Good Reasons for Having an Island Unit Fitted

One thing that will always impress your friends when they come over to your home is if your kitchen has an island unit. An island unit is a stand-alone platform that is usually situated in the middle of the kitchen, it provides you with more work surface area and storage space, you can also situate your appliances here too – The oven/hob/sink etc.

In a lot of modern homes the island unit is placed in the center of the kitchen and is used to separate the living room from the kitchen, there are endless uses for a kitchen island – ranging from a breakfast bar, to a food prep space, to housing the cookers, sink or refrigerator for instance. For an example if you had a sink built into the island unit you could stand there in the kitchen doing the dishes while you chatted to guests in the living room, this is made simple by the fact that generally if you’re using an island unit to separate rooms, you wouldn’t have a wall there also – so you really are opening up the space quite a bit!

According to modern trends and influences by designers the kitchen island is quickly becoming one of the most popular design features of a modern kitchen and new home owners or first time buyers are requesting a kitchen that features an island unit. They are becoming more sought after in the property market too!

There are a lot of different styles of island unit, with many unique designs now being available on the market.

If you are looking into having an island unit fitted then you will have to take the size and shape of the room into account. Generally speaking islands tend to be square, rectangle, rounded, circular and ‘L’ shaped if you are limited on space. There are still some basic design aspects that need to be considered when fitting an island area, things like the ‘kitchen triangle’ are important to think about – The placement of the sink, oven/hob, and refrigerator in relation to each other. Maintaining a good balance between these three main areas of the kitchen is considered as one of the top kitchen layout design ideas.

The range of kitchen islands mirrors the types of styling and design that you’ll find with kitchens themselves, designs such as: Shaker, High-Gloss, Contemporary and Traditional finishes can all be used when fitting an island area.

As for the types of material that it’s possible to build an island unit from, there are many many types of material nowadays that island works paces are constructed from – Maple, Walnut, Oak, Birch, Beech and even stainless steel are all very popular finishes. Work surfaces that are fitted for island units are as equally open, from Hard Woods to Granite and even stainless steel.

There are plenty of features and gadgets and accessories that are possible to use in conjunction with an island unit, from pop-up power switches, storage ideas, scales, toasters, kettles, hobs, ovens, cupboards, refrigerators. The list is almost limitless!

One thing to think about with one of these units, especially one with a hob fitted is an extractor or air purifier. Lighting can also play a big part too!

So as you can see, if you have the space and you don’t already have one fitted – then there are plenty of good reasons to get one fitted!