Kitchen Island features

[todd]

In my quest to build kitchen cabinets, after getting the base cabinets made (granite countertops were installed today), I'm getting ready to embark on an island. For the most part, the base cabinets were pretty much standard. For the island, I'm wondering if anyone who has built kitchen cabinets incorporated any (for lack of a better term) "cool" features. Or, for those who haven't, are there any features you'd like to see? Along of the lines of what I'm talking about could range from a special drawer to hold the aluminum foil, plastic wrap, etc., to a pop-up mixer stand.

todd

[Chris Friesen]

Some things I've seen:

wine storage room for stools along one side open shelves for pots/pans custom slots for cookie sheets prep sink

Chris

[wfox0001]

Ummmmm....how bout a set of stirrups?

Chris Friesen wrote:

[noonenparticular]

Something you haven't mentioned which looks really nice is to make it out of a wood that contrasts that which you used in your wall cabinets.

jc

[Bill Waller]

The island in our kitchen (came with the house, I don't build kitchen cabinets) has got a sink, a special drawer for spices, and a pull out ironing board. The island is in two levels, one counter height and one at table height along one side and at one end. There are also two usable 120VAC outlets and one European type 220VAC outlet (don't ask, I said it, "came with the house" ).

[eclipsme]

And along these lines, I am working on a kitchen with an island. The cabinets along the wall, including the sink, will have concrete tops, while the island, including the range, will have southern yellow pine boards edge glued.

The cabinets themselves are cherry with walnut panels.

contrasty cabinets or contrasty tops. Both are good ideas.

Harvey

no> Something you haven't mentioned which looks really nice is to make it out of

[jazzguy]

Put wheels on it. My wife thinks this is the greatest thing since she can roll it over to the stove top or wherever she's working for extra counter space. With the wheels we can move it from the kitchen to the entertainment area and use it as a buffet table. Our contractor thought the idea of a rolling island was crazy, but now he has potential clients come over to see it.

[bob]

If you haven't already incorporated them into the rest of your cabinets, I would suggest a set of what they now call pot drawers. These are usually a couple of 30-36" deep drawers that are perfect for storing pots and pans. Way more space-efficient than groping into the back of a standard cupboard/shelf to get a pot out. I'm in the process of designing an island as well, though with one short end being attached to the wall it would more correctly be called a peninsula. Two big pot drawers are #1 on the list of must-haves for us.