The Boss's Kitchen: Part 2 (Island!)

This week's "Boss's Kitchen" post will be all about my island. I want to discuss my decision on the shape of the island, as well as some special features my wife and I included. 

Let's start with the shape.  We picked this "T" shape mainly because our room (as many of our clients' rooms) is not quite wide enough for a typical island width (usually between 24" and 48" wide). To allow for good walkways (42" wide) we had to size the island appropriately to fit between our counter depth refrigerator (more on that in a later post) and our counter with the sink. This only left space for 21" deep cabinets facing the counter with the sink.  

We knew that we wanted an open bookcase cabinet on the end of our island and, frankly, we didn't love the look of a 21" wide bookcase. So, we decided to use a 27" wide bookcase to give the island a larger look even though the rest of it was 6" shallower. Here is a picture of how it looks with the "T" shape and larger bookcase:

Moving along now to some of the special features.... We wanted a nice place to store a few bottles of wine. To do this, I created a 6" wide void between the island cabinets and made wine cubes out of cabinet material. Here is the finished product:

On the reverse side, we also had this same 6" void. By code, every island needs electrical outlets so this void gave us the perfect place to put our outlet (plus it's now super easy to use a mixer or other electrical products on the island!). Underneath this outlet, I installed a small hook for a hand towel (and this is a perfect location for it, since it's right across from the sink).  

On either side of the hand towel cubby, we elected to use drawer base cabinets. The one on the left is used to store our mixing bowls and Tupperware containers. This is a great place for both, as the majority of our prep-work and cleanup happen on the island. In the cabinet on the right, we store aluminum foil, plastic wrap, Ziploc bags, etc. 

So, that's the overview of the island we designed for our kitchen. If you have any questions, please ask us on our Facebook page or send us an email.  Stay tuned for next week's post on the perimeter features of our kitchen.

All the best,

Bill Hecht

President & CEO

David Hecht Custom Kitchens