The Arizona Republic

Island oasis

Careful planning can increase storage and work space in kitchen

- Melissa Rayworth

Interior designer Abbe Fenimore knew that adding a kitchen island was one of the most important decisions she’d make in remodeling her 1940s-era home in Dallas. A welldesign­ed kitchen island can offer storage space, a work surface, comfortabl­e seating – even a cooktop or spare sink. ● But like so many aspects of kitchen design, it needs to be planned with extra care. An item this large and central isn’t something you’ll want to replace within just a few years. ● So Fenimore and her husband created a cardboard island in their kitchen with precise dimensions to live with it before committing. They tinkered with the details on its size and location. They debated which features were necessary, and which were too much of a splurge or took up too much space.

In the end, that island “has become the literal hub in our home for socializin­g,” Fenimore says.

We’ve asked Fenimore, founder of the design firm Studio Ten25, and two other interior designers – Los Angeles-based Betsy Burnham and New York-based Jenny Kirschner – for their thoughts on great kitchen-island design and trends.

Map out the details

Because careful planning is so important, Burnham suggests working with a designer on kitchen-island design or finding resources online for drawing up a floorplan.

“You’re going to need about 3 feet of space around it – at least 3,” she says. Homeowners sometimes end up with too crowded a kitchen if they choose an island that’s too large.

“It shouldn’t literally be an island off by itself,” Burnham says, “but it shouldn’t be too close to perimeter countertop­s either.”

Other important questions: How many people do you want to seat? Leave plenty of depth for people’s legs when they sit on bar stools or seats at your island.

And do you want one level or two? Burnham loves the clean lines of one level surface. But Kirschner sometimes designs an island with two levels – one at counter height for cooking prep and a lower level at table height, so you can sit

Some of Fenimore’s favorite elements are deep, pull-out drawers for pots and pans, and drawers with mechanisms that lift a mixer or other small appliance up and out for easy use. Also: drawers designed to hold containers of spices, and deep drawers holding metal containers for serving utensils, as you might see in a restaurant kitchen.

“A lot of people underestim­ate storage needs,” Fenimore says, so really think about how you cook and what you use.

Kirschner also suggests considerin­g what you might want to store that isn’t technicall­y a “kitchen” item. Her island includes drawers for her children’s art supplies, because the island is where they do arts and crafts projects.

Islands often have closed storage, but some people prefer some open shelving.

The cooktop question

It sounds lovely – having your stovetop in the island, so you can chat with someone seated there while you’re cooking. But things splatter, Kirschner points out. And tearing up the floor to add power and gas lines can be expensive if your kitchen doesn’t already have these utilities in the middle of the floor.

Lastly, your cooktop needs ventilatio­n. Do you want a range hood mounted in the ceiling and looming over your kitchen island?

“There are downdraft vents,” Kirschner says, “but they tend to not work nearly as well” at ventilatin­g your cooking space as overhead ranges do.

Match or coordinate?

Some people love an island that seamlessly matches the rest of the kitchen, with countertop­s and cabinetry identical to what runs along the room’s perimeter.

But our three designers say you can also think of your island like a piece of gorgeous furniture that is coordinate­d with the rest of the room but a little different. If you want the island to be the kitchen’s focal point, Kirschner says, get creative.

Kirschner loves natural stone surfaces for kitchen islands, especially quartzite, which she says has beautiful veins of color but is more durable than marble.

Burnham agrees that a kitchen island can be a dramatic statement, and there is a wide variety of styles. Do you want a European farm-table look, or modern and sleek marble?

 ?? JENNA PEFFLEY/BETSY BURNHAM VIA AP; PHOTO ILLUSTRATI­ON BY RACHEL VAN BLANKENSHI­P/USA TODAY NETWORK ?? This urban farmhouse style kitchen offers ample storage and an extra prep sink for use while cooking.
JENNA PEFFLEY/BETSY BURNHAM VIA AP; PHOTO ILLUSTRATI­ON BY RACHEL VAN BLANKENSHI­P/USA TODAY NETWORK This urban farmhouse style kitchen offers ample storage and an extra prep sink for use while cooking.
 ??  ?? Although tiny pendant lights were once popular, designers now tend to choose more substantia­l overhead lighting.
Although tiny pendant lights were once popular, designers now tend to choose more substantia­l overhead lighting.

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