Kitchen island

What Is a Kitchen Island?

A kitchen island is a part of your kitchen cabinetry that is usually located in the center of the space. Its primary function is to provide a workspace to prepare meals. However, the countertop space can also be used as an overflow area, such as to serve a buffet-style meal. It may also provide additional base cabinet space, cooktops, and/or a kitchen sink. Some even have different levels, like a breakfast bar that provides seating, while the lower level serves as the food preparation area for chopping and dicing.

Typically, the Kitchen Island size in American kitchens starts with a 42x48 inches footprint. The maximum size is in direct relation to the kitchen size, because of the required 36-inch path between the island and the surrounding cooking area cabinetry. The 36-inch path enables two people to pass each other easily. Therefore, the room size for a kitchen should be no less than 15x13 feet. For an open floor plan, however, a kitchen area of 9x13 feet or better is sufficient. The work surface (countertop) varies from butcher block to stainless steel, and quartz or luxurious natural stone like granite and marble.

The History of the Kitchen Island

The kitchen island itself is a more recent development, since it is typically found in open floor plans. It was not until 1934 that the architect Frank Lloyd Wright introduced the open floor plan in his House Willey (1934) and later in the House Jacobs (1936).

The open floor plan made a G-style kitchen layout possible. This design requires only three full-height walls and one half-wall. Another cornerstone of this kitchen arrangement is the catty-cornered kitchen sink. Later this layout was tweaked into a double L-style kitchen by adding the Peninsula. Exhaust fans were now placed into the exterior kitchen wall to help with kitchen ventilation.

In 1963, open kitchens received a boost, sparked by Julia Child, the French chef who premiered her cooking show. Millions watched her preparing meals on her kitchen island on TV. And that changed the public perception of and need for this kitchen counter space. The new “upper-class” customer desired the open kitchen, and therefore living in lofts and studio apartments became stylish. With this newly improved style of cooking, one would not only show his/her cooking skills but also the newly prized possession, the open kitchen. Some architects capitalized on this newly developed “status symbol” by designing the freestanding kitchen island. Now, one could keep in touch with guests or the rest of the family since the cook did not face a kitchen wall anymore.

The perfection of the “extractor hood” (today’s range hood) in 1980 made the open floor plan available to any living space, and even apartments would now have open kitchens & kitchen islands. And the bulky range hood could be replaced with new downdraft exhaust vents. Those are installed next to the cooktop. Suspended pot holders and copper pots were a must-have kitchen island accessory of the time.

In the 1990s, American homeowners developed a growing taste for stainless steel appliances and granite or marble countertops. And with that, the kitchen became the most expensive room in a house. The kitchen island could now include any kitchen function from cooking to washing dishes.

The 21st century started with mega kitchens; the old “the more is better” philosophy enlarged the status symbol kitchen. Therefore, kitchen islands became huge, and multi-level designs with various seating options became the norm. The new kitchen enabled people to make cooking a family affair again.

According to a survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders, NAHB, 70% of American home buyers would like to have a kitchen island, and for 50% of home buyers, the kitchen island is essential to their kitchen.

Relevance?

2005-2012 The United States Housing Bubble affected over half of the 50 states. This mortgage crisis had a major impact on the housing market. With the US economy tanking, many people lost their homes. The United States government allocated over $900 billion in 2008 alone to special loans and rescues related to the U.S. housing bubble.

Today, new confidence in the current housing market was just showing an upward trend when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Even though the new homes of 2020 are of a smaller footprint to reduce property costs, the open floor plan is still one of the main building styles.

References

• https://www.scientific.net/AMM.641-642.1109

• www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt1whm94t.8

https://www.brownstoner.com/brooklyn-life/walkabout-someone's-in-the-kitchen-part-3/

https://www.daringgourmet.com/the-evolution-of-the-american-kitchen/

        <Referrence in 1990-2010>

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• https://umaryland.on.worldcat.org/oclc/8590132453

May need to remove the following?

• "Best Kitchen Island | 2020 Kitchen Island Design Ideas". |Conclusion Retrieved 2020-08-07.

  (this is one of my own updated publications)

http://vintagegoodness.blogspot.com/2011/07/vintage-80s-home-decorating-trends.html (This post is aged and referenced in magazines??)

