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Custom Kitchen Islands: Materials, Details and Shapes that Function Well and Look Great

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Build or Remodel Your Custom Kitchen Island

You don't have to settle for a boring standard kitchen island, even if you're using stock cabinets in your kitchen - custom kitchen islands are for everyone! There are dozens of ways to customize and personalize your new island so that it really stands out and becomes a focal point.

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.

Photo credits: IKEA Model Kitchen photos copyright kevinw1. Others: public domain.

Materials for Creating Your Custom Island

Kitchen island base cabinetsUse 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

  • Keep the same style for island and perimeter cabinets, but use a different color or finish to distinguish them

Details to Decorate your Custom Island

Mulit level kitchen 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

Is your kitchen island customized?

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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.

More Home Decorating and Remodeling Resources

Custom Kitchen Islands 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.

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Kitchen Islands: Love 'em or Hate 'em?

Do you like an island in a kitchen?

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Yes, an island is a great addition to a kitchen!

rajat5855 says:

i lvd it

Posted October 31, 2011

says:

I love em....where else would I put all of my stuff, make cookies, fill up the dog food bowl, etc., etc., etc.,

Posted June 21, 2011

No, I hate islands, they get in the way!

 

Kitchen Island Photos

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Kitchen Design books

All these books have great ideas for kitchen islands, both traditional and contemporary.
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kevinw1

I grow a big organic garden, save seeds, and promote gardening and local food, provide custom LEGO building instructions and models, and I'm a remodeler,... more »

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