Kitchen island design | What should you think about?

[@leightonius]

Would LOVE to get a video about cooktop ventilation, particularly when having a range/cooktop in an island. (Just discovered your videos and am loving them. They're filling out the majority of my kitchen design notes, now.)

[@hsdesignstudio]

Sounds great, I will add it to the list. Thanks very much, I'm glad to hear they are helping!

[@revystoked]

Good tips on island size! I've been trying to figure out how deep the island should be, and 48" would work very well with a 12" cabinet backing a 24" base cabinet. We might even put an outward-facing set of cabinets on one end, as we need 4 seats in a ~10' long island. Also, I 100% agree with having the garbage, compost, and recycling in slide-out bins by the sink. Easy access from the main prep and cleanup area, and much easier than under the sink or way off in a corner somewhere. When we reno'd our kitchen 15 years ago, we took what we knew from the previous kitchen and fixed many problems. We haven't had to change things over the years, although the former soda drawer is now filled with reusable beverage containers. For our new kitchen, it's pretty easy to figure out where everything is going to go.

[@scottcombs3882]

I love these videos. I work as a draftsman in a custom cabinetry shop and I always fall back on these principles when I'm designing or altering a space for a client that doesn't have their mind 100% made up. I like getting to imagine how I would want the layout if it were my kitchen.

[@hsdesignstudio]

Thanks! I find that approach useful as well. However, our studio is getting more and more custom, and I really have to put myself in their shoes and learn how the client wants to use the space. They often have a vision of how they want to use the space and I'm here to create it!

[@user-do1tp9wc2i]

What..... amazed, I heard about common island tool box??? It's a interesting topic. Thank you I've learned a lot.

[@hsdesignstudio]

Thanks for tuning in!

[@heatherd9340]

Great video! Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us!

[@camellia8625]

Thankyou for such helpful information which I am going to use to design my new kitchen

[@mikerudd4943]

If the room is available, my favorite design to do is a 60 inch deep island. 24 +24+12. Excellent for storage. Obviously not super easy on the backside but better than cabinets 90 inches up the wall. The widest island we have done was 72. Most would say it was too deep, but it made life's every day tasks so easy.

[@millieh.-nyc6537]

Great tips! This makes total sense. Be well.

[@1brokenbychrist]

Great topic! Someone finally did a video on this! Thank you sir!! =)

[@signespencer6887]

My daughter has a small apartment kitchen she designed as a long galley with a small-medium moveable island across from it (so no water or electricity) the island can be pushed closer to the galley side, or further or even turned against the wall. In addition, she has a ‘bridge that goes over the island to make a higher counter for eating. the bridge is also separately moveable, so it can partly cover the island for more floor space when only small cooking projects are in process, or be pushed back to allow for more workspace. The bridge also partly conceals the cooking area from the dining table

[@hsdesignstudio]

I love flexibility! Does it work well for her?

[@MTKDofficial]

As always, great video, very thorough and packed with info! 👍🏼👍🏼

[@yudelkagomez7047]

I ended up having a humongous island in my small kitchen 😢84×50 I removed the kitchen wall, and there wasn't floor underneath, so I needed to cover the floor because I didn't have those tiles anymore. Now I have an extremely big kitchen island that covers 35% of my kitchen! It is beautiful and functional, though!

[@tanyadebeer4836]

Two things that I eventually want in a kitchen - a real bakers table, the old fashioned flour dispenser, etc. And a dishwasher sized, two drawer deep freeze instead of a dishwasher. I used to have one and prefer to wash my dishes.

[@hsdesignstudio]

We have a deep freeze in the basement, and I'm not sure we could live without it. I have never seen a two drawer kitchen sized deep freeze though- that would be interesting!

[@nocolortheory]

Good information

[@schuiliz8754]

Love this design!!!

[@hsdesignstudio]

Thank you 👍

[@schuiliz8754]

@@hsdesignstudio Can you make one episode on kitchen trash bin or trash disposal? How to make trash disposal organized, practical, and also beautiful?

[@AlessioSangalli]

Hello, nice video. - My primary comment is: when designing a kitchen, it is the moment we know *the least* how the spaces will be used. A kitchen should have a lifespan of at least 10, maybe up to 25 years. It's very difficult to plan how it will be used that far into the future when sitting at the drawing board. It is in my opinion extremely important to design with good generic usability principles in mind only, and not focus on specific requests, but leave the flexibility to modify it in the future. It's not always possible 😂 or easy to do so - I really don't like cabinets with garbage inside. They are a huge hygenic nightmare, the bins are forcibly small, they stink, you have to touch cabinetry with dirty hands to access them. - Please make a video about range hoods 👍😂 - the kitchen at 1:20 is damn good looking 😂😂 good job

[@carolelazier2437]

Good point about the cabinets designed to hold garbage bins. I didn’t think about that, thanks.

