Every kitchen needs a big, central island. It can be used for all sorts of purposes: preparation and food storage, dining space, or an extra countertop when guests come over. Whichever way you design yours, there are some features that we highly recommend putting in your kitchen island.
Features
This includes a sink with running water. A sink is important for several reasons. The raw ingredients you are cooking with need to be cleaned off of your counters before you can cook them, so having a place to clean food products off is very useful. It is also nice to be able to rinse the dishes off after they have been washed in order to prevent water stains. Having a sink built into your kitchen island is also convenient because you can wash dishes before you have to load them into the dishwasher, saving time and energy. This feature allows for counter space that would not otherwise be there. If you use this space for storage it will give you more room in the cupboards below. If you use the space as a cutting board, it will make it easier to cut and prepare your food and clean up afterward. The drawbacks are that the counter space cannot be used for anything else, and you must make sure not to clog your sink.
Open for Ovens
Having a built-in oven gives you more cooking options. It also gives you more room for prepping food because of an increased amount of counter space. Ovens in the kitchen island are a great idea. It makes cooking multiple dishes at once way easier because you can have one oven for bread and another for casseroles. This allows you to not only cook all your food faster, but you also save a ton of energy by using just one oven instead of two or three different ones like before. This is especially helpful if there are multiple people in your household who like to cook for themselves. The oven is usually big enough to accommodate baking sheets and other tools that you need when cooking, so having it built-in saves you from searching for extra space where they can be stored. Unfortunately, this feature does not allow for much counter space and takes up a lot of room that could otherwise be used as storage. Ovens are rather expensive, but creating an island with one is definitely worth it.
Space for Storage
Having a kitchen island that incorporates drawers or shelves instead of just being flat can be very beneficial because you have more storage options. Drawers are perfect for utensils and small appliances. Shelves are also great to store large appliances, spices, jarred food products, baking supplies, cooking pans, spatulas, cookie sheets, etc. Having both drawers and shelves will allow you to organize your island so that everything has a place to go which is much more efficient than having them spread out everywhere. Drawers and shelves can also be used to display your dishware so that it is not only stored but also put on display. The drawbacks of drawers and shelves are that they take up a lot of room, so if you have a kitchen island with limited space you will need to go without this feature. Also, because these features create small storage compartments it is impossible to use them for large appliances or items.
In conclusion, having a kitchen island with counter space, built-in sinks or ovens, and drawers or shelves are all great features to have. You can also opt for one large sink or two smaller sinks instead of just one. Whichever way you choose to design your kitchen island there are some very important things to take into account when making the final decision about kitchen renovations in Willoughby.
