Deep pan drawers
The single most useful storage in any kitchen. Dovetailed oak boxes on full-extension runners, so the back of the drawer is genuinely reachable.
Islands
Islands built like furniture, because that is what they are
Seen from four sides, stood at every day and usually the first thing anybody notices. An island is the one piece in a kitchen that has to work as a standalone object.
Islands
Most islands are the wrong size
Not the wrong style — the wrong size. Too big, and the room becomes a set of narrow corridors around a block. Too small, and it turns into an expensive worktop with nowhere to sit. Both mistakes are common and both are set in stone the day the cabinetry is made.
The numbers that matter are the gaps. A working aisle wants roughly 1,000–1,200mm between the island and the run behind it — enough for an open dishwasher door and a person walking past. Below 900mm it becomes uncomfortable. Above 1,300mm you are walking further than you need to a hundred times a day. Seating needs about 600mm of width per stool and a 300–400mm overhang for knees.
Work those backwards from your actual room and the island size is largely decided for you. It is the first thing Ollie does at the design visit, usually with chalk on the floor so you can walk around it before anything is committed to a drawing.
Then it gets built as a piece of furniture: finished on all four faces, with a solid oak top thick enough to read as timber rather than a veneer, and drawers dovetailed because they will be opened more than anything else in the room.
Detail
Things worth building into an island
A seating overhang
300–400mm of clear knee space, with concealed steel supports where the span needs them rather than visible brackets.
A prep sink or hob
Moving one wet or hot task to the island transforms how two people can work in a kitchen together. Services planned at design stage, not chased in later.
Panelled or planked ends
The end of an island is at eye level from the next room. A flat painted panel is a missed opportunity; a framed panel or planked end costs very little more.
Open shelving
A run of open oak shelving in the back face for cookbooks and bowls, breaking up what would otherwise be a solid block.
Power, done invisibly
Sockets set into the side rail or a pop-up in the top, with the cable run planned into the joinery from the start.
Worth knowing
The dimensions that decide everything
Chalked on your floor at the design visit, before anything is drawn.
- 01
Working aisle: 1,000–1,200mm
Enough for an open dishwasher door and someone squeezing past. Below 900mm the kitchen becomes annoying to use, and no amount of good joinery fixes that.
- 02
Seating: 600mm per stool
Plus a 300–400mm overhang. Three stools need 1,800mm of clear run — which is often more island than the room can actually take.
- 03
Minimum island: about 1,200 x 700mm
Below that it stops being an island and becomes an obstacle. Sometimes a peninsula or a freestanding table is honestly the better answer, and Ollie will say so.
- 04
Height: 900mm standard
Or 1,050mm for a raised breakfast bar. Mixing both levels in one island is a look that has largely had its day.
Straight answers
Questions about kitchen islands
The rough test is whether the room is at least 3.6m wide — that allows for two 600mm runs, a 1,200mm island and two workable aisles. Below that, a peninsula attached to one run is usually a far better use of the space, and Ollie will tell you straight rather than sell you an island that makes the room worse.
Oak is warmer, quieter, repairable and made in-house. It marks, and it needs re-oiling occasionally, which some people love and others do not. Stone and quartz are harder-wearing and cooler to the touch, and are templated by specialists once the cabinetry is in. A very common compromise is stone on the working run and oak on the island.
Yes, and it often makes a real difference to how the kitchen works. It needs planning — extraction for a hob, plumbing and waste for a sink, and a floor that can take the services. All of that is designed in at survey stage and coordinated with the trades.
Frequently, yes. A darker or contrasting island anchors the room and stops a single-colour kitchen looking flat. It also lets the island read as a piece of furniture rather than an extension of the run, which is closer to what it actually is.
Next step
Let's talk about your kitchen
Book a free, no-obligation design visit. Ollie measures up, talks through what you want and follows up with a drawing and a fixed written quote — usually within a week.