I think having it parallel to the hob section makes most sense in a kitchen. so you have two options - turn the island the other way and get over the lack of symmetry (it's not important). or switch the hob to the other wall and keep the island as it is. given the shape of your room I think it makes sense to keep the island in current position - and also to keep it as long as possible (2m isn't that long for an island with a sink in it).

Are you putting stools one side of the island?

is the long wall to the garden glass (eg sliders/bifolds)?

assuming the picture is to scale then I would keep the island the direction it is in the picture and enlarge the island to the same length as the wall units. I’d move the oven and hob to the other run of units.

if you turn the island, you are going to end up with a short island and a big gap in the middle of the room!

The room looks to be 11.5ft max so I don’t think there’s an option to switch it the other way unless I’m mistaken? It looks as if it would need to move down from the oven too?

We are not planning to put stools if we keep the island this way around, but we can consider putting some stools if we flip the island around because we would have some free space in the middle. We are planning to get glass sliding door all the way down.

I am just finishing up drawing the island the other way around. I had to eat a bit into the pantry and the toilet and just about managed to squeeze in a 2m island but like Colourwisedesign mentioned, I think it might be slightly small for an island with a sink in it.

So this is with the island the other way. I have made the pantry units shallow and moved the wall more to the left to allow more space for the kitchen.

We love having bar stools at the island, so I would 100% recommend that. We have a run of stools and its such a sociable space; we love it.

If you you think 2m is too small, you could generate more space by making it deeper. sensibly, you’re only going to get 3 stools down a 2m island though.

Hello Bahar, this is such exciting news congratulations!

I would keep the island the way you have it to make the best use of space. You need at least 1 - 1.2m distance between the units against the wall and the island. I would consider putting your hob on the island facing out in to the garden and the put the ovens in a tall housing behind where the hob is and then put your sink on the far wall where you have currently labelled the oven.

You could then also consider putting 2 stools on the very end of the island near to where the doorway is. This way you can be sat at the island talking to whoever is cooking and still look out in to the garden which would make it a really sociable area.

Thank you for all the suggestions. I have a range cooker and I will be going for a shaker style with my units. Fort his reason I cannot put the hob on the island. I had planned to have all tall units on the internal wall side. I’ve had a few suggestions to move the cooker on the other side whilst keeping the island as it is in the first plan. Was your reason for this aesthetics or practicality?
Because if I do that then I would have to have fridge freezer and tall units on the wall facing the dining area and i’m worried the fridge would be causing a bit of a traffic in the kitchen.

Also, you guys have made me warm up to the idea of having the island facing the garden :)
All along I believed it had to face into the house, probably because I had it that way in my old house and I am used to that layout.

Bit of both. I think it would be weird to take something out of the oven and put it on the end of the island and I also think it would look odd. So I would put your range on the internal wall. The other benefit of having the range cooker on the internal wall is that by having low level units along that wall it will make the room feel wider.

i would have a layout like the grey kitchen picture above, but as you have a range, then with the hob and sink the other way round.

Hi Bahar, sorry I did not realise you were having a range cooker. I would definitely look at putting the cooker against the internal wall in the centre so you can make a feature of it and then it will run in line with the island. You can then put all your tall units right a long the back wall and then you sink on the island. I really do not think it would cause a problem putting the fridge on this wall as people can walk the other side of the island (garden side) to get to it.

I have attached a picture with a similar layout and with a similar style kitchen to what you are wanting :)

Initial layout is much better.

How big is the dining area, it looks quite narrow?

Wow Hannah what a great example you have found! I was trying to find similar layouts with similar features and came nothing close to this picture. Thank you. I think you are right about having the lower units on the left to make the room wider, also maybe having the tall units along the back wall will make the kitchen look neat and seamless from the dining room area.

The dining area is 2.8m. It is quite narrow isin’t it. We have left it like that for beam work purposes but I really need to see how that space will work by testing it out.

https://www.houseplanshelper.com/dining-room-size.html is good for the amount of space needed for various dining tables

How about having an island on wheels with nothing on top?

