storage and integrated built-in refrigerator-freezer, and a combination convection oven-microwave.
“Since one of my client’s main requests was to have no upper cabinetry, a line of shallow tall cabinetry with wine storage cubbies was placed along one side for normal dish, glassware and additional pantry storage. Once the layout was decided, we moved into the finish selections. My client wanted a white kitchen to coordinate with the rest of the residence, so we selected Bellmont Cabinet’s Jazz door style in Gloss White with silver PVC edge banding.
Who uses it: “The kitchen was designed for a single bachelor, an entertainment professional who lives in Vancouver, Canada, during the summer and fall and lives in Palm Springs during the winter and spring. My client has frequent houseguests that congregate in the kitchen for coffee and breakfast in the mornings and for drinks in the late afternoon.
“Uh-oh” moment: “My main challenge, as with any white kitchen, is how to coordinate all the different tones of white. White flooring, white cabinetry, white countertops and white paint on walls and ceiling — it can be daunting. I would awaken in the middle of the night thinking, ‘How am I going to get all the whites to match?’ Well, they don’t have to — they just need to complement each other.
Designer: Diann Saviano of Via Builders Inc.
Plan of attack: “Ralph Saviano, the owner of Via Builders, who designed and built the house, wanted to bring in as much natural light as possible without exposing this space too much to the neighbors. So he incorporated the clerestory windows above cabinets as well as the exposed windows coming from the right peak of the ceiling, making the shape of the ceiling very unique and modern. He beautifully designed the windows so you see the trees but not the neighbor’s home. He took advantage of the pretty trees on the side of the house that made for pretty scenery when looking through the windows.
Plan of attack: “This was a split ranch home that they were going to renovate. But after looking at the home, it was clear that it wasn’t worth it to renovate such an old house. It was suggested that we knock it down and build a new one. She had a glass of wine, sat down and said, ‘Do it.’ The heart of the house needed to be located centrally to see the pool and yard. It was important to get that old-country-French feel. To do that, we wanted it to be an unfitted kitchen. In a fitted kitchen, the cabinets are all the same. An unfitted kitchen looks like it evolved over time. So here it looks as if the island comes from somewhere else, the stove and cabinets are one thing, the side cabinets with sliding doors is another, the fridge looks like an armoire and so on.
Homeowners’ request: “The customer was looking for a complementary countertop surface that would work with the modern feel of the open floor plan,” builder Nicholas Moon says. “Originally they were considering concrete tops, but they were not enthusiastic about the colors and textures of the samples. With more research they discovered Alberene soapstone, from the Polycor Virginia quarry. They immediately fell in love with the cool blue-gray tonality of the stone and its subtle white veining.
Plan of attack: “The open-floor-plan loft style was determined early in the design process. The kitchen was not to be sectioned off from the rest of the space. Contemporary cabinets were decided on, and ultimately Poggenpohl was selected for their well-designed and engineered German quality. The countertops were then selected, and when the 2-inch-thickness island was decided, they knew they needed additional structural support to hold up the very heavy slab.
Designer secret: “The greatest solution to the island-weight dilemma was the inclusion of the welded steel frame and the steel plate underlying the slab. Also, the inclusion of the full backsplash in contrasting Statuarietto marble to the ceiling line added a modern touch to the traditional material, giving a contemporary feel by extending it all the way up.
In the country kitchen, I am curious when they talk about low ceilings, how low those actually are. Are the bottoms of the beams still 8' or are they less?
Are there Drawers or Doors the other side...?
Re: supporting the 2" thick soapstone countertop on the island. A steel frame and plate steel was used to support the stone. So, if you add up the weight of the 2" stone and the steel plate etc, you have a tremendous load on the underlying floor and joists. I would imagine that most floors could not support this much weight. Any comments? We are planning to install a 10' long island with solid surface counter and are trying to figure out how to support our floors.