Hi from a new member

[ladybird1234]

Hi

I'm not a fitter but after some island advice, not sure if anyone is willing/allowed to help me here?

I've designed my own kitchen as I know what I want but I would just like confirmation that my island will work?

TIA

[alanj]

Post your plan and I'm sure you will get lots of useful replies

[ladybird1234]

The main thing I'd like from my island is that it is double sided for seating with 6 bar stools,3 each side as I'd like to use it for entertaining so everyone sitting in a row or at right angles is not ideal which is how a lot of island are laid out.

There wont be any appliances,sink,hob,just approx 2750 x 1200 quartz worktop.

So at the moment I have allowed 1800 for the seating area as thats the size of my current dining table.

ATM there are 2 back to back 900 pan drawers,3x600 high line bases,running through the centre allowing for 300mm overhang each side,and end panels.
Basically is this gonna look naff?

Thank you.

---

The max length I could have is really 2.8m
My only other option is to drop to 600 pan drawers and add 2x300 highline bases at the other end?

---

And should I have started thus in a new thread?
Sorry!

[Colour Republic]

You plan would certainly work and would look quite nice. (I'd keep the drawers at 900, don't drop down to 600) if your room can take that sized island.

Only thing I would say is that 1.2m is maybe too wide for the island if you plan on having seating either side. At that sort of distance more often than not it requires people to stretch or have to get up in order to say pass the salt from one side to the other. Your guests could feel just that little bit too far away from the person they are facing. Seeing as you say you want to entertain and not have people sitting at right angles to each other, I assume you also don't want create a divide either.

I would consider making the island closer to 1m wide, certainly not more than 1.1m wide. That 100-200mm difference might not sound a lot, but it can be the difference between something working and feeling right, or not.

Cabinet depths don't have to be 600mm deep and can be reduced in size. Most independent kitchen retailers can get the cabinets made to any size you want, or a good kitchen fitter can alter 'off the shelf' cabinets on site. This of course allows you to still have 300mm of leg room either side.

[ladybird1234]

You plan would certainly work and would look quite nice. (I'd keep the drawers at 900, don't drop down to 600) if your room can take that sized island.

Only thing I would say is that 1.2m is maybe too wide for the island if you plan on having seating either side. At that sort of distance more often than not it requires people to stretch or have to get up in order to say pass the salt from one side to the other. Your guests could feel just that little bit too far away from the person they are facing. Seeing as you say you want to entertain and not have people sitting at right angles to each other, I assume you also don't want create a divide either.

I would consider making the island closer to 1m wide, certainly not more than 1.1m wide. That 100-200mm difference might not sound a lot, but it can be the difference between something working and feeling right, or not.

Cabinet depths don't have to be 600mm deep and can be reduced in size. Most independent kitchen retailers can get the cabinets made to any size you want, or a good kitchen fitter can alter 'off the shelf' cabinets on site. This of course allows you to still have 300mm of leg room either side.

Thank you, that's great advice, something I'd not thought of.
Guess it may just save me 50p on the quartz cost too ;)

---

You don't think it would be too long and skinny?

[jonny round boy]

Taking CR's recommendation on the width, I've just drawn this up.

Most kitchen manufacturers use 450 deep drawers. They actually need slightly more internal depth, 453-460 ish, so if you had your drawer carcases 480 deep that would give you 462 internal, which should be plenty.

Allowing 20mm for the thickness of the doors/drawerfronts and end/décor panels, and a 20mm worktop overhang, you come out with an overall worktop size of 2800 x 1040mm:



Given that you want a 300mm overhang, the central cupboards would need to have a carcase depth of 400mm (again, assuming 20mm for doors & back panel).

If you think it's too long & skinny, you could reduce the central cupboards to 550 wide, or even 500.

Hope that helps!

[ladybird1234]

Thank you!!
My concern in reducing 600's is I think you would need 600's to allow
For elbow room? 600 per person?

