Feet can be nice looking. The trend has been around quite awhile, so it's hardly the latest thing. They give you plenty more nooks and crannies to clean.

In my opinion, they look best with a truly unfitted look. If it looks like a dresser, it should have dresser feet. If it looks like cabinets, it's just one more place for dirt to hide and something to make mopping into a bigger chore. There are a lot of kitchen designs that are "supposed to look like furniture" that just look like cabinets to me.

It's also something to add expense to the bottom line, and if the designer gets paid by the piece, it's something to add to the commission.

PITA to clean, so its a design that is likely BWAM (better with a maid).

And that's only if you really, really don't like your maid.

Agree with the ladies above, PITA to clean!!! You can use furniture trim moulding around an island quite nicely...we are doing our small entertainment island using that type of moulding iso toekick moulding. Gives the piece a little more furniture finish, with no nooks and crannies!!!
Good luck!

I only have feet on my island. They actually have a practical purpose in that I don't have 4ft. aisles. The furniture feet (there is a recessed, almost invisible toekick behind them) allow us to get up close to the island and having that extra foot room makes it seem more spacious.

Helene

I'm not quite understanding... Helene, did you mean up on feet instead of sitting right on the ground? Rather than feet added to fill the toekick?

I like them on islands for (I think) Helene's reason--you can put something on the corners while maintaining a toekick so it doesn't look like an inverted ziggurat.

I generally think it's a bit silly in a kitchen, although it can look lovely when done well.

As far as cabinetry meant to look like furniture, I'm too old and jaded to care for that. I say get some darn FURNITURE. :)

What kind of look do you want? Feet harken back to the look of original 1920s kitchens, when built-in cabinetry first appeared (usually with furniture bases) but virtually every kitchen also had freestanding hoosiers and such.

I don't have feet on my cabinets but as a suggestion google buffets/hutches/hoosiers and look at those feet and the styles of them. Just my opinion, keep in mind that kitchen cabinets are big pieces of furniture and I always think it looks silly when the feet look too delicate - sort of like ballet feet. I like them when they are in proportion to the weightiness of the cabinets. JMHO.

Here's an up close and personal view of the feet on my island. Although you can see the toekick from this vantage point, anyone standing can't see it, as it's recessed.

As you can see it's somewhat of a clunky foot, but I think it works well with the substantive feel of the island.

Helene

KKPerry, hope I'm not hijacking your thread --> but does anyone have (or seen) examples of inset cabinetry that doesn't have feet (and that doesn't look contemporary)?

LOL!! Blfenton, if you saw ballet feet up close you wouldn't think they looked delicate. :D Chalk up one for the illusion of the theatre. :)

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Think we are ditching them on the perimeter, but will keep them on the beverage center "buffet" and chunky ones on the giant island.