Hi Jane, should be OK, can you post a few photos and the measurements of the kitchen space, what building materials is the house made of ie: Brick walls, timber floor cheers

I'll do it tonight. Thanks for your interest. J

I have always found that when a Builder says he can't is that he doesn't want to do it. There's always a way or compromise to get things done. Until Jane provides the extra info requested we're all just guessing and in the dark.

j

here's a rough floor plan based on your photos...

Wow. That’s impressive. You’re good at this. Firstly, I need to keep the sink and the dishwasher in the island; can’t move them; nowhere to move them to; and am happy to keep them there. The plumbing runs at the back of the bottom drawer between pantry and sink. I know I have to patch the floors. That’s not an issue. There’s no taps or sink in the pantry. And the tall cabinet at the end of the bench is going. I just want simple clean lines; a shorter island bench with one black granite sink. I’m doing it all in dark concrete/charcoal colours. With a lit gallery of art running above the stove top. I’m way too short for such tall cupboards. Is that enough information? I’m wondering if I should raise the floor just a little to accomodate the plumbing and make it a sort of an illusion of an island. And put a piece of sculpture on the floor in the gap. I know it won’t be a true island. But at least it won’t look like an old fashioned attached bench.

J

if you're only wanting to change the look of the bench and don't need to actually walk through the new gap it should be quite simple to remove the tall end cabinet, create a new sink cupboard (with extended water pipes?) along to that space and the gap left next to the pantry can be open stool space from both sides with a raised floor to hide the pipes and be a foot rest with a shallow drawer under the counter...true colours would not be visible in my picture so the red stool is inside the kitchen, the brown stools outside, i've filled in the stool space opposite the sink with some 30cm deep cabinets in green to create some lower storage to make up for the inaccessible wall cabinets and the raised foot rest to cover the pipes is yellow

Yes. I think you’re right. And thanks for the visual. That’s the bit I find so hard. Of course there’d be no bench there. But the raised floor in a different colour actually looks better. I might do it is a concrete tile so that it looks deliberate.

The opposite end of the bench from the bird, I can't see the whole picture is there a wall with a tall unit and then that great big dark box?, what is it, I'd remove it. I think it would be better to remove from that end keeping the sink and DW insitu, it would make the island shorter as would removing cabinets between the bench and Pantry this would look more like an island. I would also remove the small section of bench top to add to the Island bench look. Other than that try speaking to the body corporate and plumber to see what would be possible and cost. cheers

PS: who did that kitchen and that plumbing? are other apartments the same?

Yes - that taller section is drawers and is going. It’s way too chunky and ruins the line. I’ll have enough drawers behind me. The island will be quite short - I have to accept that. But it’s not a big kitchen so don’t think it will look too bad. The other post with the yellow ‘step’ has decided me that this is the way to go and I think I’ll use the concrete type tiles that I’m using in the bathroom to add interest to the timber floor and stop trying to hide the ‘step’. On the weekend I’m going to post a picture of same area but from further away and I’m hoping one of you clever people can create a visual of the scene with the bench cut off, the step in dark tile and a dark tile feature right across the timber floor to add interest and tie the step into the whole picture. What fun!!

Thanks to everyone for your interest.

J

PS: No they’re not all the same. This is an old block and this particular apartment was renovated around 10 years ago opening up the kitchen. It’s just tired and not to my taste. I renovated another apartment 3 years ago and completely stripped it back. I’ll do the same this time.

i think it will be a mistake to have the step without a barrier to stop people tripping over it..that's why i left the counter with the opening underneath...if you're planning to strip back and redo the whole kitchen please add some photos of every wall and measurements for the whole room including inside the pantry and showing the position of both sides of the existing benches, doors and windows...there has to be a better way to achieve a satisfactory result....a low step will just be a hazard....in the meantime please explain everything you do and don't like about the existing kitchen

