kitchen island size

[kaylie]

So two weeks ago I had an epiphany and completely rearranged the order of our house projects list. We want to refi in a year and try to get out of our PMI. It's doable but we need to fancy up the kitchen a bit (plus a couple of other things) and I'm going to try to do it on $5K. With that budget I need to paint the cabinets, change vinyl floors to tile, get new counter tops, new sink, new faucet and redo the backsplash. I also want to add a kitchen island, put an extra cabinet around the fridge (wine rack on top, high pantry cabinet to the side), and put in banquette seating.

I saw a really nice furniture kitchen island through the window of a local store that I thought would be perfect. Upon closer examination it was a bit too wide and the cost was $2K. I found a buffet on craigslist for $90 that I really like that I think might work. I would add long corbels to the back that would span the height of the cabinet portion and have granite put on top when our new counters were put in (we'd be paying for 'up to 40 sq feet' at a flat rate, so no cost increase for this). I would also replace the legs with thicker ones to support the granite. With the corbels, we'd be able to put a 25'' top on it, but I'm worried the cabinet portion will be too narrow (it's 18'' deep without the corbels). Here are some pictures:





In the meantime, I've been using it in the kitchen to figure out how large of an island we can handle. We figured out how far it needs to be from the counters to not be awkward and now I've moved it closer to the other side to see how much space we can get into over there. I think that the deepest we'll be able to go is 28'' across.

There are three options.
1. Use the buffet with the changes I'm planning which include painting it and changing hardware, in addition to what's mentioned above. I think it will look okay, but I'm not 100% convinced. I really like the front of the buffet and after having it there for a week I like having an extra work surface there and the size hasn't felt "too small".
2. Buy a few kitchen cabinets and assemble an island ourselves. This is probably the most challenging option since I'll have to use standard cabinet sizes.
3. Have H build and island table like the one below. The good thing will be that the size can be easily customized. The bad thing is that having open shelving below isn't my favorite option. I'm thinking once we have a baby the kid will just get into whatever is down there.


Thoughts?

[kaylie]

I am actually planning to paint it dark! We'll do a grey granite and the cabinets will be white, but I'd do the buffet in either a very dark grey or black, or maybe a dark blue-grey.

I hear you Fia, but unfortunately $5K doesn't make a huge dent in our mortgage - we need to appraise about $40K higher than what we paid to get to 20%. Based on recent comps it's doable, but we have to make sure our upgrades are in line with them. We live in a neighborhood where granite is the norm so the laminate ones got us a mark down in our initial appraisal (as in, the appraiser specifically noted it as an issue). We're also going to be completely redoing the upstairs bath which hasn't been updated since the house was built.

I realize it would likely be more financially prudent to just pay more towards our mortgage, but these are all things I'm pretty adamant about doing pre-kids so I'm willing to roll the dice. Even if we only appraise $20K higher than what we paid, it would lower our PMI to less than half of what it is now AND we'd be paying less in interest.

[auntie]

Since you've already got decent storage and are adding more, what about a free-standing worktable? You could do a butchblock or marble top resting on heavy knobbed legs- similar to your DH-built version without shelves.

Or you could do the DH version and switch to kiddo toys in baskets for the few years kids are into trashing the contents of your cabinets. It depends on the kid, mine routinely emptied my pots, pans and bowls for months. My niece never did. My BFF's kid did "science" using the contents of the pantry.

[bunnymendelbaum]

I think Auntie's idea is great.
I like the buffet, but the legs are too thin (come to too much of a point for use in a kitchen imo) and I worry about the drawers withstanding daily use.

[heygrey]

i love the buffet, but i'm not a fan of it as a converted island. i don't think the style fits with your cabinets and the amount of work required to convert it sounds as significant as any other options. i'd also question it's durability with daily use.

i'd go with option 3 or a modified 3 where there aren't shelves and it's more of a tall table.

[munkii]

I could be completely wrong, but...

When you change the legs, do you plan on affixing them to the floor? I ask because if it's not attached to the floor, I'm not sure it would be considered permanent. Thus, it would not do anything to increase the value of your kitchen. Like I said, though, I could be wrong.

Although it's a nice piece, I also agree that it looks like the body could not withstand the weight of granite and, like bunny, wonder if it would withstand everyday wear and tear. I think you need a more substantial piece of furniture if you want to convert it to an island.

[kaylie]

Thanks everyone! I really like the work table idea, especially now that I'm realizing we could go a bit deeper and have more space. I don't dislike the thought of having shelves underneath but I'm self aware enough to know that I'll obsess over having them look a certain way. Hopefully once we have kids I'll turn into a saner person or just be too busy to care.

If we build it, we'll probably do one hollow leg to run electrical up so that we can have an outlet on the side and affix the rest to the floor.

The good news is that we don't have a buffet in our dining room yet and I'm sure it'll fit in just fine there (once sanded and stained, of course).

[simpsongal]

Have you tried checking Craigslist for a while longer? I found a 6ft" trapezoid shaped island at a kitchen and bath place that was going out of business - bought it from the landlord. $250. I put a beadboard backing on and we had a piece of granite cut to size for the top.

I looked into all of the options you're exploring. The stock cabinets approach seemed pretty expensive (if you don't go with HD or Lowe's, which are junk). Salvage places often wouldn't sell just the lower cabinets.

If the above CL approach isn't an option, I like the open style piece you posted over the buffet.

[kaylie]

Dec 17, 2012 4:31:33 GMT -5 FormerlyRR said:

Ikea has an awesome island for $400.

I was actually looking at that one! It looks like it could be painted, too.

[kaylie]

Dec 17, 2012 9:22:20 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

Have you tried checking Craigslist for a while longer? I found a 6ft" trapezoid shaped island at a kitchen and bath place that was going out of business - bought it from the landlord. $250. I put a beadboard backing on and we had a piece of granite cut to size for the top.

I looked into all of the options you're exploring. The stock cabinets approach seemed pretty expensive (if you don't go with HD or Lowe's, which are junk). Salvage places often wouldn't sell just the lower cabinets.

If the above CL approach isn't an option, I like the open style piece you posted over the buffet.

I'm probably going to keep stalking to see if I can find anything (I'm also monitoring for faucets, tile, stuff for the bathroom). I did see an entire high end kitchen for sale (that had THREE islands) but it was too far away. I have some time before I have to commit to anything =)

[AAM2012]

Totally off topic but you do realize when your home is appraised for your refi they do not consider the color of your cabinets, etc?

Just wanted to make sure in case you want to put your money elsewhere.

[kaylie]

They don't look at color, but they do look at condition and upgrades.

[AAM2012]

Ours did not at all...we spent so much time cleaning and getting ready and the guy literally was in our house for 1 minute (if that). When we got our report the only things listed for the comparatives was square footage, # of bedrooms/baths/garage and the lot size not whether they had granite counter tops or wood floors, etc. He didn't even go in our kitchen and definiteley didn't ask us about our sink or backsplash. I think they just look to make sure you don't have holes in our walls or light fixtures gone, etc. This was with Wells Fargo.

[kaylie]

Ahhh, I've heard that some aren't as thorough. We're going with the same local company that did our original mortgage (they were AMAZING) and I'm sure the appraisal will be thorough. Our mortgage guy was actually really helpful in suggesting which improvements would do the most for us.