Or at least cut out a piece of cardboard the size you are planning and try that in different positions?

I was actually in the room today with a similar size dining table and was imagining it as a kitchen island. Island on wheels is actually pretty cool especially because you can change it around to suit your work area in the kitchen but I have two very adventurous boys who I can just imagine pushing and bashing my lovely island on wheels everywhere 🙈

Simple idea, recess the kitchen door back inline with the back wall of the units, that way the door swing will not encroach in the area around the island - increase the island to 2.4m.

What a great idea, I think we initially put it like that so when the door is shut it’ll be in line with the units but I think your point is more valid 👍🏼

We have an island and oven in the same initial position - it’s nice that the island faces the garden but I find it’s a lot of walking around to get from sink to cupboards etc. We haven’t got much worktop space anywhere else apart from the island. I’d love to turn ours round the other way and have more worktop in rest of kitchen. Not sure if this helps.
I think you’re ideally meant to have a “triangle” layout between oven, sink and workspace. Supposed to. E ideal practically. It irritates me I don’t have that (I didn’t design my kitchen) so worth bearing it in mind.

Thank you for your valuable feedback Sarah. I appreciate it coming from someone who has that particular layout and knows how practical or impractical it is from experience.
We recently got it drawn out in 3D to see how it will look before we get a designer to do a ‘walk through’ visuals.
We are more stuck than ever. I will pop them on here and see if you or anybody can give me some feedback. Thank you x

Here they are 🤗

Hi Bahar I prefer the first plan with the island facing the cooker. You can still see the garden form the bar stools and it would be more practical for using the kitchen . I wish mine was like that but mine is like the last diagram but without the stools and cupboards on the left. I need a new kitchen!! Hope this helps.

Hi Bahar,

I like the first plan, with the island facing into the room. I can’t see anyone mentioning interaction here yet, but consider how you’d want to interact with people whilst you are cooking /prepping food. If the island faces out to the garden, you will always be slightly apart from any socialising/conversations etc and the kitchen will always feel a very slightly seperate entity. Whereas with the island facing into the room, you (or anyone else working in the kitchen) becomes part of the room. Also, don’t worry about having a large gap in your kitchen...it will become the most social space in your house. We have a big space in the middle of our kitchen-diner, which when we moved in we thought would be really empty and odd, but it’s turned out to be the space of my favourite memories; the space to act out that funny story from work, the space to dance to the radio, the space to play with the dog/kids without having to worry about knocking into anything, the space to host large parties without everyone feeling squashed together, the space for a drunken game of limbo 😂, or even just for your family to be able to pass each other comfortably every day without squeezing past each other. We are now in love with that random space in the middle of our kitchen and wouldn‘t ever fill it.

Hi . Interested to read your article as I am looking at lots of ideas for an extension to give us an open plan kitchen diner plus separate utility room. I am spending lots of time thinking of layout/ dimensions etc and it really comes down to how you use the space.Just thought I would say first option looks better. Sink needs to be near or directly behind hob. I think I spend more time at the sink than the hob. Preparing veg, filling pans, kettle, draining veg, rinsing dishes, so to be able to see rest of room from sink is good. The other thing I have noticed is the fridge freezer in our house gets a lot of use in our house (especially now my kids are teenagers) and for me it would definitely have to be next to work surfaces and also away from entry doors/ doorways. I can’ t see where your fridge is, but think about how often you go in it and why to make sure it,s in best place. Putting shopping away, taking food out to prepare meals, sandwiches, snacks, make a cup of tea, getting a juice, drink etc. Also where are your bins.?. I find They should be right next to sink. Ours are not and I am constantly trailing drips etc across floor between sink and bins. Def wouldn’t want them in cupboard either- foot operated ones are cleaner and quicker to use. Be great to see what your final result is.