An island in the kitchen is a very attractive unit. If you want to opt for this solution you must first check the measurements and arrangement of the room where it will be.
To find out if your room is suitable, try to answer these easy questions:
The island must allow the cupboard doors and doors of electrical appliances to be opened without being in the way, so that you can easily, and quite safely, reach the space inside.
For this reason, the island needs a free space around it of about 120 cm: so any item, the wall, the worktop or an electrical appliance, must be this distance away. In this way you will be able to open at the same time the doors on the island and any units placed along the wall.
The work triangle is a term which refers to a hypothetical triangle in which the vertices correspond with the refrigerator, the sink, the gas cooker.
According to the best guides, the island must not intersect this triangle.
If this happens it could be much more difficult to work and move in the kitchen.
As well as the space in the room, the size of the unit itself is very important. There are in fact other things to be considered, according to how you decide to configure your island. If you decide to change it into your official work position, complete with hob and electrical appliances, you will need at least 100 centimetres, and if there will be two of you cooking you need more space. On the other hand if you plan to use the island on a partial basis or as a snack bench, obviously you can manage well with a smaller area. A point to consider is whether you intend to also put in a hob. In this case you will have to have at least 23 centimetres additional space for the worktop. If you intend to use the island as a table and not only as a working area, you will have to consider an additional space of a metre so that everyone can sit down comfortably. If you have carefully weighed up these considerations, you are ready to have your island in the kitchen. If on the other hand your room is not large enough to have one, you can consider putting in a peninsula which has the same features but requires less space, as it is placed on one side of the kitchen.