(LLC28146 (talk) 13:09, 22 August 2020 (UTC))

Stone, D. (2018, Apr 04). Treasured kitchen island. Daily Express.
Yull, T. (1996, Mar 23). Kitchens should be designed with real users in mind. The Ottawa Citizen.
The day I defied the kitchen-island mafia -- WSJ. (2018, Apr 07). Dow Jones Institutional News.
METRO, N. S. (2013, Jun 20). Pros and cons of a kitchen island. Fort Saskatchewan Record.
Markoutsas, E. (2006, May 13). Kitchen island more than just a pretty base. Times - Colonist.
Brunner, M. (2019, Oct. 31). Americans love the kitchen island. These designers want the trend to die. The Washington Post.
Markoutsas, E. (2006, Jun 25). A kitchen convenience becomes an oasis. Orlando Sentinel, pp. H17.
Island adds focal point in the heart of the home. (1994, Jan 15). The Vancouver Sun, pp. E15.
AGENCY, QMI. (2013, Mar 30). New kitchen islands: Pro and cons. The Edmonton Sun.

This article "Kitchen island" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Kitchen island. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

↑ Baden-Powell, Charlotte (2006). Architect's Pocket Book of Kitchen Design. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-42922-4. Search this book on
↑ Antonia Surmann. The Evolution of Kitchen design. In Meulen, Nicolaj van der; Wiesel, Jörg; Reinmann, Raphaela (2017-04-30). Culinary Turn: Aesthetic Practice of Cookery. transcript Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8394-3031-6. Search this book on
↑ Kroeger, Lisa (January 1997). "Treasure Islands". Cincinnati Magazine. pp. 41–45.
↑ Spechtenhauser, Klaus (2005). The Kitchen: Life World, Usage, Perspectives. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 63. ISBN 978-3-7643-7281-1. Search this book on
↑ Wallach, Jennifer Jensen; Swindall, Lindsey R.; Wise, Michael D. (2016). The Routledge History of American Foodways. Routledge. p. 194. ISBN 978-1-317-97523-6. Search this book on
↑ Becker, Doreen (2016). Color Trends and Selection for Product Design: Every Color Sells A Story. William Andrew. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-323-39406-2. Search this book on
↑ Loehlin, Jennifer Ann (1999). From Rugs to Riches: Housework, Consumption and Modernity in Germany. Berg Publishers. p. 30. ISBN 978-1-85973-284-7. Search this book on
↑ Charytonowicz, Jerzy and Dzoana Latala. "Evolution of Domestic Kitchen". In Stephanidis, Constantine, ed. (2011). Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Springer. ISBN 978-3-642-21666-4. Search this book on
↑ Vink, Peter (2012). Advances in Social and Organizational Factors. CRC Press. p. 9. ISBN 978-1-4398-7019-8. Search this book on

[1] Baden-Powell, Charlotte (2006). Architect's Pocket Book of Kitchen Design. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-42922-4. Search this book on

[2] Antonia Surmann. The Evolution of Kitchen design. In Meulen, Nicolaj van der; Wiesel, Jörg; Reinmann, Raphaela (2017-04-30). Culinary Turn: Aesthetic Practice of Cookery. transcript Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8394-3031-6. Search this book on

[3] Kroeger, Lisa (January 1997). "Treasure Islands". Cincinnati Magazine. pp. 41–45.

[4] Spechtenhauser, Klaus (2005). The Kitchen: Life World, Usage, Perspectives. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 63. ISBN 978-3-7643-7281-1. Search this book on

[5] Wallach, Jennifer Jensen; Swindall, Lindsey R.; Wise, Michael D. (2016). The Routledge History of American Foodways. Routledge. p. 194. ISBN 978-1-317-97523-6. Search this book on

[6] Becker, Doreen (2016). Color Trends and Selection for Product Design: Every Color Sells A Story. William Andrew. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-323-39406-2. Search this book on

[7] Loehlin, Jennifer Ann (1999). From Rugs to Riches: Housework, Consumption and Modernity in Germany. Berg Publishers. p. 30. ISBN 978-1-85973-284-7. Search this book on

[8] Charytonowicz, Jerzy and Dzoana Latala. "Evolution of Domestic Kitchen". In Stephanidis, Constantine, ed. (2011). Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Springer. ISBN 978-3-642-21666-4. Search this book on

[9] Vink, Peter (2012). Advances in Social and Organizational Factors. CRC Press. p. 9. ISBN 978-1-4398-7019-8. Search this book on

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