Kitchen Islands – 32 Kitchen Island Ideas For 2024

If you’re dreaming of a kitchen island, consider making space for a kitchen sink. Providing a more functional layout, it will give tons of extra counter space — making it easier to get those chores done. It will also add a sociable aspect to your kitchen, especially in a kitchen-diner, allowing you to easily communicate with guests whilst cooking.

• House Beautiful Westbourne kitchen at Homebase

The beauty of geometric designs is that they always look super-elegant – so it’s no surprise that this design has decorated Soho House in Berlin. Handmade using natural pigments, these encaustic tiles come in three dynamic colourways and can be laid in a number of different patterns for an individual look with lots of texture and character. It looks fabulous on this kitchen island and is repeated as a splashback for continuity.

• Soho House Redchurch Street tiles, Bert & May

A happy, uplifting shade, yellow is a brilliant choice for the kitchen. Used as an accent here, the sunshine shade adorns cabinet drawers on the island and pendant lights hanging above, contrasting with the crisp white wall.

We love the wooden block on the end of this island, providing the ideal surface for chopping fruit and veg and it’s a good way to subtly zone an island. Another noteworthy feature is the legs, giving the illusion of more space. This island might be compact but it’s been cleverly designed to fit in a bar stool, too.

• ‘Relaxed Look’ kitchen with ‘Hartforth Blue’ and ‘Porcelain’ paint from Life Kitchens

With a cool urban vibe and no-nonsense practical qualities, industrial finishes remain firm favourites in our homes, and Caesarstone is ticking all the boxes with its 4023 Topus Concrete, a hardwearing, non-porous, scratch- and stain-resistant quartz. A big selling point is that it comes in a lovely soft neutral greige with pinky undertones that would add a warm, luxe feel in a kitchen. It looks super-elegant on this kitchen island, shaped into a curved top and teamed with pretty mint green paintwork.

• 4023 Topus Concrete worksurface, Caesarstone

Sleek, bold and sophisticated, this reeded kitchen island (with brushed brass handles) only adds to the dark and sultry appeal of this kitchen design.

• Hove kitchen, Harvey Jones x Swoon

How do you nail the quiet luxury look in a kitchen? ‘Within the home, we translate this term to focus on the quality of materials selected and allowing them to dominate the style of the room,’ says Melissa Klink, creative director at Harvey Jones. ‘The blend of unique finishes creates spaces that are immediately elegant and softer as a result of the layered combination. Think thicker worktop slabs with specialised edge detailing instead of obvious bold and colourful veins of marble.’

You can also use additional colour to give your space more dimension. ‘This doesn’t need to be a new colour as a different tone of the main run of cabinets works well too,’ says William. ‘You can always bring in a pop of colour or a darker tone such as a deep purple and paint your cabinetry in a lighter colour.’

• Shop the full look at Herringbone

Want to maximise space? Make your cooking area the centre of the kitchen by installing a hob and extractor fan within your kitchen island. Not only will it allow you to be more sociable as you cook, but it will save on vital surface space, too.

• See more: the House Beautiful Camberwell kitchen at Homebase

Want to create a style statement? The application of gold leaf on this kitchen island, along with gold and brass accessories, creates a head-turning look.

‘Including an island or breakfast bar in the kitchen design helps to create a partition between kitchen and living space. This will help define areas of the room without closing in the kitchen or blocking off the rest of the room,’ says Naomi Dean, furniture and showroom designer at Harvey Jones.

• Shop the full look at Dunelm

As if a gorgeous green kitchen island wasn’t enough, give it wow factor by zoning the floor. We love the checkerboard flooring used here, in complementary white and green tiles that’s also repeated under the cooker for continuity.

• Shaker style kitchen in ‘Roman Leaf’ from Wren Kitchens

Marble is best suited for a classic kitchen island where work surfaces are respected with care, while quartz and granite used in their entirety work well to give a seamless finish.

‘Larger islands may require a joint, so there is the opportunity to experiment with the design and choose a complementary material, colour or thickness,’ advises Graeme.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about kitchen worktops

Consider a movable freestanding island, which can be used as a convenient work table and meal table. It’s valuable to those who need furniture to act as a preparation-based room divider during the day, and, if needed, can be pushed aside at night to make way for entertaining.

‘Although a practical choice for kitchens, an island should be considered carefully before the final design is chosen,’ explains Ben Burbidge, managing director at Burbridge Kitchen Makers.’You should look to maximise the internal and worktop space but don’t be tempted to make the overall dimensions too big as it could dominate or restrict movement around the kitchen. If you want to include appliances or sinks make sure you can accommodate the required plumbing or electrics.’

• ‘Haddon’ in charcoal and burnished bronze from Burbridge Kitchen Makers

If you want a look that mixes the best of traditional style with smart modern lines, then Olive & Barr’s Ash collection could tick all your boxes. Handmade in the UK from ash, which has a lovely pale hue that will bring a light touch to any kitchen, it has a Shaker feel with a contemporary edge – guaranteed to become a modern classic.

• Ash collection from Olive & Barr

We love this kitchen island idea from Wren Kitchens – the varying levels are great for multi-generational family cooking, making food prep more accessible.

• ‘Milano Elements’ slate and copper kitchen island from Wren Kitchens