What is a kitchen island?
A kitchen island is a bench and storage area that sits alone in the kitchen, not connected to walls, which you can walk around and access from any side. Provided that you have the space, a kitchen island can easily be incorporated into an L-shaped, U-shaped or G-shaped kitchen, or can be a fantastic supplement to any area that might otherwise be a one-wall kitchen.
While kitchen islands almost always offer extra bench space and storage room, they can also be used for cooktops and sinks, allowing you a diverse range of options when it comes to the way in which your kitchen work triangle is configured.
Likewise, a kitchen island can also help you to segment the kitchen into 'zones', so that more than one person can work in the kitchen without any signinficant interference. For example, in an L-shaped kitchen, on one leg you could install the sink and dishwasher and create a station for clean up. The left leg of the L would feature the oven, microwave and range, to create a cooking zone. The island would create a conference space for meals, drinks etc...
When is a kitchen island the best choice?
Deciding on how suitable an island kitchen is will always come down to how much space you have to play with. In a big kitchen, islands represent an extremely sensible use of the available space. If the island is likely to restrict your free movement around any part of the kitchen, however, it might not be such a good idea.
Small apartments with L and U shaped kitchens in particular will also benefit from a kitchen island, which can be as useful for entertaining, dining or storage as it is for cooking.
