Hi I just thought I would leave a comment about the visibility of joins in reconstituted stone such as Caesarstone tops on islands longer than 3 metres. From a patern point of view; by selecting a style that has a fine grain certainly helps with reducing the visibility of a join. As for the join itself, the technology and tooling used to make such joints has come a long way in the last 10 years; therefore if you use a Kitchen Manufacturer who uses up-to-date stone fabrication methods, then such joins can be next to near invisible. Below is a kitchen we made with an Island that is over 4.3 metres long and has a join through the centre; where the join actually has to be pointed out to be seen. We have seen Kitchen Manufactures use the two height method but you really don't have to do this to achieve a long island. If you would like a long island, then you should not be put off by having to have a join; careful selection of your material, manufacturer and planning can achieve great results. Hope this helps anyone reading this article and the comments above.

I'm about to put a cooktop on the 2.3 x 900 peninsular (island with only one free end ( in my new galley kitchen. I am using an induction top so it can be fitted flush with the benchtop surface, allowing me to use the whole area as benchtop when not in use. I intend to have bar stolls on the living room side for entertaining. My joiner has suggested making a beautiful, thin timbercover to go over the glass induction surface for added protection. I just need to decide on down draft induction hob or a ceiling casette. My main aim is to remove the smelly cooking smells from my unit. The smell from one evening of cooking indian chicken curry currently lasts at least a week! Any advice?

I would get an upholsterer to do a couple of long foam cushions for the seats - colour would very much depend on the rest of your home, but teal would look good there (and so would navy).

We are planning similar and have 4.4 m to play with on the back wall and are going to fit in the fridge, double sink with detachable drainer and 800 cooktop with under bench ovens -it only leaves 1m of prep space between the sink and the cooktop -but we think will be fine (less than we would like tho) as we have a 3m bench behind for prepping too. We were really keen not to put an appliance/sink in the island. If you have 4m it will be tight perhaps -if you were happy to put your sink in the island it could work