I’m planning for a kitchen renovation later this year and think I want to put my cooktop in the island - a fairly big island. Online research reflects a mix of opinions with several negative reviews. Downdraft vent hoods seem to be a common ‘problem’. Traditional overhead hood vents apparently do a better job…Don’t think I’d mind an overhead one, given some of the modern styles available.
I’m curious about the opinions of this learned group! Do you have any experience with a gas cooktop in an island? Thoughts? Would a cooktop in the island be a deal-breaker for you?
I like to have my cooktop in the island. That way I do not feel like a little girl put into a timeout facing the wall while I am cooking. I like to face my family/guests when I am making food. My Miele overhead hood does a great job keeping smells and fumes out.
I prefer the sink in the island. My favorite kitchen setup was one my husband’s friend designed, and my husband put in. It had the sink in the island, with counter space on either side and behind the sink, with bar stools behind the sink, and a large area with the kitchen table, with picture windows behind that, looking out onto the yard. That way, I could work at the sink, with my child sitting up at a bar stool snacking on what I was cutting up, while I cleaned up at the sink. The stove was behind me, against the wall, but I find I spend much more time at the sink than at the stove. More importantly, I didn’t have the risk of anything on the island catching fire, or a kid sitting at the bar on the other side of the island getting anywhere near the hot cooktop.
I’ve had both sinks and cooktops on my islands over the years but I prefer nothing on my island.
I love being able to set up a big buffet on the island or to do big baking projects. I have a 12 foot uninterrupted island in my current house and I love it.
My stove is in the far corner of the kitchen so it’s very easy to stand at the stove but still be part of the action.
I prefer nothing in the island, just uninterrupted work space, but I’ve had both a cooktop in an island and a sink in an island, and I prefer the sink because I definitely don’t want a hood hanging above the island and, past a certain size, the building codes where we live won’t allow a downdraft. In our current house, we have a large cooktop/hood against a wall and two sinks in the island, but our island is 11’ x 12’ so I have the workspace I need.
I’ve had sinks, cooktops and neither over the years. I think my favorite was the sink/dishwasher in the oversized island with an overhang for seating; it had lots of room to prep, roll out dough, cool cookies/cakes, etc. I spend a lot more time prepping or decorating than I do stirring what’s on the stove, and I like interacting with everyone.
Cooktop in the island would be a deal breaker for me. I had a downdraft in one house and hated it. It just could not handle the steam from big pots of soup, pasta or seafood. Overhead vent hoods do a better job. It’s especially an issue with gas vs. induction (or a standard electric cook surface.)
According to the kitchen experts who post on Houzz, they claim that the overhead hoods do an even better job when on a wall so that the steam, grease, etc. is contained (to some extent.) They also claim that most people spend far more time on prep and clean up, so will be likely to interact with people sitting at an island if the sink is there instead of the cooktop. Your experience may be different.
I’m doing a 30" induction cooktop with a 36" vent hood on a wall counter. I considered a 36" cooktop with 42" vent hood, but couldn’t find a vent hood I like in that size that pulls <400 CFM. The newer building code being enforced here as of Jan. 1st requires dedicated makeup air supply for any vent hoods above 400 CFM. Since I don’t fry on the cooktop or even cook pasta very often, I don’t feel the need for a higher CFM, especially with induction since I don’t have to be concerned with nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide from a gas cooktop.
We’ll have a steady fresh air supply from a whole house ventilating dehumidifier. In the humid south, we learned that an ERV raises the humidity of the house too much in the shoulder seasons when A/C or heat are not required. Up north folks have used HRVs which better results. The expectation is that the filtered and dehumidified fresh air from that ventilating dehu system will be more than adequate for our needs.
Sorry if I made your eyes glaze over. I’m having to educate my builder, his HVAC sub and even the city building inspector on this subject. It’s been frustrating, but I think I’m getting through to them.
A sink in the island would be a deal breaker for me. Sink area is the messiest part of the kitchen and is definitely not something that should face the dining room in my personal opinion. Plus, I make sure that all prep is done before company arrives so they would not have to witness the chopping and peeling etc. I have about 7 feet to the left and 7 feet to the right of the sink in the current house which is plenty for food prep. I would prefer not to do any cooking in front of guests, but that is just not feasible - food needs to be served hot and freshly cooked.
I would not recommend an island cooktop, primarily for safety reasons if there will ever be children in your home. I would also only place a smaller bar sink in the island. The main clean up area sink can get messy, but having a second sink on the island gives the flexibility to face guests during some of the prep. Personally, I like a clear island. Once upon a time, long long ago (okay pre-Covid) we used ours for buffets, project tables, dessert tables, and more. I think keeping it empty allows for more flexibility.
