Top 5 Tips for Optimising Your Kitchen Island Design

Once obscure, kitchen Islands now take centre stage
in our design thinking and living.

We reveal our top 5 tips
for optimising your kitchen island design with Caesarstone^®.

The Evolution of the Kitchen Island

The kitchen island began its meteoric rise, from obscurity to kitchen hero, in the 1980s – in part due to the ascendancy of open plan living and the need to create a point of delineation between spaces.

The island was to change the role of the kitchen – it introduced a central stage for cooking, eating and entertaining while disrupting the conventional ‘triangle’ approach to kitchen design.
Today the island is the focal point of 50 per cent of all kitchens – and often houses everything from the sink and dishwasher to cooktop and oven.

The island bench can take on grand proportions or be more discreet, with the benchtop’s thickness and profile being as integral to the overall design as the material itself.

Why Caesarstone^®?

Caesarstone surfaces are a preferred choice for island benches, not only for the variety of colours and textures available but for their versatility in terms of creating exactly the right profile and dimensions required.

“Caesarstone is that rare combination of design versatility and unrivalled durability.

No matter the finish – from marble to concrete, terrazzo to granite inspired – this quartz surface is a designer’s dream in terms of the sheer scope of installations it is so suited to”

It’s all in the Profile!

The list of options in profiles is almost endless – from the slim, sleek shark nose or refined pencil edge to the bold, graphic apron or sophisticated shadow line edge.  Then there’s the bullnose, the half bullnose, the splayed, the arris and the lamb’s tongue!

Some profiles, such as the shark nose, can appear to be as thin as 6mm and create a ‘floating’ aesthetic, while the pencil edge can be given a radius of just 3 to 4mm to soften the otherwise sharp edge.  At the end of the scale is the super thick, robust apron edge which can be 800mm or even more.  The fact is though, they all come from a 20mm slab of Caesarstone!

Make it Seamless

The secret is in the laminated or mitred join – a means of joining two pieces of Caesarstone permanently and virtually seamlessly.  The laminated edge, where two pieces are stacked on top of each other, is the strongest join and creates a very bold, robust look.  The mitred edge – where two pieces of quartz are cut on an angle and then joined at a 90-degree corner – produces a virtually seamless result.

What’s your Style?

Caesarstone’s most popular quartz surfaces for bold, statement-making island benches are found in our Metropolitan Collection.
A series of eight designs, Metropolitan is inspired by the rough, tough, unpolished textures found in industrial architecture – think concrete with all the inherent beauty of textural effects, aged patinas and oxidised accents.

And for the more elegant, refined kitchen Caesarstone’s marble and terrazzo surfaces are in high demand.  Colours vary from the deeply dramatic Vanilla Noir™, Piatra Grey™ and Turbine Grey™ to the sophisticated whites, with varying degrees of grey veining, such as Statuario Maximus™, White Attica™ and Calacatta Nuvo™. 

Create Extra Storage

While Islands are aesthetically beautiful they also offer incredible functionality.
Modern kitchen island design creates opportunities to increase the storage capacity of your home with innovative storage solutions built into the design ensuring everything is neatly tucked away.

Should You Add a Waterfall Edge?

Adding a waterfall to your benchtop can elevate your design creating a sleek, minimal look which is ideal for contemporary kitchen designs.

Incorporating a waterfall creates a stunning visual connection as the beauty of the surface flows seamlessly to the floor, hiding cabinetry and appliances, while the thickness of the design can change the aesthetic of the island from thin and sleek to solid and substantial.

You can add a waterfall to one side, both sides and the front of your island for extra impact and easy maintenance, offering plenty of design flexibility.

While deliberating where to add your waterfall feature consider how you want to use your island; you may wish to incorporate extra storage at the ends, add cabinetry at the front, or create a breakfast bar with additional space for leg-room and seating that you can tuck away when not in use.

There are 48 finishes and colours in all, each designed specifically for today’s kitchen designs – and each with durability, longevity and ease of maintenance at the top of the brief.

View more ideas and Inspirational Islands by Caesarstone^®