Not sure if this is the best place to pose this question, but thought I’d give it a try. Is there a recommended minimum distance between a kitchen work island and the counter tops?
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Replies
Usually about 1' more than anyone plans for.
Personally, I think no less than 3'8 to 4'.
3' absolute minimum for a bachlor pad -
4' if 2 people will be routinely in the kitchen - that way one person can be working at the couter and the other person can walk by without too much croding.
I do quite a few kitchens and I think the answer is that if there is any doubt at all, then there isn't enough space for an island
John
At least a foot of clearance between the open dishwasher door and the island.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
I'd have to agree with rjw - 44" to 48" minimum. We have 54" - I thought it would be too much but I'm really glad we stuck with it. I wouldn't go any farther than that though.
I like a minimum of 42 inches countertop edge to countertop edge. Maybe 46 maximum. More is a waste of space.
Thanks all. I was thinking about 48" but with three kids that like to cook besides both me and my wife, a bit more distance can't hurt. We're in the early planning stages of a remodel and trying to decide how far to move an existing (non-bearing) wall.
Absolute minimum of 42"........48" usually works well.
Lay it out on the floor and try it on for size.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
We've had a crowd cooking and the 54" worked great. Just asked DW again tonight and she wouldn't have it any other way (and doesn't feel it's too far apart).
Pino,
When I put my kitchen together I made my island just under four feet from the sink counter and its absolutly perfect!!! Not too close and not too far. Did I say perrrrrfect?
See the attachment.
Be spaced
andy
nice work/kitchen....
what are the countertops?
thanks
p
They're soapstone. And if you're willing to fabricate them like I was you save more than half! Here's a picture the day they came. Beckman happened to be here visiting and he helped us carry them in. Took like six guys to carry that island slab maybe twenty feet...Whewwww. That suff is heavier than granite.Soapstone is "the most" dense stone of all contertops. It can scratch but it can also be easily sanded then you add mineral oit to finish the tops.
Carbide blade in your saw and major dust masks!!!!!!!
Voila'View Image
You mentioned "fabricating" the counter tops. What exactly did that entail? Did you purchase slabs from a distributer? Thanks for the input.
Sorry...didnt mean to hijack Pino's thread...yeh...I bought just the slab totally unfinishedView Image
A hijack most appreciated. That is some beautiful work on your kitchen Andy. I too am interested in how you fab'd the soapstone.
A hijack most appreciated. That is some beautiful work on your kitchen Andy. I too am interested in how you fab'd the soapstone. >>>>>thanks Pino...Its like anything else. Just take your time. Anyone can do it (Katrina says I say that about everything I do...lol). Just support the stone real well on all sides of the piece and all sides of the cuts.
USe one of those cheap stone carbide blades in your saw and make several passes. If you can do it out side that's the best. The dust is intense. Same dust as talcum powder so your skin feels like a babies azz when you're done. Really.
Then get out your belt sander and start with a 60 drit and work up till you're satisfied. Then go to a ROS doing the same. You can route the edges if you want but I wanted to just ease over the edges with sandpaper for my house.
Cut outs are the same...use your jig saw and appropriate blade... all can be gotten at HD as well as drill bits to put faucet holes in.
Soapstone is the most dense stone of all yet does scratch but not terribly easily if youre careful. Any scratch sands out real easily and you dont need any machines to sand unless it's a bad scratch.
Clean off all the dust and use mineral oil to get the finish.
There's special glue you can get from your supplier to glue pieces if need be.
Be "sure" you get the stone pieces all from the same lot!! I had to return one piece to have it replaced it was so different but they were real nice about it and even delivered it and let me keep the piece I already had.
Be aware: You'll need a lot of guys for island sized pieces. Dense=mega heavy!!
I don't think I'd ever use anything else. We sooooooooo love the look and feel of Soapstone. Its also pretty inexpensive if you do it yourself. Cheaper than granite or marble. Its got such a warm look and feel to it. But the dust....WOWWWW!
Heres a few more pic...one where you see a corner I glued together and after oiling it I saw they were never going to match. Not even close...ugh. I'm oiling it for the fourth time in that picture before I had to cut them apart.