I reckon once island units are in place I can ask fitter
To reduce depth of pans if overall island looks too big?!

---

I'm going with dark grey, gloss handleless from a trade outlet with a lighter grey quartz top.
Have done loads of Pinterest and Houzz research but haven't seen any
Pics of an island with seating/bar stools on both sides hence
My worries!

If I wanted the end panels in one piece, rather than 2 panels each end or
A breakfast panel which is bigger but would poss have a cut edge that would need to be made good,how would I go about sourcing them?

Am aware I could opt for quartz to floor but as I'd need it polished both sides
I think it would add a lot to the price of the quartz.

Thank you guys for your help so far!

[Colour Republic]

Thank you!!
My concern in reducing 600's is I think you would need 600's to allow
For elbow room? 600 per person?

That really depends on the type of seating you're planning. 600mm per person is a nice size and gives ample room. 500mm is still ok if using bar stools, lower than that and it starts to get a bit cramped, anything lower than 450mm just isn't going to work.

To be honest I don't think your island would look long and skinny at all with the above dimensions Jonny's done, so not sure you need to reduce in length. (unless your room can't take it)

Besides I like the balance your length gives i.e. 1/3 drawers (900mm), 2/3 seating (1800mm) and the chair spacing being 1/3 each of the overall seating (600mm each of that 1800mm). 3/3/3. Maybe it's just me but I like design which makes mathematical sense as I think it gives balance without the viewer always really knowing why.

Wherever possible I always try and use dimensions that have some reference to something else near it or in the room.

Going slightly off topic here but...

Here is a bathroom we did maybe 6+ years ago, nothing flash but still had a design worked out well before anything was put in to the room, everything lines up and has reference to something else with regards to scale.

" border="0" alt="resim" onload="NcodeImageResizer.createOn(this);" />

The shower screen was cut to size so it lined up with the front of the vanity unit, the height was adjusted so it fell on a grout joint of the tiles round the corner, the mirrored cabinet was set so it lined up with the top of the shower screen, the tiles on the front of the bath where adjusted slightly so the grout joint carried the line down from the shower screen, the window height was adjusted slightly so it was the same height as the vanity unit and allowed us to carry a grout joint all around the room to line up perfectly, the shower valve was set so it fell centrally between the grout joints top and bottom, the shower riser was adjusted in length so it starts and stops on a vertical grout joint... and more etc etc. You get the idea.

Now some could argue that’s going over the top! But when you walk in to the room it's balanced without you really knowing why and if you spend hours lazing in a bath like me then it's pleasing to notice these little details when you haven't got much else to look at.

Or maybe as I say, it's just me being a little anal about it!

I reckon once island units are in place I can ask fitter
To reduce depth of pans if overall island looks too big?!

Back on topic now I’ve bored you to death with the above...

I would make your choice well before that stage. For the sake of £10-12 I would buy 2 full sheets of plasterboard, cut them to size and prop them up on some tall boxes. Starting at 1200 wide, then reduce down to 1050mm like above.

It will give you a very good sense of scale. You could mark it out on the floor but I find most of my customers still have trouble visualising size unless it's elevated to at least somewhere near where it's supposed to be. Looking down on something is different than having it near waist level. It will also allow you to see how easy or difficult it is to move around the island. Even place some chairs around it and see what it's like facing someone.

This week we are doing some Quartz worktops for a customer who made an error. We hadn't seen the job and were just given dimensions as she had designed the kitchen herself. We agreed a template date and she said she'd get the island in place. One day before template she rang us in a panic saying the island was too big, she'd marked it out on the floor and all seemed fine to her, as soon as the units went in she realised she would have to walk sideways around the thing! Cue a mad dash to get replacement units and more expense to get her fitter to redo it.

There's a lot to be said for getting help in designing a kitchen from a professional who can advise you what will and won't work. (and I mean a proper designer or fitter, not kitchen sales staff that only ever design kitchens by plonking units on a computer screen)

I'm going with dark grey, gloss handleless from a trade outlet with a lighter grey quartz top.