I’ll try and do it on the weekend. I know what you mean about tripping over it. Maybe I should make the gap quite narrow - create the look of the island without inviting people to walk through. And if I run artwork all down the wall it will make it look more like a feature than a walkway. What do you think? And I may have overstated the whole ‘tearing it apart’ thing. I will keep the shape. Just new bench, create island, new sink, new cupboards, dump the coffee machine, create the lit gallery across the top. But it will still be the island in front, the fixed bench with stovetop and oven at the back with fridge recess unchanged. So, more a complete facelift than major surgery. But I’m keen to pick your brains/computer skills to get a visual on the tile feature I now think I want to do. Better fly to work and too tired to do much at night. I’ll do what I can early tomorrow and then across the weekend. Thanks again. Appreciate your efforts.

j

I agree with oklouise regarding leaving only the step with no bench to stop people from accidentally tripping. This will be an issue and I have doubts the body corporate would approve the Reno submission.

Yes. Didn’t think of that. You’re probably right.

j

I would like to see just the island bench with a 30cm set back facing the room with stools along this edge. If needed the plumbing can be boxed in the full length of the island as a foot rest, but should still fit under a shallower cabinet facing into the room under the benchtop.

I have placed an open shelf above the cook top either side of the range hood, you could display art the shelf.

The expensive solution is to raise the floor for the kitchen with a false floor. Run the plumbing above the existing floor, and below the false floor. At the same time I would move the wall in the walk-in-pantry by about 600mm and add the space to the kitchen to make an "L" shaped arrangement of cabinetwork in plan, then add your free-standing island.

I don't know if I've missed anything as I skimmed through the posts, but if you take out a section of the bench you're losing storage of which there is never enough, and I think a gap that's not really a walk through would look strange, like a 'why is that there' feature. Raising the whole kitchen might work if you have the ceiling height to do it, but think about whether you're happy with carrying dishes up and down from the dining area. It seems like a lot of compromises to avoid a perception of "old-fashioned". Looking at the two pictures you posted of the kitchen now it looks spacious but any less bench space would make me feel like 'uh oh, not enough bench space'. If you can have a huge island bench, great, but if you can't have both I reckon generous bench space outweighs island bench.

Thanks to everyone who has helped me with their comments. I’m attaching some more photos in the hope that one of you who can use creative technology will be able to help me visualise where I’m headed. I have taken on board the comments about not creating a hazard but would still like to see what this would look like:

A narrow gap between the pantry wall and the end of the bench (about 400 - 500mm) big enough to create the island look but not big enough to tempt walking through. The ‘step’ built up to cover the plumbing and then covered with dark concrete tile. Then this tile to come out through the living area incorporating the support post up to the sliding doors as a feature contrast to the timber. Can anyone create that image? I haven’t bought my tiles yet, or I would just lay them down and look at it. But I have a picture of them that I could upload. Also, as you can see, I pulled out an old fashioned room divider so I’m fairly sure I have the depth to lay the tile so that it will be flush with the existing flooring. Thanks in anticipation.

Jane

Love the timber floor. my program is a bit old as you can see by the cabinets but should give you an idea.

I would keep the Island bench as is but remove the bulky end cabinet next to the sink. Remove the glass panels and the little narrow extra bench top.

This will give the kitchen a much simpler profile with no need to cover plumbing which would always look patched.

If you were living in a warehouse you could get away with leaving the pipes exposed with the bench top across the top as a sit down space

I wish I was in a warehouse!!! Thanks for the visual. It really helps.

j

Hi Jane, jut another thought,

As the plumbing is coming from the Pantry where the old kitchen most likely was, why don't you move the sink and DW into the Pantry, with an opening in the wall for light and visual into the living space while cleaning up, dirty dishes disappear.

Island with no plumbing needed !

Not quite perfect yet OK

Outside the box! Love it! Let me get a costing...

Changed the door and window trim to modern simple. If there was enough space and you wanted to you could have a sliding art work to pull across the opening into the pantry cheers

Wow! Cute idea!