Have you thought about using a toekick heater instead? A toekick heater would be less noticeable and you wouldn't have to worry about people kicking it or burning themselves on it.

You can see ours on the lower right hand of the cabs (I know, I know, I should paint the grate black).

Cat_Mom has a heated kick panel in her (beautiful) kitchen island.

Jodi-

Here is a link that might be useful: Cat_Mom kitchen details

I have a toekick heater under my sink. Make sure they have a duct made, DO NOT let them just use the empty space under the cabinet. It is inefficient and will end up heating the inside of the cabinet.

With baseboard units, the heat mostly goes up [making them a very efficient towel heater when located right]. With a forced air toekick, you get the heat where you want it.

I have a toekick heater and under my sink. Would show a pic but the kitchen is in the middle of renovation and I am having another one put in. Same make ~newer model - Quiet-One KS2004 Kickspace Heater by Smith Enviroental. The old one was rusted and giving problems (16 years old). I did not want to risk it leaking, etc.

It is tied into my forced hot water heating system. Company literature says:
Our Series 2000 kickspace heaters are engineered for use in hard to heat places such as stair risers, dressing rooms, bookcases, booth seating in restaurants, pubs and many other low level areas. We can be hooked up to boilers, hot water heaters, heat exchangers, ground source heat pumps, geothermal heat sources and reclamation heat sources.

IÂve pasted a link to information on the products. Scroll down and look at the sizes available. Mine is the smallest one ..about 13 7/8" wide , 3 ½:" high (model KS2004). It now comes with an extra white faceplate covers that I opted for.

Here is a link that might be useful: Info on Smith Kickspace Heater

I asked my contractor about this -- specifically whether there would be a rush of air blowing out and any noise. And the answer I got was that yes there would be some air blowing and some fan noise. So I think I am going to find a place on a wall for a hot water radiator to be installed. They have some that look like and function as towel warmers -- we have one in the bath --

Hey, thanks for the shout-out Jodi!

Ours are from Turbonics and they are very quiet. I'd read about them here on GW (before I was even a member, while doing a google search for kick heaters!). Even my plumber, who doesn't like kick heaters (and tried to convince us to forgo them), commented on how nice these were when he installed them.

Here's a pic of mine:

They come with the black grilles but you can get different ones as well. The SS look ones (silver heavy duty plastic I believe, like the trash cab pedal and the Grohe Ladylux Cafe spray head) cost about $30 each. We decided to stick with the black because we felt they would "fade away" more in the black, especially given their location, on either side of our island.

Thanks for all of your advice, guys.

So, the reason not to use baseboard is because the heat will blow upwards? As long as it didn't warp out island top, I think I'd be ok with that. It would keep whoever is seated at the island nice and toasty. :)

I am not sure if I can do one of those toekick heaters. The area where we'd install does not have a toekick - it would be connect at the BACK of the cabinets.

I use the Turbonics heaters all the time. They can be wired to a switch for hi and low fan speeds, and the low setting is practically silent. The housing on the turbonics units sends the heat straight out through the grill so you're not heating inside the base of the cabinet as someone mentioned earlier. I dont see a problem mounting it on the back of an island as long as you dont mind seeing the grill. Have it painted to match the cabinets and it'll disappear that much more.

Just an FYI, baseboard heat doesnt really "blow". It works by natural convection. So having it in a sealed cabinet without airflow will drastically reduce it's efficiency.

Do you need a radiant heating system to use these kickspace heaters?

Thanks,
Homepro01

Homepro,

you need a hydronic system to run toekick heaters. That means you have typical baseboard heating running around the perimeter of the rooms.

Radiant systems (under floor heating) run much cooler and wouldnt work with the toekick heaters.

Our toekick heater is not connected to a hydronic system. It's just a stand alone electric version with its own thermostat. Came from home depot I think.

Gardenwebber, the problem with the baseboard is that it is not flush. People sitting at the island may kick it or burn themselves on it and it is more of a drag for cleaning around. Also, just my opinion here, they look a little dated.

The electric toekick heater is just as easy to install as a baseboard unit (according to my contractor anyways) and even if you don't have a toekick area, I'm betting your cabs are still elevated 3 or 4 inches off the floor. If so, you could have a toekick heater installed.

If you don't mind the drawbacks to a baseboard, I'd go for it, but I'd look into the alternatives now while it's not hard to change your mind.

We installed the hydronic toekick heater when we did our kitchen, but never used it -- partially because of the noise but mostly because our paranoia about insufficient heat turned out to be unfounded. Kitchens get hot without heaters. Good thing, too, because after turning it on maybe 3 or 4 times in 5 years, it just stopped working.

Couple quick, important clarifications:

In case it isn't clear: all forced air toekick heaters need to plug in for the fan. The heat source can be either hydronic or electric.

For a plain baseboard heater, check the manufacturer's specs: there should be a number for how far above it anything can be placed.

A guest ranch in my area burned last week due to a shelf unit being placed above an electric baseboard. The owners didn't even know there was a heater there, the shelves were built to the wall and couldn't be moved out.