Can I ask which trade outlet? (Please don't say Howdens!) Some units can be modified on site. Other suppliers units can't be modified without butchering them because of the way they are built.

Have you looked at independent kitchen retailers? They aren't always as expensive as people think, some can get very near in price to people like Howdens, Magnet, Benchmarx etc. and as mentioned above they can often make custom sized units in the factory for sometimes less than it cost to get a kitchen fitter to modify on site. Something the big nationals can't. Plus the quality is 9 times out of 10 much better.

This is going to sound like a plug now but you may even have a member on here close to you.

Have done loads of Pinterest and Houzz research but haven't seen any
Pics of an island with seating/bar stools on both sides hence
My worries!

None of these are exactly like your design, but you're somewhere in the middle of all of them so should give you an idea.

If I wanted the end panels in one piece, rather than 2 panels each end or
A breakfast panel which is bigger but would poss have a cut edge that would need to be made good,how would I go about sourcing them?

That depends on your supplier. Some kitchen ranges can have doors and panels 'made to measure' so you can get almost any size you want made up within reason. Although that said the dimensions shown in Jonny's drawings above lend themselves very nicely to standard sized doors without the need to have cut edges. For example if you used 480mm depth units for the drawers with 18mm drawer fronts, this gives an overall depth of 1000mm once drawer buffers are added. Perfect to clad the sides with 2 x 500mm standard doors, or if you want to go to the floor, you can order extra high 500mm wall unit doors at 900mm high.

Ok granted you have a join down the middle but I would embrace that and leave a small gap between so they look like doors you could open.

Same with the units running through the middle. if you got them made at 410mm deep by the time you've got a door on the front and a back panel on the rear (personally I would use false doors on the rear or even use peninsular units so you've got access both sides, but that's another matter) then you are very close to using a standard 450mm door as a decor end.

Am aware I could opt for quartz to floor but as I'd need it polished both sides
I think it would add a lot to the price of the quartz.

Thank you guys for your help so far!

It's easy for me to say as it's not my money but given the look you're going for then I would seriously consider doing away with decor panels and using Quartz slab ends instead. Yes it would be more expensive but some of that money can be clawed back by not purchasing decor panels/extra doors.

How much extra it costs can vary.

If you are just using Quartz on the island and nowhere else then it's going to be expensive as the top is nearly a full slab on its own with little wastage (Slabs are normally around 3050 x 1380 depending on brand). So to do slab ends would mean the purchase of a whole other slab £££. But if you've got Quartz going elsewhere you may find your fabricator can make good use of the wastage and get slab ends out of that.

Possibly even think about a slightly asymmetrical design with a slab end just on the seating side. If there is not enough wastage to do both sides.

Again not quite what I mean as it's against a wall but looks just as good brought away from the wall and decor ends placed just one side (i.e. against your drawers)

[ladybird1234]

    Your point about 900, then 1800 makes great sense.
Think I'll ask about additional quartz to floor.

It's not Howdens, it's Benchmarx.

There is currently a gloss white handleless kitchen
Installed, from Wickes, hence the reason I'm
Using benchmarx so I can recycle a few of the units but just change fronts,
That's how I'm selling it to hubby ;) telling him it's saving him money.

Obviously the plan above doesn't show my final choice
Of island size but you can get the idea if the room size?

---

Really wanted the microwave off the work surface but integrated into wall units would mean a small microwave. No room to have in base units,so I've asked for it to be housed above one of the side by side single ovens, but behind a bi fold door? Both towers would have the bi folds above ovens.

Good or bad idea? Means I don't have to replace the microwave.

Also opted for 2 integrated Fridge freezers, 50/50 splits, one hinged left one right so that
When the top fridge doors are opened you get that 'look' of
Big posh expensive fridge but it's behind doors

I did have some quotes from independant companies but it worked out about 1/3 more for the units.

Thanks again for the island advice, will get onto my poor fitter today!