Planning a new island. Opinions?

[lowell holmes]

I'm late to the party, but you might want to check this site.

https://www.pinterest.com/craftantix...plans/?lp=true

https://www.google.com/search?q=kitc...hrome&ie=UTF-8

[Tim Bueler]

I don't understand pull outs.

Why open a door to open a drawer?

The answer to your question is simple, Martin. It's because it's what the customer wants, or at least, thinks they want if we, as the cabinet maker, can't talk them into drawers. I've had some customers that simply won't open up to the idea of drawers only in the base. No problem if you charge appropriately. In the case of my own island my "customer" was SWMBO and she wanted pull out shelves. There's no way I'm getting on her dark side! If Momma ain't happy, nobody's happy!

[Bill Dufour]

Remember that kitchens and bathrooms are designed so a five year old can use them comfortably. That is why the sinks, toilets etc seem so low to adults. It is no problem for a five year old to crawl into the back of a lower cabinet to find stuff down there.
Bill D.

[Warren Lake]

it doesnt look better its just different. There are more alignment issues with gaps being uneven in drawers than doors. Drawer slides are more inconsistent than hinges in returning to where they started from. In inset face frame i like rails between drawers but its more work and you lose space.

[Martin Wasner]

In the case of my own island my "customer" was SWMBO and she wanted pull out shelves. There's no way I'm getting on her dark side! If Momma ain't happy, nobody's happy!

Oddly enough, I said this is how we're going to rearrange things, this is how it's going to look, this is what it's going to be made out of, and this is how it's going to be stained. Might build a house next year, I doubt I'll have that much say in things, but it'll be small so the options will be rather finite.

I've seen built kitchens to know what she wants more than she does. She grumbled about a few things, but in the end it all made sense to her.



Here's how I do my roll outs.
















Will somebody please figure out the picture situation on this site? Either fix it, or figure out what has to be done on my end? All three of those pictures are orientated correctly on my computer.

[Gary Ragatz]

Martin,

a) That's some beautiful work!
b) It looks like the pullouts can be adjusted to different heights, as needed? If so, I think that strengthens the argument for pullouts over drawers.
c) Is that a drawer at the bottom, or a pullout step?

[Jim Becker]

Martin, as an aside, it's not "this site" relative to the picture issue. It's become a common problem because of how the EXIF information is stored in phone cameras. I'm seeing this at pretty much every forum site I manage. I never have this issue because I never upload directly from my phone...everything goes into my computer first for editing. Please see this thread in Forum Tech Support for more information: https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....ideways-on-SMC

[Warren Lake]

id tweak them a but but nothing in this computer. That is how Kraftmaid does their pullouts. Ill find one later. Friend has had one of their kitchens for a while, better than some of the stuff ive seen.




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here is the friends cabinet. They use a face frame hinge so more room and have attached the front of the drawer slide to the strip in the cabinet. The old guy never made doors this way always a strip in the left hand door so you didnt see into the cabinet, not a big deal then his doors would have been mortise and tennon as well. Overall this kitchen has stood up well, I see finish worn off around knobs and some shrinkage so bare wood but overall it was good for the money and better than some of the junk I see.






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[Jack Frederick]

When we did the re-model a few years ago we added the 38x92x37.25 H Island. It is action central for the house as we have a 12" overhang on one side and end. That allows 3 stools on the side and one on the end. One end is blank, with electrical outlets and the side facing the stove is 3 large drawers across the top, deep, wide center drawers and cabinets on either side. The one cabinet is for vertical storage of cookie sheets, etc. One thing to consider on islands. Our island would not work out as well if you could not get around it. If you have to do a doe-see-doe with whomever else is there with you it becomes a pain in the neck having people there. As it is now with 46" between the counter and the island on the two work sides the folks on the stools can offer advise to those doing the work. Sometimes it works out well. Others...?

[Bob Grier]

Chad, When I built my kitchen I went with an island that is on legs so the floor area is continuous. I did this to help with the open space feeling in a relatively small area. I raised the top of the island to 38" so it is easier to use and sit at. The base cabinets are 36 inches. Generally I feel 36" is too low but raising it for base cabinets can cause other issues so I just raised the island. It worked out good. People like it.

My base cabinets have a top drawer that is common height across the kitchen. I have no fixed shelves. Instead I went with drawers for 3 cabinets, pullouts for 4 cabinets. The pullouts are used for storing pots & pans, storage containers, serving bowls, mixing bowls, etc. With pullouts the spacing between them is adjustable. Each of my pullout cabinets has 3 pullouts and each has different vertical spacing to fit the items being stored. Different height drawers would not look very good on adjacent cabinets. I am happy I did what I did. Once I moved into the kitchen, I added some pullouts and adjusted the height of nearly every one of the pullouts to accommodate the needs. It was easy to change the vertical spacing and add pullouts as needed. Can't do that with drawers. As mentioned by others, there is a side benefit of slightly less cost. There is a downside and that is you have to open the door to get to the pullouts. This took me several months to get use. Now I don't even notice. At first I was banging doors against partially retracted pullouts and cussing and fuming. I started to add bumpers to the pullouts. Then I decided it was easier to change my attitude and everything was good after that.

The 3 pullouts under the cooktop are 36" wide so that cabinet has 2 doors to open in-order to access the pots and pans. It works fine.

One of several neat things I did was under the sink. I purchased a large single sink with the drain on the right side. This freed up the left side under the sink for garbage and recycle containers. They are mounted on a pullout with an electric gizmo behind it. To access the garbage I simply pull the false cabinet door that is connected to the pullout. Or, if my hands are sloppy, I simply tap the door with my knee and the gizmo gives the pullout a shove and it opens so I can just drop garbage or recycle into the bins. Then I shove it back in and it self closes.

Another neat thing. Since it was a struggle for me to decide where to put the microwave I wired several places for it. Standard location in upper cabinets and one above the double ovens. In the end I decided to put a microwave drawer in the island just under the top. The microwave is now out of the way, easy to access and use. Just walk up to it and tap with knee or push a button and the drawer opens. Same for closing.

I did one other neat thing for a corner base cabinet. Basically the shelves all come out of the cabinet on sliders to give easy access to the shelves. They are adjustable in vertical position. I put large things in here like lettuce whirlybirds and tall pots but also little used baking tins.

I hope this gives you some things to think about.

[Martin Wasner]

Martin,

a) That's some beautiful work!
b) It looks like the pullouts can be adjusted to different heights, as needed? If so, I think that strengthens the argument for pullouts over drawers.
c) Is that a drawer at the bottom, or a pullout step?

A) Thank you. We work on houses I'll never be able to afford.

B) They can be adjusted, but this is a tall opening. In a base cabinet, you have a 21-ish tall opening. Two pull outs, one at the bottom, one in the middle. Much more than one hole up or down and things start getting useless quick, might as well have a drawer.

C) Drawer. Matches a oven/warming drawer cabinet on the other end of the run.


Jim, it was loaded from a computer, but taken with a phone. I'll look into it.

Thanks Warren

[Roger Feeley]

Consider extra deep drawers with removable trays. Generally, the flatware draw is deeper than it needs to be. In our last house, we had contractor cabinets and this was the case but the drawer for flatware was about 4" deep and wasn't worth messing with. When we redid it, I had that drawer made 5". Then I made a removable tray for the flatware leaving a bunch of space underneath for stuff we didn't use that much. It worked out great. My wife liked it so much she had me make trays for a some other drawers. Again, the trays were for stuff we used a lot. The space underneath was for things we seldom used.

My point here is to think three-dimensionally.