@Toledo, I wonder how that happened? No venting, that’s crazy! When we moved in, ours was JennAir, with the pull down fan in the middle. Not my favorite. I waited ten years for that brand new ‘perfectly good’ range to need repairs so I could justify a replacement. Of course, the project became much bigger than originally planned, but we added a foot in length to the island, rotated it from being at a 45 degree angle to the sink counter to being straight and just changed the whole feel.
I was thrilled the non-matching islands are in as I was not in the mood to redo all my cabinets and counters, outdated as they are
We do a lot of entertaining that includes kitchen guests at our large island. For us, a large working surface (often used for happy hour and/or buffet area) works well. I like having the stove and sink on counters at outside walls and have no desire to add stove or sink when we remodel.
@Nrdsb4 We used our island for many messy projects when the children were little. Painting sessions with cubscouts, dyeing Easter eggs, playing with dough, etc. A cooktop would not be a problem when not used, but the children would eventually come to know the kitchen island as a place for them. It had a long but narrow top. Gas cooktops might not be as much a problem, but electric tops stay hot for awhile. They could too easily reach across and burn themselves.
Plus, I’m not exactly a neat cook. Grease splatters. I’d just rather have that mess safely away from others, against a wall, with a “real” hood.
I strongly prefer a two-level island because a countertop height island is not high enough to comfortably lean on when standing. With two levels, a stovetop in the island is not a problem.
I do envy the huge crafting space of a single level unencumbered island.
@ChoatieMom , thanks for the explanation of the sunken bowl. What a great idea! I am absolutely stealing that idea if we ever do another kitchen from scratch!
Just wanted to chime in that the home I mostly grew up in was supposed to have a smaller sink in the island, the pipes were installed, but whichever contractor was responsible forgot even after being reminded and just literally did not put in the sink (although possible in the future since the piping is there). And I actually wouldn’t ever want one anymore because of all the great memories baking, spreading out pans and trays and mixing bowls etc. One normal sink has worked just fine to clean all those dishes, too (that is, when I actually muster up the motivation to do them haha).
In our primary home, we have a Wolfe gas cooktop with a grill and a powerful overhead fan. I wouldn’t do gas without it. The peninsula is a nice, empty space ideal for all the cooking and baking prep.
In our second home the cooktop is in the island. It has a downdraft with an extractor fan to the outside that works fairly well. It’s nice because it faces the view and I can cook and look out at the water.
Yes, to cooktop in the island. No to an extra large cooktop area. I like to have multiple prep and cooking areas. We cook a lot. The cooktop in the island is great when entertaining or talking to the family as you cook. The super large islands take up too much room and one cannot use the interior space. I do like having a small sink in the island. I also don’t like the look of the super long counter with six stools. I like a counter with a few stools. And I like a comfortable sitting area in the kitchen.
Also, I don’t love the superlarge oven/cooktops. We had a thermador. Cost a fortune to fix and it broke a lot. The oven took forever to warm. But you could make a 30lb bird in that cavity. When my kids were toddlers it took forever to heat up for dinner. Sigh.
When we redo this kitchen we’ll put in two ovens ( one regular and one with convection setting).
As mentioned, we really like our large flat island top. Just measured it… 37x73inches. There is overhang on one edge allowing for 4 barstools. When/if we renovate, I may opt to loose one of the 4 cabinets/drawer to have the overhang wrap around one end since there is a lot of happy hour fun with friends (when no covid) that happens in this kitchen.
This thread reminded me that we used to call it “the operating table” when the kids were little. The great light fixture above made it an ideal place for the “doctor” (my engineer hubby) to examine bruises, remove splinters, etc. Often that was after “the white bear” (ice pack… still have it) had been retrieved from the freezer.
Most of you seem to have much bigger kitchens than we do. We remodeled seven or eight years ago and knocked down the wall between the kitchen and dining room. I told the designer I wanted an island in my new kitchen. She said sure, as long as I was okay with turning sideways to get past it. So we have a peninsula with a gas cooktop and downdraft. The cooktop is great and the downdraft is just adequate. We were going to get the kind that rises up out of the counter but if we did that we wouldn’t have room for an oven. In any case, the whole arrangement is so much better than the kitchen it replaced that we overlook any shortcomings.
Yea, we do have a large (but not grand) kitchen. When we planned the house, we were on a budget that caused us to reduce some of the dimensions of the original floorplan. Later the builder decided on his own to graciously add back space in some key places (“you will be much happier”), including 2 foot bump-out of kitchen width. We’ve been here 27 years, and I am often thankful for his decision.
My island is 7.5 x 3.5 feet. No way would I ever have a cooktop on it. Too messy a cook, and kids were always underfoot or sitting there while I cooked. To me, it’s just too dangerous.
When we redid our kitchen, I had it plumbed for a small prep sink. It had to be back ordered, and by the time it came in I liked my large flat top too much. Making cookies, sewing projects, poster boards: it was nice to have a lot of flat space to spread out.
Sounds like mine. I have a galley kitchen with a small island that faces the dining area. It serves as a landing place for guests and for me to enjoy coffee in the morning. But, if I had a choice between having a cook top or a sink in the future - I’d spring for the cooktop. No way I’d want my guests staring at dirty dishes while sipping cocktails.
