Mobile Kitchen Island on Furniture Glides
Furniture glides create a movable island for easier manuevering.
The space between our kitchen wall cabinets and island is a few inches narrower than normally called for. My concern was that the space would be too small to remove the stove or refrigerator, both of which were installed before the island.
My solution: Rather than fasten the island to the hardwood floor, I mounted it on furniture glides like those used under chair or table legs. That way it could be moved just enough to get the appliances out. By code there is an electrical outlet on one end, so I had the electrician connect it with flexible conduit through a hole in the floor to a box in the basement. With a granite countertop, the island is quite heavy and does not move easily, but we have already moved it once to swap refrigerators and it worked as planned. It was a good idea to mark the location on the floor before moving to get it back in the right place. If you try something similar, talk to your code official about using flexible conduit this way as it may not be permitted in all areas.
—Robert Banks, Lake Bluff, Ill.
Edited and Illustrated by Charles Miller.
From Fine Homebuilding #313
