I have my sink and the trash at one end of the kitchen so people can get to them from the short side of the island. The stove is on the other end of the wall. It’s horrible from a work triangle perspective (I get a lot of extra steps cooking) but it’s super for flow during parties. The fridge is on the hang out side too so people can help themselves to cold drinks without getting in my way.
Our kitchen layout was dictated by not being able to move any windows because the house is on the historic registry and I didn’t want to deal with the preservation society. I really, really, really wanted the sink under the window and that’s what the entire design was based off of. It’s totally inefficient in terms of location of fridge/stove but it honestly works great for us. For sure my favorite kitchen (and this is our 9th home).
Of course, no one has been in the house for a close to a year now
We removed the original island in our current house for a block-U shape that provides multiple workstations when three or four of us are cooking. The overhang seats six, three on a side, and the middle of the U enables us to easily serve and converse with guests and reduces cross traffic/walkaround. On the large-sink side of the island, there is easy access to the cooktop, fridge, ovens, and garbage, and in the U, there is also a sink, small fridge, and garbage (underneath the set-in bowl), so the main cook and sous are not in each other’s way. There is also a lot of unbroken counter. When the island is cleared off, it’s my craft room. The decor of this house is not my favorite, but the layout and space work very well for us.
Our kitchen isn’t that big. We have an island with nothing on it in the middle. I actually like it better than a peninsula where I always felt trapped when we had guests because there was only one way out.
When we built this house, our kids were little. We didn’t want a cooktop on the island. And I like looking out into the woods when I stand at the sink.
@BunsenBurner, I share your sentiment about facing family/friends while cooking AND I don’t like the idea of a messy sink, etc on the island (plus, I wouldn’t have to move the plumbing for DW and sink! I keep seeing dollar signs !$$). With an overhead hood hanging over the island, are you bothered by lack of sight-lines? What light fixtures do you have over your island?/Is the hood hampered by light fixtures, etc.? I’ve seen photos on Houzz of similar set-ups and they look perfectly workable to me…
When we bought our house 15 yrs ago, we specifically made sure the cooktop was not on the island, and builder was like, but why?? (Then again, we were apparently also weird to ask for a door between master br and master bath; everyone else just has an archway.) Nothing on the island and I would not have it any other way. When I “window shop” houses online now, I stay away from ones with anything on the island.
I am not bothered by the hood at all. It is a slim design Milele hood that has a cool “mood” LED light stripe and also downward facing lights if more light is needed during cooking. It also came with an option to synch the airflow with cooking mode being used if installed with a specific cooktop (but we have gas so no use for it). For kitchen lights, we have LED cans in the ceiling, directional track lighting over the sink area plus some under cabinets lights. If I can figure out how to post pix, I might post some.
Here is the newest version of the hood we got. My husband installed it (we had to run a vent to the outside, too).
We redid our kitchen a year ago and I didn’t put anything on the island, have a microwave drawer in the island but that is all. I wanted a big flat surface, island is 4x6, cupboards on both sides and the island is 5x7. I like just having a big flat surface. Having a range on the island just seems dangerous to me, and stuff splattering while people are maybe trying to sit and hang out. If I had to do a range or sink I would pick a sink. We left the sink and stove where they were on the wall, the island is right behind the stove so still easy to use the island for prep.
^^This. We bought one house that had the cooktop on the island with seating on the opposite side. I hated it because there was hot, splattering food between me and my kids or guests. It didn’t take long before we demolished and started over. I agree that downdrafts don’t work well and I would much prefer the island be used for prep instead of hot cooking. I like a lot of uninterrupted counter space, but am ok with a vegetable sink at the end of an island.
Unless the island is the size of Madagascar , a cooktop on the island would be a deal breaker for me, and for reasons others have mentioned. We had a house with the sink in the center of a large curved island and I always felt like the captain of a ship when working there! It faced a wall of windows toward the back yard.
Current island is a 5’ square of butcher block with nothing on it and I love it.
ETA - @ChoatieMom , can you tell me about your sunken bowl?
