Survey: What Goes Best in a Kitchen Island?

Do you have an island in your kitchen? If you do, it's probably true that everyone likes to gather around it. So how do you use it? We've been bookmarking interesting islands with sinks, others with cooktops, solo-burners, some with nothing but a worksurface. They each have their perks, so we'd love to know what appliance you prefer in a kitchen island design (if anything!) and why....

Here are some of the photos we've bookmarked lately. In your dream kitchen set-up, what would you put in the island?

(Images: 1: KichenPlace 2: this old house 3: Light Locations 4: Domino Magazine's Gallery)

Comments (24)

Some great ideas and beautiful countertops/islands that I fell in love with at http://chengdesign.com/page/concrete-countertops/

Plus, I was curious how hard it would be to make my own, and it looks like they teach classes for DIYers. http://www.concreteexchange.com/

A really large cool bowl with fresh fruit!!

microwave on the side so kids can access it, and its out of the triangle.

I'm torn between nothing, and a small sink for prepwork. I've never had a kitchen with a functional island, so it's hard to say!
My parents once used an old farmhouse shelving unit as an island, and they stored pantry items in it. The top was always covered in stuff and it was just a junk collector.

I'd like anything that doesn't resemble that.

My sister in law found her cooktop on the island didn't really work because she had a downdraft exhaust which was not good enough for a real pro cook. Now she has a sink in her latest island, but i find that unwieldy because the drying pots & pans just sit out in the open visible to all. I'd vote for just workspace.

Okay, if you install a solid-surface countertop with a breakfast bar overhang and you live in a colder climate, have a heating element installed underneath it. It's one of only two major regrets I have about our kitchen.

This is one of those things I just can't generalize about.

If the wall behind the island has a window, I'd be inclined to place the sink/cleanup area at the window and the stove on the island...
...but if there's no window, I'd more likely put the stove against the wall with the fridge on one end and a pantry on the other - and the sink & dishwasher in the island.

However, if the island is shorter than 7' - then I wouldn't have either as I'd want at least 24" on both sides of a centrally located sink or stove. I might be more inclined to leave a clear surface and install a winecooler or recycling bins in the island...
...but if the island is large enough - say 9 or 10 feet long - I could see having both a stove and a small sink in the island - then the big sink and dishwasher elsewhere.

We have it as a clear surface -- perfect for stretching strudel, a complicated recipe, gathering with friends, eating while perched on stools, or for putting the baby bath.

Love the luxury of a big open surface like that, and we made ours pretty -- concrete with multicoloured bits of glass (confetti terrazzo by formworks).

My island has to be as large as possible, have a solid wood top aka Butcher block and open storage underneath for those huge stock pots and plenty of room for baskets of potato's, onions etc... but the most important would be evenly spaced electrical outlets all the way around, never have enough and it would make entertaining so much easier

Wished I would have thought about this question before I put the cooktop in our island. I now realize that I need a lot more room on the left side of the stove in order to cook. Our island isn't big enough and in hindsight I wished I'd have left it with just a worksurface. I'd love a big bare area to *prep* dinner, and then cook to the side. My biggest kitchen regret..

I have a big empty island in my tiny Brooklyn apartment. I like it, but it's sort of the island that ate the living room. I just got a reversible wooden "counter board" from Crate and Barrel that now lives on the island. It's not an appliance, but it makes it easier to separate workspace from dining space.

I would either say a stove, maybe an area with a few decorations that can be used as a dining area, or keeping it clear. The last does seem the most useless though.

i vote for nothing...

if you have a huge seamless surface you could use it for other projects besides just prepping food or serving food. you could lay out fabric to cut. you could put out butcher paper for the kids to color on.

I want an island that is on wheels. I like it to be open legs underneath, but I also need storage, preferably drawers, for pots. I know these two ideas are almost mutually exclusive of each other...

Never liked the idea of a cooktop on the island, especially those with pop up exhaust fans that are practically useless.

I think I would like small sink and a dishwasher below. Also a trash underneath. Great for prep and clean-as-you-go.

Whatever you need to make working in the kitchen easy and fun.

What goes best on a kitchen island? Easy. A table!

I think the island should be wide open like a table too, so you can both do whatever you like on it, eat, make school projects, fold laundry, etc., but also appreciate the beauty of the large, unbroken surface. The ones made of concrete are cool (posted by dennisd already)
Did you see the award-winning ones? http://www.concreteexchange.com/gallery_winners.jsp
There is one big table with a slab of wood running down the middle and another cool island with really funky coloring and texture. If you're going to have a big surface, concrete seems like an easy way to make a statement with it.

Actually, I meant that there should not be an island at all. There should be a big table.

I love the idea of having stools on the far side from the prep area so that friends can sit there and chat while I put the finishing touches on the meal. In an ideal world, I'd also have a mini-fridge on the side so they have easy access to drinks.

I have 10 ft long island with sink, dishwasher and recycle station. It is wide enough giving comfortable sitting for 6 people on apposite side. Love it. Can imagine having cook top and cook so close to people.

Nothing! I love to bake and I dream of having a big open surface to prep and roll out dough and decorate cookies & cakes. It's also great for entertainment once you're thorough- put out a food buffet or gather around it with others.

I hate when builders put stoves on islands. It just seems like an accident waiting to happen- someone knocking something hot over, touching a hot burner, kids messing with it.

A small sink would be ok I guess, if it's in the corner, so there's nothing interrupting the workspace. But, only if it's not the primary sink, so you don't see a bunch of dirty dishes.

We leave ours mostly empty so that we can use it to hold anything we are currently working on. Sometimes a napkin holder and salt/pepper shakers sit there. We used an old tin top cupboard we got for $10 for our island once we refinished it! See it here: http://makemineeclectic.wordpress.com/2008/12/10/one-little-project-at-a-time/

Mine is very small and has a stove in it, and I hate it. The only place for the kitchen table is up against the island, and I'm constantly afraid that someone is going to burn themselves on my stove. Even worse, it's a hideous flat glass stove top so you can't tell if the burners are hot. Ugh.

I would prefer that nothing be on it (with a few well-placed outlets around it) so that it can be used as a big work surface.