Kitchen Designs 2013

Kitchen Island Design Ideas - The Look, Size, And Features

Kitchen island design ideas not only include choosing the right look for your kitchen but choosing the correct size for your floor plan and the correct features to satisfy your needs.

Fortunately, because 80% of all home buyers consider kitchen islands to be essential, manufacturers offer islands in a design and style to suit nearly every taste.

You don't have to be a new home buyer to consider a kitchen island, though.

Older homes with awkward kitchen floor plans or oversized kitchens, apartments with limited or open-space design, or renovated kitchens with odd dimensions may all inspire a kitchen island design idea that will benefit the overall design.

A Style For Every Size

The dimensions of a kitchen are an overriding concern in choosing a kitchen island. Large islands are very helpful in creating a cooking 'room' within the room that separates the cooking area from the eating area.

Additional options like breakfast bars and installed appliances can help achieve the 'triangle' design of sink-stove-refrigerator that is considered one of the top kitchen design ideas.

Apartments and condominiums with open-space design can use a larger kitchen island to divide the kitchen area from other living areas.

Some kitchen islands are wheeled and can be moved between meals to convert needed space into multi-use areas.

Smaller islands are very versatile, particularly if wheeled, and can be used where large islands won't fit; often two small islands work better than one large island.

Islands are available in many styles and designs that are sure to complement your own design ideas.

Contemporary, Traditional, American Folk and French Country, Avant Garde or Hip, and others are all popular styles.

Many kitchen islands are wooden and use Northern Maple, Red Oak, Poplar, Birch, and plantation-grown exotic woods, but others are constructed of stainless steel, some combining wood with stainless steel.

Island tops are usually hard wood, granite or marble, stainless steel, or butcher block, which is usually Hard rock Maple fastened end or edge grain to prevent cracking and warping.

 

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Go with the Flow:

And make your kitchen an integral part of your living area with open spaces. An open kitchen allows everyone to hang out while the pasta sauce is simmering on your stove, while you pay your bills, or while the kids have their after school snack in the kitchen table. When you look out from your kitchen, isn't it nice to see your living area, a glimpse of the dining room, and maybe even a view from your living room window?

Continue your flooring from the kitchen to the living room to create a feeling of space.

An Island Adventure:

Having an island is becoming more and more functional in today's kitchen. There are eating islands with bar stools, there are cooking islands with a stove top, and very often an oven, and there are preparation islands, equipped with a second sink, a garbage disposal, and lots and lots of drawers for easy access. If you can plan your kitchen with an island in mind you will benefit from beautiful design and a convenient work area that will provide your kitchen with extra space.

Clean it Up!

One of the hippest trends in kitchen design is imported from Europe. Long, clean lines, kitchen cabinets all at the same height, lots of stainless steel, clean cabinet doors with simple handles, and long stretches of open counter space. The resulting look is clean, crisp, and modern. You can twist the modern look by curving your angles - make your island half-moon shaped rather than rectangular, or one part of your counter and cabinets flow with a sweeping curve. To complete the look add stainless steel appliances.

Culture Shock:

A recent trend in kitchen design is to apply an ethnic look and feel to the kitchen, emphasizing a specific country style: Santa Fe, Tuscan, French modern, Old English, Mexican, Spanish, and so on. The important thing when doing your kitchen cultural, is to pick one theme and stick to it. Don't mix and match too much - Santa Fe styles have more than enough color on their own without mixing in Provencal. These kitchens are usually more "country," than modern, but certainly are homey, and when well designed, a masterpiece to eat in!

Steel Sharp:

Stainless steel is back, as the lit torch for modern, sleek, new kitchens. High-end kitchens tend to emphasize the shiny (or matte ) steel design in appliances, cabinet fixtures and assorted kitchen accessories.

Stainless steel gives your kitchen an extremely clean feeling. It appears sanitary, and it gives a kitchen that "this is a real cooking place" feeling. Stainless steel counter tops and appliances are very popular at restaurants and large kitchens.

Colorful Appliances:

Some of the bolder home decorators are brining color to their kitchen appliances. It started with the rainbow hues of the Kitchen Aid mixer, and has more recently been seen on refrigerators, ovens, blenders, and even Aga stoves. This unique touch of color on appliances that used to be white, beige, or steel at best, is bringing even more life to the new center of the house.