Custom Kitchen Islands: Build a new one or update an existing one

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Custom kitchen islands vary from the totally custom-made and custom-finished island to match your custom cabinets, to a much cheaper island made out of standard size countertops and cabinets put together in unusual ways to give a custom look. If you're planning an island in your kitchen, don't assume that it has to match the perimeter cabinets in cabinet finish, countertop material, or height: you can use the island to give your kitchen a distinctive custom look.

Read on to learn about the many ways to create a custom kitchen island which fits you, your kitchen, and your lifestyle, then visit the Custom Kitchen Islands page at http://www.floorplanskitchen.com for lots more tips for creating a custom kitchen island, plus potential gotchas and difficulties to avoid as you plan.

Materials for Creating Your Custom Island
Details to Decorate your Custom Island
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Unusual Shapes for Custom Islands
More Home Decorating and Remodeling Resources
Kitchen Island Photos

Materials for Creating Your Custom Island

Use wall and/or base cabinets to create a base for your kitchen island. Then you can customize it in some of these ways:

Materials

Customize the sides and ends of the base: add panels or doors to match your cabinets, cover them with wallpaper or fabric (varnished for protection), panel them with decorative materials like beadboard or tile or even use a translucent material and light it from the inside.

Use several counter-top materials: possibly a butcher-block prep area with a soapstone slab for pastry

Change cabinet colors on the base to contrast with your perimeter cabinets: antique-look vs modern, painted vs stained, dark vs light

Use a two-tone color scheme on the island cabinets: light and dark wood panels, distressed or antiqued paint finishes

Details to Decorate your Custom Island

Add legs to the ends, or to support an eating counter. Look at old tables for proportions and sizes: some island legs I've seen in magazines are way oversized and clunky-looking to me.

Light your island with several decorative pendant lights: mini-chandeliers, industrial lighting, art glass shades, whatever you enjoy. For most flexibility, make them dimmable.

Include appliance drawers: freezer, dishwasher, fridge, even a warming drawer for plates and finished dishes.

Use small gaps between your base cabinets for bottle storage, narrow pullout racks for spices, display niches, cutting board or baking sheet storage, pull-out towel storage, cookbook shelves etc.

Tuck a small movable island in or under a larger fixed island for flexibility

Install an unusual sink which would not be practical as your main sink: perhaps an odd shape like a trough or less-used material like copper

A unique or showy faucet can be a great island feature too

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Unusual Shapes for Custom Islands

Modify levels on different sections of the island, up to bar level or down to table level

Make the island a unique shape. Why should everything be rectangular? Try angles and curves: prototype the shape with boxes to get the feel of how it looks and how it works.