I have a pretty big island and I don’t have a sink or a cooktop on it. I love my island just as a big surface. I love to lay out fabric on it and use it as a cutting board or as a giant buffet area or as a spot to lay out papers to sort. I just plain love it. My stove top can stay over on the side counter near the sink.
I have a huge island. I have a full size single bowl sink and dishwasher facing out. In the distance I have a big picture window and a beautiful view. I spend a lot of time prepping food and I like looking out into the room. I have sitting on the opposite side of the island. The island is my most used counter space in my kitchen aside from where I have my toaster and coffee pot.
I also have another traditional two bowl sink on the other wall under a window. When I built my house I thought this would be our main sink for washing dishes. The island sink was a full size since I hated the small size of the prep sinks. We ended up using the island sink as our main sink and the traditional sink and placement location gets rarely used.
Though I do love when my island is clear of stuff aside from a vase of flowers and I can look out into the distance.
I’m also probably in the minority in that I hate the sound of the hood so I rarely use mine.
I have a prep sink on the island and I love it. My island is my prep area. I have a clean up sink and gas cooktop on adjacent walls.
I will renovate my kitchen again soon and I prefer the same set up although I am toying with 2 islands, one with prep sink and another one with nothing but bar stools.
My last 2 places have had a stove top in the island, with no option to move them. I hate hoods, and wanted a downdraft system- but there are so few downdraft options, and the reviews aren’t great. Ended up spending stupid money on a flush extractor fan and it makes me so very very very happy: works like a charm when I need it; invisible when I don’t.
If you do it I strongly recommend an induction top and/or a bi-level island: we have a 4" drop from the outside countertop to the inside working top. Safer all round.
We got rid of the island when we renovated and put in a peninsula instead (it sticks out from the wall into the room and is about the same size as the island we ripped out).
The “walk around” area around the island would drive me nuts when we entertained a crowd. people would congregate-- fantastic! and block access to whatever I needed-- terrible! Your guests will love your island- it’s like their favorite bar- and you will get trapped behind four people raving about your appetizers.
See if the floor plan works for the peninsula alternative- we did not put either sink or cooktop on it- it’s just a long, unbroken space which is fantastic. Stools on one side, cabinets and a dishwasher on the other, perfect for baking or any project where you make a big mess and need a lot of surface area, and cleans up in seconds with windex and a paper towel. And when we entertain (nothing during Covid, sadly) people congregate on the side with the stools, and don’t “violate” the working area of the kitchen which gives us access to the stovetop, oven, sink, dishwasher, and clean stacks of dishtowels, dessert plates, etc. without climbing over guests who are happily chatting.
Sounds similar to our kitchen. I have a long rectangle( (galley with peninsula) and love it. One raised long unbroken counter top with stools on one side and a step down into another long counter with the sink in the middle. I like it because multiple people can work in it at once. (Although my favorite is to watch H cook and me taste test at the bar).
Friend of mine has an island (second small sink I’ve never seen used) and to work in her kitchen (especially with others) makes me feel like I’m on a hamster wheel. Whatever I need is always on the other side. Plus it just seems like a place for her kids to drop their stuff when they come in. People always gather around for appetizers when she sets it up for a party and it drives me nuts to get stuck,
Similar to @blossom, we have a peninsula with nothing on it. As others have said, we love to set it up for a bar and sometimes for food as well. The peninsula faces the family room with large windows, with stools on the family room side.
It is not deep enough to have a stove top and still have open area. Also good to finish prep work or plating while still being part of the party.
I have my kitchen set up so that there is a functional side and a hang out side. The island is the divider. When we are entertaining, everything is oriented towards the hang out side so no one comes into “my side” where I could potentially still be prepping/cooking. It would drive me bonkers to have people walking into my work space.
Mom, that was the original layout of our kitchen as well. But for some reason I couldn’t maintain the functional side- people want to put dirty dishes in the sink (even when you try to take the plate out of their hands). Someone needs to grab a paper towel off the dispenser. Someone has a beer can and goes poking around for the recycling bin. So it ended up a 360 degree mass of humanity around the island.
The peninsula seems different psychologically- it’s a barrier. Folks congregate on the bar side, leave me alone on the work side! And H and I can do set up’s together, cleanup is quicker.
My Miele overhead hood does a great job keeping smells and fumes out.