Bye the way...counter to counter I have about 46-47 inches and its really perfect. I could have spaced them way further apart but I set up pieces of plywood on saw horses first and got the feel before I was set on where I was going to install the base cabs. Totally perfect. Definitely not closer!
If you need my supplier just ask. they have places on the east and west coast and they're the best around. I gave the name to a few BT'ers and they used these guys after shopping around. they "own" their own quarries!
a...
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Andy.. Nice island, I like the contrast between the painted cupboards and the the island, the white glaze tyes them together real well, Good work
Brian
ThanksView Image
nice kitchen...too bad about the blue stools (G)
nice kitchen...too bad about the blue stools (G)>>>>>>>Thought Katrina was gonna kill me for ruining her new ten dollar stools.
Decided to use some black spray I had in the shop and spray the tops the same color as the soapstone and had paint left from the walls so I painted the rest with that. You know how it gets with a spray can staring you in the face and ugly cheap stools sittin' right there <W>
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actually...now that I look at that picture...The walls and the stools are really green, not blue....not even close to that picture...hmmmm
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I like stools...I'm starting a collection
right with you on the soapstone...helped build a really high end kitchen with all soapstone tops & sink....neat stuff....corian for the granola set (G)
I like stools...I'm starting a collection>>>>>>>>Don't get me started....lol
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soapstone?
And what kinda cabinets are they?
[edit] nevermind...it is soapstone (I just needing to read further). I thought it looked like soapstone. Reminds me of the HS chemistry lab tables. Would make a nice k counter, I'll have to keep that in mind.
jt8
"Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame." -- Erica Mann Jong
Edited 2/7/2006 5:14 pm by JohnT8
Wow, Andy, beautiful kitchen. I particularly like the divided lites.
Regards, Kate
Thanks Kate...That window is original. I saved all the windows from the section we ripped(not original additions someone added on years ago) down to use in my additions
Whats really cool now is I scored all these big "old" blue ball jars offa Ebay to line up along the backsplash I keep all my seeds, grains, nuts,
sea veggies, my gomazio etc etc in. I have about two dozen now. Looks cool.I love cooking in there. Too bad my Kate won't eat what I cook (I'm macrobiotic). Oh well...each to their own, right?
Later girl
avi
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42'', Anything closer might be considered foreplay; hmmmm, now that I think about it 36'' might be just fine. Gotta go, gotta find me crowbar, be moving my island tonight!
I would also post this question over in Cooks Talk - a number of the members there are professional chefs or dedicated home cooks and might give you some good info on what they find works best. Any other design questions they might be able to help with also. I have seen a few designs posted there for consideration and the person got a lot of good suggestions and advice.
Who are you building it for? Petite Petunia Who is still under 5 foot tall in her six inch heels and wears a size 2 dress? Or broad Bertha and her brood of linebackers??? My suggestion would be to line up all of the cooks who will be working in the kitchen side by side - allow four inches clearance between their hip widths, and go with that measurement!
Pino, start with the doors. The door to the dishwasher, the door to the oven, and so on. With them down, now how much room you need to easly walk between them, and the island? Start with that dimension, and make wider from there! Who ever built our kitchen, twenty years back, should had gone by this rule of thumb. When ever I see the dishwasher door down, I think of the track and feild event, the low hurdle's......Pop
Excellent idea. We'll likely be using undercounter freezer drawers as well, so I'll factor that in too.
Pop is correct on doors.
Don't forget the frig....many new homes with islands require counter-depth friges to save the 5 or 6 inches a full-size frig would stick out...counter-depth are $600+++ or more than conventional friges.
Pete
Good question.
We reviewed several homes and decided on 42" when having our house built. It seems about right.
I found this diagram for minimum kitchen clearances on diynetwork
Thats just the kind of visual resource my wife was hoping for. Thanks.
Sure thing - good luck on the project.
In a 48" space in our kitchen, one person can be at the island cooktop and another person can open the counter-depth side by side fridge right behind them and have plenty of room.
Bruce
Between the mountains and the desert ...
For what it's worth, I had a galley style kitchen with five feet between the counters and it worked really well for two cooks, as well as avoiding a claustophobic feeling.Amateurs talk strategy, Generals talk logistics.