I’ve had gas ranges in islands for over 20 years, in several different homes. It was never planned to be that way, it just kinda happened. Technically, as people who cook a lot, we should want an overhead hood and vent, My daughter and I have even discussed how weird it is that two foodies who have cooked their own versus going out for over 30 years ended up with islands and downdrafts. In our current house, we have a “Cattura Best” downdraft, I think it comes up 16-18" tall which gives it a lot greater suction power than a little 6" vent, it has a god sized fan (extractor?) in the crawl space below which gives it a boost. If I am seriously concerned about something stinky (boiling fresh crab) or greasy (someone deep frying?) I might do those out on my BBQ pot burner, but neither of those happen often and I would do that with an overhead hood, too.
Ideally I would go with an overhead hood, but a downdraft can be workable.
I have enough space on each side of the rangetop to prep food and have a good 12-14" behind the downdraft which could be used for bar stools or for buffet line items. It also solved my issue that the spec builder failed to put any stovetop lights in and with a 15-20’ ceiling, there was no way to add any lights. The downdraft has lighting in it, perfect!
Why is an island cooktop any more dangerous than a cooktop on another area?
We recently did a major remodel on a house we bought December 2019. It became literally TWICE as major after we discovered MANY undisclosed problems. It was not in the budget to redo the kitchen completely (house came with relatively new Bulthaup cabinets that were actually in good shape, so no way to justify tearing them all out or re-doing the footprint), so I had to keep the gas cooktop on the island. I noticed at my other house (gas cooktop NOT on the island) that the very first thing my D’s “stepson” (2 year old son of her serious live-in partner) did when he came over was to try to turn the knobs on my gas stove! So in light of that, when we replaced the old stovetop with a new one in our remodel, I got the kind with the knobs on top rather than forward-facing as in our previous homes. He can no longer reach the knobs.
I also have a veggie sink on the island. Neither of these would have been my choice if we had changed the footprint or cabinetry, but I was kind of stuck with it.
It hasn’t turned out to be all that bad-our island is ENORMOUS even with these two items set into it. I have one of those downdrafts that comes up and down at the push of a button. It’s not the best I’ve ever had, but it’s actually better than I expected.
All that to say that if I had had the option to re-do the kitchen, I would probably have not put the stovetop in the island, but it certainly was not a deal breaker for me and I don’t believe it would be for most buyers looking at this house. We did replace all of the counter tops with a gorgeous quartzite and all of the appliances and light fixtures, so it really does look like a new kitchen. It’s really beautiful, and one of my favorite things about this new house.
This was kind of fascinating for me. So many strong opinions, and no theme really they were kind of all over the board.
Ours is kind of like @ChoatieMom but not as nice and a bit more dated. 2 sided not 3 sided. If we ever redo it, it will look like hers I love that setup. One thing that someone mentioned and I really like is the 2 level effect. Ours is down for the seating area. Personally I think that looks a bit more dated and I would rather it was raised, but either way it does provide some better separation and makes it feel almost like 2 distinct counters - one for prep, one for eating. It’s big enough that it works that way, it wouldn’t work on a smaller island I don’t think.
We have the cooktop on the island. Electric not gas, so no big hood. I would prefer it was the sink there not the cooktop, but I like something there otherwise it would really cut into our counterspace elsewhere. And I like being able to face the room, not the wall.
@somemom, I’m impressed with the height of your downdraft vent. One of my kids needs a new cooktop. Their current one is electric (not induction) and has a weak downdraft, and cannot be moved.
We use that bowl for a lot of things but mainly to catch food that shoots out of the spiralizer, apple-peeler-corer, potato slicer, veggie chopper, etc. It’s also a good ice container for supporting another bowl with contents that require cooling. Also, there is a garbage can underneath that makes for easy counter cleanup – we just sweep food remnants and crumbs into the hole. That end of the counter is our main prep area.
After we purchased our home, we realized there was NO venting for the island’s gas cooktop. We replaced it with downdraft cooktop, as our kitchen ceiling is vaulted. Nothing pops up from the cooktop. The air is just drawn to the middle of the cooktop and vented outside. It’s marginal, at best. We rarely use it, primarily because when it’s running, the burners don’t cook well. It must pull the heat, too.
