Kitchen Island Redesign | To keep the angle or not?

We have been busy with another kitchen design and specifically looking at a kitchen island redesign.

A couple of weeks ago, I shared some options for clients who were looking at the potential of not only reconfiguring their island, but potentially taking out their corner pantry as well.

This week, I'm sharing another project where we have been busy with design options with the focus on the island.

Kitchen Island Redesign | History

We are extremely fortunate that our clients were referred to us by past clients who I absolutley adore.

The home that we are dealing with is part of a villa community. This villa community overlooks a beautiful golf course (that I've happened to play) and looks directly west to the Rocky Mountains. The views are spectacular!

The view from the back nine

Since this villa sits on the hillside, there have been some issues with the foundation. As such, all of the structural work has been completed and now my clients are ready to roll with some updates to their home.

As Is | What is with the angled islands?

We always start with the 'As Is' and then discuss what is on the wish list.

BEFORE: As Is | This is the current situation for this villa. Notice the angled kitchen island that also happens to have a tier in the design.

The Wish List

My clients are hoping to do a number of home improvements for this project. On the list, the following items may or may not be included:

• Remove carpet
• Either feather in new hardwood in dining room, family room, and hallway or replace all of the existing 1-1/2" wide hardwood with new hardwood throughout.
• New carpet for the primary bedroom
• Flooring to be new for the primary bathroom
• New windows and doors
• Paint stair railing (potential for 2 tone)
• Entire main floor to be painted
• New kitchen island
• Along with new counters, backsplash, and hardware
• Hoodfan needs to be updated
• How to address all of the oak

BEFORE: Angled and tiered island

BEFORE: Corner pantry and rest of kitchen

Option 1 Kitchen Island Redesign

As you may be able to see in the before images, there is a beautiful sky light that lets in all of this wonderful natural light. There are also high ceilings however we need to follow the top line of the pantry.

Option 1 for us is always the most cost effective option. We look at a number of factors when we design this plan.

1. What is going to make the biggest impact with the least amount of investment?
2. What are our clients requesting?

After we took in all of the information, and heard our clients stating that we could just get rid of the tier and increase the size of the island, we came up with this plan. We took off the tier and made the entire island all on one plane. This provided more storage as well.

This plan keeps the angle in the island while deleting the tier making this all one level. This provides more counter space | Sheri Bruneau, Designer

3D rendering of the new kitchen island redesign | Sheri Bruneau, Designer

This option keeps all of the outer cabinets and encorporates the following:

• Keep the existing 1-1/2" hardwood and feather in the rest of the areas where hardwood is being requested.
• Keep the existing wood crown moulding and valance on the cabinets (as there is more crown moulding throughout the home). This would be stained the new hardwood colour.
• New counters and backsplash tile

Option 2 Kitchen Island Redesign + More

I believe it is part of my job to really showcase the potential for a space. Before I show you the 3D rendering and plan, I want to point out a couple of things:

1. I don't like adding lipstick on a pig. Have you heard that saying before? My friend, Carla Aston, recently wrote about one of her gorgeous bathroom remodels and used the phrase, "It will be the “elephant in the room." As such, for this plan I have inserted all new upper cabinets and have the lower cabinets refaced. My clients made a comment about the glass cabinets and how they didn't care for them.
2. While there is a lot of oak crown moulding throughout the home, there is no reason why we can't paint it, change it, or delete a lot of it.
3. For the island redesign, I wanted to get rid of the angle and yet provide plenty of counter space and storage.

A newly redesigned island along with all outer cabinets | Sheri Bruneau, Designer

3D rendering of brand new kitchen | Sheri Bruneau, Designer

While option 2 will be a bigger investment, there are other ways that we can tweak our overall budget to get the look and feel my clients are hoping for.

You may also have seen that for Option 2, I created the large island using a soft, green colour. I'm not sure if it's because we're now in the month of March (St. Patrick's Day and spring) or whether it's because my client made a comment that she likes green (they currently have green walls), but I felt this green was a perfect, muted colour for their space.

Working towards a final plan

After presenting these two options, we reviewed the pros and cons of each. In the end, we ended up with keeping an angled island, but we increased the size by quite a bit.

Final kitchen design

3D rendering of brand new kitchen | Sheri Bruneau, Designer

You may notice a couple of additions:

1. We are going to look at all new cabinets (no lipstick on a pig).
2. The use of an OTR (over-the range) microwave will kill two birds with one stone. It will give my clients a hood fan as well as provide the use of a microwave. While we did discuss a microwave drawer option, my clients have an OTR in their cabin and are very used to using one.
3. We are going to not carry on the oak molding in the kitchen.
4. My clients are getting new windows and will be using a white trim around the new windows so...we're moving away from the oak trim.

Next Steps

The next steps for us is to have a trade day. We will be getting quotes on this plan and looking at where we can manipulate the budget and give our clients an update for their home. Stay tuned!

Shop the Look

Spring is definitely in the air and I've made the change from winter to spring decore in my own home. If you know me well, I am not a winter person. I don't like snow and I don't like cold.

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