Working islands

At an early stage of your kitchen design process it is worth thinking about what you want to do at your kitchen island, particularly if you intend to use it as a fully -functional/working area of your kitchen.

If you plan to cook at the island, then consider whether this will be practical for you in terms of proximity to your preparation areas? Also worth serious deliberation is the extraction from an island; do you really want to see a large stainless steel canopy? You may find you prefer something more subtle, or indeed invisible altogether, such as a downdraft extractor. You should also consider how your extractor will vent to the outside of your home, as this may not be possible. In such a case we can advise on how to use a recirculating extractor, which will still comply with existing building regulations.

Furthermore, if you wish to locate your sink in the island, then you must also consider how you will get the waste water to drain away. Unless you can route your plumbing under the floor, this can be very difficult to achieve.

Seating at Island Kitchens

Frequently our clients wish to be able to sit at /around an island in their kitchen, and there are some important questions that must be answered to ensure you have a design that easily enables this. A standard kitchen work surface is 90cm- too low to sit at comfortably atop a stool, but too high to sit at on a chair. We know how to produce designs that ensure you are both happy with the style and comfort of your island kitchen design; be it a 100mm thick worktop, split levels, glass overlays, or increased furniture heights etc. Whatever your specific need you will find the benefit of our design knowledge invaluable in incorporating the subtleties of these points.

Latest design trends for kitchen islands

The design team at Contemporary Kitchens work closely with the designers at our German manufacturers and other leading industry names to ensure we are at the forefront of the latest design trends. With specific reference to kitchen Islands, we would summarise the latest trends as follows:

• 'Floating' designs for handle-less kitchens. In these designs we continue the handle-less stainless steel channel right around the kitchen island- and the worktop is then placed atop the units, creating a fantastic 'floating' effect.

• Work surface wrapped islands. We are designing more and more kitchens in this style where the work surface also forms the end panels for the sides of the island. This is particularly effective in 100 mm worktops which can be projected over the back of the island, creating the knee space at the back of the kitchen island for people to sit atop stools.Come see for your self we have a stunning example in our showroom in Cork using corian worktop.

Curved Kitchens ,Our range of curved gloss units work brilliantly (where space permits) when incorporated into kitchen island designs.

Appliances suitable for Island Kitchen Designs. Particularly in respect of extractors, there are some appliances specifically designed to bring a real 'wow' factor to your kitchen like the down draft extractor available from numerous manufactureres.

• Also increasing in popularity are the modular cook tops known as Domino hobs, now available from a range of suppliers such as Siemens, Miele, De Dietrich and Neff.