[@hsdesignstudio]

@@carolelazier2437 Depending on where you are in the world, it is quite common to hide garbage inside of the cabinet. My suggestion is to use a smaller bin that doesn't hold garbage for days on end, but rather would be taken out daily or every second day. I view large garbage bins sitting in the kitchen a larger nightmare with 3 kids running around! As with most things, some common sense needs to come into play with garbage "storage".

[@cindianderson9443]

You don't have to touch them, you can get the kind you touch with your knee and it opens.

[@hsdesignstudio]

@@cindianderson9443 yes, that is a good point 👍

[@AlessioSangalli]

@@cindianderson9443 do you have a link? I'm not sure I've seen those.

[@beatricealcaraz5799]

First time watching your videos great ideas unfortunately we don’t have the space for an island , but I have a question about subway tile you mentioned in your previous video about it going out of style so what other things can you do for kitchen back splash?

[@hsdesignstudio]

I don't think subway tile is going anywhere! In fact, it is one of the trends listed in my video where I discuss some design ideas I think will stand the test of time!

[@melaniekeeling7462]

I don't have subway tile, but larger, beveled tiles with a textured frieze. On a re-do, I would prefer something smoother and less decorative.

[@Husky-rn2ce]

Is 3’ x 6’ foot is a decent size for a kitchen island

[@lovewenwin]

I'm here for the pretty pictures

[@hsdesignstudio]

Welcome 😊

[@xzgun100]

You should remove the auto-focus mode from your camera. Great information on the islands tho. 👍

[@hsdesignstudio]

I have been playing around with autofocus vs not...my camera is definitely not the best when it comes to video and does like to wander on occasion haha.

[@nafnaf0]

Downdraft venting is worthless and should not be suggested ever. You need to have an overhead hood. 24" between people is really not enough space, comfortable space is much larger, more like 28". For a standard 36" countertop an overhang of 15" is too small and most chairs won't fit under them anyway, so with chairs you don't actually save any space, you just have to sit further from your island to prevent your knees hitting them, go for something more like around 18" for counter height. Aisle space is one of the most important things. 48" wide aisles on the working side of the island really space that space useful and two people can work on both sides of the aisle. A couple inches can completely change how an aisle feels and functions (just try it out with cardboard or boards and see).

[@comewithmetoghana4969]

How do I contact you ?

[@hsdesignstudio]

Please send me an email at [e-mail]

[@gordonkelly]

Thanks for a great video. One tip: your camera is really struggling to focus - watch the grouting in the titles behind. It kept dragging my attention away from you.

[@hsdesignstudio]

It's not the best camera for video, but it is what I have. I'm playing around a little more with auto focus off to see if that improves things. Thanks for the comment, I appreciate the feedback.

[@gordonkelly]

@@hsdesignstudio don't worry, you have a new subscriber so I'll be sticking around :)

[@hsdesignstudio]

@@gordonkelly fantastic 👍 Thanks for joining the community!

[@gordonkelly]

@@hsdesignstudio we have just started planning a new kitchen ourselves (surprise surprise!). It would be great to see you tackle some more unusual kitchen layouts. For example, we are planning a right-angle kitchen (like the L-shape but both sides are the same length) with an island. In our case, the two equal sides make planning the storage a little more tricky at each end. We are thinking one end would be for electronics (phone chargers, smart picture frame etc). Perhaps the other could be a full height pantry. In short, things that we don't access continually as part of "the triangle". Do you have any experience with this shape?

[@hsdesignstudio]

@@gordonkelly I have worked with kitchens of all shapes and sizes. The nice aspect of an open L-shape is the variety of options you do have. It also depends on what exactly you need out of the main kitchen area. If there is no other pantry, then I would definitely include a tall cabinet in the mix. It could either be near the fridge to keep the height together, or at the opposite end, acting as a sort of 'frame' to each end of the kitchen.

[@billmccluskey6294]

A rolling industrial toolbox ? Made for a restaurant ? Sounds like something for a workshop, NOT a kitchen lol

[@hsdesignstudio]

Honestly! I have had 3 kitchen designs in the last 2 months use rolling toolboxes in one way or another

[@JebusJones]

2 things. Clearly you are the Canadian version of Leigh Whannel. Turn off autofocus on your camera.

[@JebusJones]

Oh also, loving the videos, thanks.

[@hsdesignstudio]

Thank you! I'll admit...I had to look up who Leigh Whannel was..

[@MTKDofficial]

@@hsdesignstudio haha. me too. Don't worry, you have better hair lol

[@hsdesignstudio]

@@MTKDofficial haha thanks Mark 🤣