Can a kitchen island ever be too long? This year we extended our ten-foot-long kitchen island to 14 feet, and it was the best remodeling decision we ever made.
Every summer we decamp from London to Connecticut, where we catch up with friends and family while doing a fair amount of entertaining. Our kitchen island is for everything from meal preparation and consumption to digital surfing, from writing the occasional post to family summit meetings. Last year we decided ten feet just wasn’t long enough, but we were apprehensive about taking up too much of the kitchen with an island. And then my husband suggested we put the extension on wheels, which offers us valuable flexibility on a daily basis. Genius, yes?
Photography by Christine Hanway for Remodelista.
Above: The island was designed with electrical outlets to recharge laptops and iPads.
Above: The extra length allows meals to occur at one end concurrently with meal preparation at the other end. The island seats eight comfortably and can seat as many as 20.
Above: Pulling the extension away from the main island breaks up the scale in the kitchen (and provides a separate surface for dining or cocktail mixing).
Above: A detail of the industrial castor wheels.
Above: The wheels allow the island extension to be moved easily and have brakes to keep the island in place.
(N.B.: Stainless steel is my favorite material for countertops. See 720 images of Stainless Steel Islands in our Gallery of rooms and spaces.)
N.B.: As part of our Remodelista Exclusives week, this post is a rerun and originally ran on August 17, 2012.