The Pros and Cons of Kitchen Islands

Adding a kitchen island to this crucial work area is a terrific way to boost your space for tools and food prep. Additional advantages may be incorporated if you choose to run water, electricity, and gas on your island. Because these changes will require a larger cash investment, you may choose to use a temporary kitchen island to ensure it will work in your kitchen.

Storage: Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

The additional drawers, bins, and shelf options an island can offer are terrific. With heavy-duty drawers on your island, you can turn this tool into a dedicated location for the big appliances that you want to keep off the counter.

Simple shelving, artfully arranged, can turn your island into both a working tool and a showpiece. Depending on the items you plan to display, adding motion sensor lighting to these open shelves can both beautify your home and reduce the risk of a stubbed toe or a trip and fall in a dark kitchen.

Disadvantages

Do a careful self-study of your kitchen movements to avoid one of the significant disadvantages of kitchen islands: poor clearance risk. Drawers need clearance and plenty of access when fully pulled out. If you plan to use your island for appliances or food, a lack of clearance can be a severe safety issue. You can reduce these disadvantages by adding automatic drawer closing if clearances are tight.

Storing food on a kitchen island can also be a challenge. A simple table-style island with wire drawers can be quite charming in a cottage-style house, but those wire drawers can quickly look messy. Open shelves can be attractive, but they won’t protect your appliances or stored foods from becoming dusty over time. A portable island offers notable disadvantages and is most effective as a temporary tool.

Do Your Homework

If you’re fully aware of what you want to store on your kitchen island, take the time to measure everything carefully. Check the weight of heavier items you want to tuck away in the drawers. With careful attention to such details, you can invest in and design a custom island that will fully suit your needs. An island with poorly sized drawers can be one of many serious disadvantages.

Should you be a new homeowner who desperately needs more kitchen workspace but also needs to watch their budget, consider a rolling island with a butcher block or stainless steel top. This piece may indeed offer disadvantages; it may not suit your eventual decorating plans or your design goals.

However, one of the many advantages of these rugged temporary islands is that they can be rolled into place when you need another work surface. Many offer drawers or shelves underneath. Best of all, you can use this piece to effectively visualize where an island will sit in your kitchen and how to put a permanent kitchen island to best use.

Customize Additional Cooking Space

Once you have a good understanding of the clearance you need around your island, consider the area of countertop you want. Those who love to prepare food with family may add some drop-down cooking spaces. It may even be possible to customize a small section of countertop for a child that can fold down against the island. Advantages such as moving the hinge as the child grows will continue to make cooking a family affair.

Adding electricity to your kitchen island is one of the many advantages that will be necessary if your goals for the surface include the use of appliances. For example, you can make mornings more accessible by putting the toaster oven on the island and the coffee pot near the sink. Folks prepping their breakfast will have an area to work and access the tools they need.

Running electricity to an island is a relatively simple process for a contractor. If you decide to bump up the use of your island by adding water and gas, disadvantages such as extended downtime may occur. The alterations to your home become both more invasive and more costly. If this is how you want to use your island, then these changes are necessary. If unsure, it makes sense to call Rossle Homes Design and Construction for a free consultation with a project manager.

Kitchen Downtime

Kitchens and bathrooms are the most challenging working rooms in any home. While your house may have more than one bathroom, you will unlikely have a spare kitchen if your end goal is to invest in a kitchen island that includes a gas cooktop and a sink; one of the big disadvantages is living during construction.

Running new water lines may mean turning off the water supply to the kitchen and the whole house. As you talk with your kitchen island contractor, make sure you are fully aware of any delays you may be facing. One of the big disadvantages of starting a renovation without fully preparing is that additional repairs and updates can blow your budget.

If the water in your house is turned off for a few hours, you will be fine. You may need a motel if your house is without water for 24 hours. Now is the time to get the shut-offs to your home checked out and updated.

Depending on when the house was built, your plumbing may need to be updated before it can be altered due to building codes. This kitchen island prep step will add to the value of your home and the security of your investment, but it can also slow down the project.

Advantages of Pairing Your Kitchen Island Installation with a Kitchen Renovation

You may have chosen to invest in a temporary kitchen island until you decide exactly what design features you want to incorporate into your kitchen island. One advantage of combining an island installation with a general kitchen update is that it will be much easier to match everything.

For example, you can benefit from advantages such as updating the countertops on your regular cabinets and installing the same counter material on your kitchen island. If you completely tear out your kitchen and put in new cabinets, your island, cabinets, and counter material can all come from the same manufacturer and offer the advantages of a matching finish.

Your fully renovated kitchen can include storage features that will grow with your family. If your kitchen is especially large, adding a storage pantry or even a butler’s pantry to reduce the area of your kitchen may be beneficial. Moving water lines will be much easier when everything is open, so talk with your contractor about the benefits of adding another sink to your kitchen.

Design Your Dream Kitchen

It’s very tempting to renovate your kitchen as soon as you take possession of a home to create a working space that suits you perfectly. However, experts recommend the following advantages if you wait:
Don’t renovate your kitchen until summer (so you can cook and eat outdoors) and
Avoid making significant changes to a space until you’ve lived with the dimensions for a while
In such cases, a temporary or rolling island in the kitchen offers many advantages if you figure out where to store it. Once you know how the space feels with a center island, you can customize your design to completely suit your needs.

It’s also a good idea to carefully consider the abuse your kitchen may take if you have small children. Your dream cooking space will be more accessible to maintain when walkers, tricycles, and other toys aren’t bashing into your cabinets and island. Of all the advantages to be found in waiting to add your island, the age of your little ones may be most important.

Kitchen islands offer many advantages when properly sized and placed. You’ll have a much better idea of what features to include on your island if you spend some time working in the kitchen before you add it. Detailed knowledge of how you want to use the island and what you want to store inside it will also help you determine the best features to incorporate into your kitchen island.