Kitchen design comment please - no sink on island?
Hi all
Can I please get your advice on placement of double sink?
We have been use to having a d/sink on the island in our old house and aware of the troubles of splash, dishes pile up when entertaining on island etc.
Would you have any solutions of where to place the d/sink on this plan, off the island as an alternative.
The plan below is nice I thought as it has two work triangles:
1. sink/cooktop/ref
2. sink/oven/ref
We do wash our dishes rather than dishwasher so we do use the sink a lot and its nice to face dining and living though.
Many thanks,
MB
Comments (13)
Related Discussions
"Please... Help needed with new kitchen design layout!"
Comments (7)with a lot of helpers crowding around to help i suggest that the new kitchen needs to be zoned for tasks and be open plan without a separate pantry...this rough idea has a central island about 2m x 3m surrounding the column and walkways approx 1.5 m between counters, subject to available space with the column the island has mostly underbench drawers for pantry food storage, crockery and cutlery and the counter is for food preparation, serving, sorting and distributing clean and dirty cookware and bags of groceries etc and has a small extra sink but no more than a couple of stools to keep the workers moving!!..Subject to suitable access the central space under the big island (would be about 60cms wide, 90cm tall and almost 3m long!) would be ideal to store folding tables and chairs and "christmas" supplie in wheeled storage crates or pull out kitchen island trolley..There's a full size fridge and freezer as well as an underbench drawer fridge next to the tea, coffee & toast area,with cup glasses and breakfast supplies in the overhead cabinets..twin dishwashers with double sinks, hot cold water dispensers, pull out garbage bins and a modern insinkerator or compost disposal in the sink area..the cooktop and food prep area is on both sides of the corner with big appliances underneath, and serving plates and casserole dishes etc overhead..The base cabinets should be deeper than normal for more generous counters and giant cooking equipment and appliances stored underneath and to have shallow splashback shelves for herbs,oils, sauces etc and there's a stacked wall oven and microwave and a stacked wall oven with warming drawer and vertical shelves above the ovens to stand up trays, racks, cake and pizza trays and drawers below the ovens for saucepans and baking dishes...decorative finishes and fine details need to be determined by the resident cook for personal taste and everyday comfort...See MoreShould I install a sink in my kitchen island?
Comments (31)Hi Bianca, I have just seen your post. I personally think the best answer to your question will depend on a few other considerations because it really depends on the kitchen layout as a whole. Considerations may include; how will this affect the work flow in your Kitchen and what are the alternative positions available to you? Importantly; how big is your island going to be; an Island can be a great space for food preparation, meal plating, as well as the island being a social space for family as well as when entertaining. When placing the Sink in an island you may consider a sink also needs adequate additional space each side of it for the various functions it is used for; whereby placing a sink in a small Island can sometimes take away from the other benefits it provides. There is actually no clear yes or no answer, but to consider your Kitchen layout, appliance placements and its work flow as a whole. With the other things you have already mentioned here, I hope this extra helps in your decision process....See MoreOpening up the kitchen - please comment on the design
Comments (10)oklouise and dreamer, thank you so much for your input! Sorry I disappeared for a while, the weekend was a little crazy, also a lot to process after your suggestions. oklouise, your idea to turn the island 90 degrees is genius! I was obviously mentally stuck on the existing wall and could only imagine the island going along (instead of) it, not across it. I can see the beauty of the suggestion to use that whole "left" wall for the kitchen. I have even walked the rooms imagining how it could work. However after much thinking and discussions with my husband, we prefer to have the living/TV area in that corner rather than in the open area as suggested. Again, I see how this suggestion will work beautifully for many families but not for us. Also, the window in the living area (on the left wall) is 190cm wide and floor to ceiling, and looks into a park. It's the top floor and no neighbours on that side, the view is lovely and we would really like to keep it unobstructed. dreamer, thank you for the idea of a portable island. However, I am very keen on having a second sink and there seems to be no other place for it (provided I'm sticking with what ). Also I thought I'd have a couple of power points there to be able to use my appliances, also it'll be around 2m long, so probably either way too big to be portable. For now I've used oklouise's fantastic suggestion and rotated the island, and made it smaller, now it perfectly aligns with the window on the left and the door at the bottom of the plan. It now looks like there is quite enough space to have a proper dining table to the right of the kitchen. What do you think? I'm providing the current floor plan with the dimensions, the grey area is the existing kitchen/dining footprint. This plan is accurate (done by an experienced person) but my design is probably off as I'm not experienced at all, was just playing with some ideas and a design tool....See MoreNeed design advice please – island bench!
