Island changes

One of the absolute luxuries that I have is the ability to try stuff out before making final decisions on placement, design, etc. My kitchen is a perfect case in point - I've got temporary shelving, a temporary sink, and a rough island design.

For the last six months, the island has looked like this:

Option 1

Temporary plywood top, baker's marble at the stove end, optometrist cabinets underneath as support, and an overhang on the end closest to the dining table. This set up worked quite well for all my baking needs.

But I found that I wasn't using my wonderful antique butcher's block which was tucked into one corner of the kitchen. Instead I kept using small cutting boards on the island.

So we decided to move the butcher's block and change the island configuration to accommodate it. I say "we", but really Chris was just willing to humor me. Let's hear it for Chris! See, the butcher block weighs about 400 pounds. And this move will make the fifth location it has occupied in this house. He's getting really tired of moving the darn thing.

You want this where now?

We removed the island's plywood top, shifted the cabinets toward the dining table and repositioned the butcher's block.

Hopefully its final home

Then he built me some shelves for the end nearest the stove, cut the plywood to cradle the butcher's block, and moved the marble to the end furthest from the stove.

Action photo!

I love the new setup. It's still fairly temporary since he still has to build real shelves and a permanent top, but it's functioning well and I now use the butcher block for all my cutting. Much more effective and I like how it fills the space much better than before. Now to figure out what to do with that empty kitchen corner between the sink and the stove. I'm thinking a long expanse of counter and lower cupboards. Yeah! More storage!