Your kitchen island does not have to match. Although matching an island to surrounding cabinets and countertops creates symmetry within a kitchen, using different cabinet colors or different countertops can turn an island into a beautiful focal point that complements the rest of your kitchen.
Contrasting Kitchen Island Combinations
Generally, most homeowners use the same color of the cabinets for the kitchen island, but they either tone it down to a lighter shade or intensify it to a darker shade.
No, your kitchen cabinets do not have to be symmetrical. Asymmetry in the kitchen can even make your kitchen look more modern.
According to the Houzz 2021 Kitchen Trends Survey, 41% of renovating homeowners are opting for a kitchen island paint color that contrasts their cabinet color. Of those, the majority go for classic colors that never go out of style; 27% go for blue and 20% choose gray, 10% went with white and another 10% picked black.
Cost to Paint Kitchen Island
The average cost to paint an island is between $3 and $6 per sq. ft.
Perhaps you're choosing light gray cabinets, an antique white look, or a soft wood stain on oak for your cabinets. Your kitchen island need not be so subtle! You can go for broke with a bright color on your cabinets, or simply a color or stain that contrasts with your cabinets and therefore makes your island stand out.
Staggered is dated, but mostly because it became overdone with every tract house having staggered cabinets in their kitchens. You could probably do a well designed larger kitchen with some staggering and it might not look dated.
Kitchen islands do not need to be centered. Dining and cooking kitchen islands should be placed in the middle of the cooking area. Islands that need electric power should be positioned near outlets, but do not need to be centered.
Kitchen islands do not have to be in the center of the room. Kitchen islands should be placed according to their intended usage.
If you're undecided between two polar-opposite materials, there's good news: You can use both. It's common to pair both engineered surfaces such as quartz and porcelain with natural surfaces like granite and soapstone. You can even mix two different types of stone (travertine with granite, for instance).
Painting your kitchen island a new color is a great way to give your kitchen a fresh look without renovating the entire space. All you need are some basic tools, Extreme Bond Primer, and a coat or two of Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel.
Two-tone kitchen cabinets are a hot design trend right now — and with good reason. Two-tone cabinets can create visual interest, make a small kitchen seem more spacious and help you stay within your budget.
Gray was predicted to be a top kitchen trend in 2018, and today, it is faring well among the kitchen cabinetry colors. There are different gray shades that you may want to explore when remodeling your kitchen.
Yes! You can use base cabinets for a kitchen island. Base cabinets come in several different heights and many types and styles so you can create a custom island at a fraction of the price.
The dining and cooking islands should be positioned in the center of the kitchen, while islands that need electricity should be near power outlets. If you dream of having enough room in your kitchen to maintain a high-end coffee maker, these islands may help you achieve that goal.
When designing a kitchen with the main sink in the island, it's important to resist the desire to center everything. You don't want to bump into the person cooking at the range, and you want to maximize counter space to one side of the sink.
Pick a prime spot: The center of the room is not always the ideal place for an island, depending on your use of it. An island designed for food prep should be situated near outlets and appliances, while an island designed for cleanup should be situated near the dishwasher and garbage.
The ideal upper cabinet height is 54 inches above the floor.
If your base cabinet height, countertop thickness, or backsplash/wall clearance height will differ from the standard heights above, you'll need to adjust the upper cabinet mounting height so that it represents the sum of these three heights.
The sweet spot is around 18 inches, but in kitchens that are built with accessibility in mind, it is usually about 15 inches. One of the most significant factors in upper cabinets is whether they reach the ceiling or not. Most cabinets, even if they look like they reach the ceiling, do not go that high.
Build Upper Cabinets Completely New
If cabinets are nine feet or higher, it typically works best to build new cabinets that are stacked on top of your existing ones, with their own separate cabinet doors, as a single cabinet of this height would appear too extremely elongated.
The recommended distance between kitchen work areas, which can include both perimeter countertops and kitchen islands: 42 inches minimum in a single-cook kitchen. 48 inches minimum in a kitchen where more than one cook may be working.
Kitchen islands suck space. At minimum, an island should be 4 feet long and a little more than 2 feet deep, but it must also have room for people to move and work around it. Unless your kitchen is at least 8 feet deep and more than 12 feet long, don't even think about an island.
The height of an island usually matches the height of a countertop at 36 inches. If your island has seating, the counter should overhang at least 15 inches. An island with a taller height for bar stool seating should be 42 inches high and the overhang should be at least 12 inches.