Comments (17)Hi Mark, You might also check out kitchen design considerations in the Liveable Housing Design Guidelines They suggest for Gold Level that: (A) The kitchen space should be designed to support ease of movement and adaptation with: at least 1200 mm clearance in front of fixed benches and appliances (excluding handles); and slip resistant flooring. (B) Floor finishes should extend under kitchen cabinetry to enable cupboards to be removed without affecting the flooring. Where fixtures cannot be easily removed (e.g. ovens which are built in) the floor finishes should not be continued. And for Platinum (highest) Level that: As for the gold level except that the kitchen space described in (A) should be designed to support ease of movement and adaptation with: at least 1550 mm clearance in front of fixed benches and appliances (excluding handles); slip resistant flooring; and task lighting installed above work spaces. These standards are being considered for incorporation into the National Construction Code (BCA). They will not appear for a few years yet, but by considering and incorporating these principles now it may future-proof the house to some extent....See More
Emma Gamble
6 years agoHi There,
I'm a senior kitchen designer. There isn't a lot of information for me to go by to give you a lot of advice (as I might be about t suggest something to you that brings another problem with it) but I can tell you that I like the shape of the kitchen, however the flow is a bit mismatched. A couple of points to consider:
- How many bedrooms is the house and how many people live there? Currently, where you have the fridge placed in relation to the sink means if you're entertaining guests or have children/teenagers in the kitchen to access the fridge while you are cooking they will cross the path of the cook making things frustrating and less efficient for you. To evade this, I actually recommend changing the orientation of the island. I don't have your exact measurements but based on what you have given I do think you've got more than enough room to do so.
- As a result of changing the island orientation, I would recommend keeping the sink further to one end of the island. This way you have more of an area dedicated to seating/dining and one area more so to the dishes. The orientation I have suggested will also allow for additional depth as opposed to the standard 900mm - it will be harder to splash somebody with an island depth of 1200mm! Positioning the sink where I have it is a very social setting - allowing seating to be around the island so those seated are able to look at each other as opposed to being lined up. Those at the sink (And studies do show that you spend about 65% of your time in the kitchen at the sink) are facing the dining area square on but still being a part of the action in the lounge area is also a plus.
- I've bought the oven tower back to the cooking zone. Kitchen designers like to work with dedicated zones to ensure as efficient kitchen as possible. You'll see I have noted the improved work flow on my basic and very messy diagram. Studies show that best work flow will be in one continuous direction to make the process more streamlined. I have grouped the food storage >> Prep area by the sink >> Cooking area >> Serving/plating area >> Cleaning >> and crockery storage.
- Secondary sink? It doesn't need to be anything big, maybe just 300-350mm means when you are entertaining you can stack those dishes inside the pantry. It's an 'out of sight, out of mind' approach. It could also be very useful to you if that was where you are planning to keep the smaller appliances such as a toaster and kettle as you'll often need to wipe things down or rinse things out. Plumbing can be very useful in these areas!
If you would like to chat with me further you can flick me an email, I'd be more than happy to help you further with any advice you might seek :)
Emma Gambleem.gamble@hotmail.com
M B thanked Emma Gamblegirlguides
6 years agoM B
6 years agoANH: thanks for the suggestion, a radical departure of putting cooktop of island but your page raises some good points.
Emma, thank you for taking the time to draw a sketch! We are a family of 4 - 2 young children so it would be important to design the house/kitchen for the next 25 years!I do love your suggestions and makes much better sense. I think you just reaffirmed the way we live would be best to have a sink in the island and a secondary sink near the pantry out of sight.
I've redrawn the diagram incorporating your suggestions.
I guess the alternative of no sink on island won't work for this layout and us.
MB
M B
6 years agoEmma Gamble
6 years ago
siriuskey
6 years agoM B
6 years agoThanks Emma and Sirius. I guess the next challenge is designing what and where in the kitchen (not pantry) cabinets go for bin, cutlery, cooking utensils, pots and pans, cooking oils/herbs, plates/cups/dishes etc.. Are there any rules?
I assume: bin near sink, cutlery on island, cooking utensils near cooktop, other utensils on island, pots and pans under cooktop, oils and hearby near cooktop, plates/cups/dishes west of cooktop following Emma's flow.
Emma, would you design the storage next to O/T and Ref to store any particular items? There is a pantry which I would put some benches and appliances.
Sirius: here is updated measurements - thank you!
M B
6 years ago
oklouise