Kitchen Island Design Tips

3 Tips for a Perfect Kitchen Island Design

How to Plan a Kitchen Island

3 Tips for a Perfect Kitchen Island Design

  1. Size & Scale of your Island
  2. Shape & Location of your Kitchen Island
  3. Circulation around the Island

1. Size and Scale of a Kitchen Island

The shape of the Island will largely be decided by the rest of the kitchen. If your kitchen is a large square shape chances are the Island design will be a large square within that. Or you might want to ‘break’ the shape of the room. Go long in a square shape or use a curved shaped Island to contrast with the square of the room.

The perfect kitchen layout will last far longer than beautiful decor.

If you only get one thing right right in your kitchen design … make it a great kitchen plan. All other mistakes are easy to fix in comparison to a bad plan.

2. Choosing the Shape of a Kitchen Island

Think about how best to design the kitchen Island so it is the centerpiece in the room. That means also looking to the windows or patio doors and making sure the island makes the most of the view and light.

You may want the cooker or sink to be positioned so you can admire the view. Bear in mind that anyone sitting opposite you has their back to the view. You have to choose your priorities.

If your space is small, then a curved shape might work. It can be a great way to ‘soften’ the edges as you pass around the island.

3. Circulation Space around a Kitchen Island

One key dimension to consider around the island is the distance between the island and a counter.

Ideally this will be 1200mm or 48″ between the counter and the island.

The reason behind this is fairly simple. Imagine you are using the cooker (at your kitchen island) and someone needs to use the sink (on the counter behind you). In a perfectly designed kitchen neithher of you has to move to make way for the other. That’s the essence of good circulation space.

Can you have less? Yes you can certainly get away with less, but keep it in mind as the ideal so you don’t go too crazy.

Things like the number of people living in the house, or how often you entertain should be part of your design process. If it is a tiny house and only one person lives there it will certainly be ok tomake thhe distance less.

If it is a family home and you still want an island even though your space is tight there are other ways to do it. Be clever about where you position your key units… the cooker, sink, fridge, dishwasher etc. These are all used a lot so dont have them opposite each other if you have to go with less than recommended dimensions. That way you minimise the time spent getting in each others way.

Take some timme before you start your kitchen renovation to check all your key areas have good circulation space. We call this taking your home for a test drive.

Our Kitchen Design Kit our Home Desig Kit and Interior Designer Kits all include magnetic people. They are scaled to a diametre of 600mm or 24″

Use them check if two people will fit between the counters, and get the perfect kitchen island circulation.

Back to blog