I think it is a good size space. Here are the pics:

Beagles- Of course it's a big island...in a big kitchen, in a beautiful big home. That's what makes it a french manor home :)

Did you get a chance to see your stone yet? Is it "the one"?

BTW, still LOVE your kitchen floor plan! Sunroom is off to the left, with the matching blue stone on the fireplace?

Take a look at cali-wendy's island in this thread. The end of the island that faces the dining table is raised. It might make your island top small enough that you could do it without a seam; in addition it serves to block some of the prep mess from view for anyone at the table.

Somewhere there's a thread on multi-level islands but I couldn't find it.

If you're considering 2 levels, you can also check the finished kitchens blog, under categories / special features /island multi-level. There are several kitchens there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Island open to DR thread

Hi lavendar :) Yes, the sunroom is to the left of the breakfast nook w/ matching blue stone on the fireplace. I am hoping you'll get a great view of the sunroom fireplace from the nook. I wanted to put a separate woodstove or fireplace in the kitchen when we did the original house plans but DF and the builder out-voted me and said 4 fireplaces was enough :(

The other open space off the kitchen, the gathering room, I'm having a marble fireplace carved for and brought over from Europe. Then, I'll do the bookcases that are flanking it in a blue, so the two fireplaces off the kitchen will pick up the theme in sort of contrasting ways.

We didn't go see the stone yet. Thursday morning we're going.

Thanks chicagoans. cali-wendy's island is great, but I don't know if I'd be able to do that b/c I have bookshelves on the front of the island and so I don't think I can just extend the ends b/c that would make the bookshelves at different levels. Know what I mean?

I looked for a thread about a two-tiered island b/c I figured there had to be one somewhere, but I couldn't find one!

Two comments about a seam in the island:
1. If done well, it's not necessarily noticeable.
2. If it will bother you, there are ways to make it a design feature, either by incorporating a second material, like a butcher block insert, or by intentionally making a frame of your granite to play up the directional changes. There are good examples of this in Kitchen Centric by Mick De Giulio.

I have a big island and I love it. My island is 5' wide by 11' long. Can I make a suggestion?
THere is one thing I did with my island and I am so very glad I did. On one end I have the island lower at a vanity height instead of a cabinet height. Even though I am 5'7" it is perfect for rolling out dough and baking. Everyone of my friends that comes over just loves it! My island is a 3 level and I only did that because I needed a cabinet to house a structural post and it seemed the best way to conceal it at the time. I will post a pic.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Thanks kitchendetective. I thought about doing a butcher block but I am already doing two diff. materials (marble on perimeter cabs, blue stone on center island. I am afraid adding a third material would not be good. I'd love to see what you mean by making a frame of granite. I'll have to see if I can pick up a copy of that book in the next couple of days. Or, maybe if I can figure out what to google I can find one online :)

Michellemarie- your island looks beautiful. I like the 3 levels a lot. I don't bake/cook and I don't know about doing a lower area on mine b/c I don't know if I want to lose storage space, but it does look pretty! I'm glad to hear you love the long island too. Do you have a seam or did you not need one b/c of the 3 levels?

Actually, I have a lowered, baking level in my island as well. It's not on an end, though. It's inset into one side in a way that wouldn't solve the seam issue of your long island (mine is 9.5'). However, having one end lowered as in the above photo would afford a natural break (seam). You'd only lose a bit of storage as you could have cabinet space under the lower counter; the space would just be shorter. However, IIRC, you want symmetry, or did I imagine that?
Here's a link to the book. The kitchen that comes to mind is in a storybook Tudor, if memory serves me. The granite is green and highly directional, and the kitchen has some French accents. Unfortunately, the link does not allow you to "see inside."

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Centric

I'm no expert at seams, but it might look really pretty to raise the island, over the stools and bookcases area. Not only would this give you a little more height on that side, it would also give you a backsplash area for your sink.

You could have the granite on the main island and the raised part over the stools and bookcases, with more granite on the backsplash (or the little raised area) between the two surfaces. Very blue and very pretty...or you could do something else on one surface, or the backsplash, depending on what you like :)

Have I made this even worse? LOL Anyway, I love your island, but two heights might be kind of fun.

Maybe something like this...with your blue stone and the bookcases on either side of the stools.

{{!gwi}}

I do not have any seams in my granite. Take your time to get the island exactly as you like it. Also, with an island that large, don't skimp on your kitchen sink. I have 2 full size sinks and 2 dishwashers in my kitkchen.
I hope you plan on having at least one more sink in your kitchen.
One nice thing about a bi-level island is that the prep area on either side of the sink is seperated from the eating area. I am not the greatest housekeeper so having the sink area lower hides the mess. I know people here on this forum have their ideas about bi-level islands so whatever you decide should be what you like. Good luck and I will be watching your posts for progress!

What I meant by "natural break (seam)" was where the plane changes from horizontal to vertical, and then, of course, back to horizontal.
There used to be an Ann Sacks ad showing a framed stone counter top. The perimeter was honed and the center highly polished, or vice versa. I cannot locate it. I can't find that De Giulio kitchen online either. Do try to get a look at the book, though.

Lavender, that pic is very pretty. That is kind of what I am picturing. I'm going to send that to the KD. It looks like they used 2 diff materials in that picture though, which I'm not sure about doing b/c I don't think I want to introduce a 3rd material!

Michellemarie- I'm not skimping on the sink :) I am putting in a whitehaus farmhouse w/ drainboard. There will be a dishdrawer dishwasher next to it (our kitchen has 2 separate dish drawer units + 1 full size regular dish washer- the other dish drawer and the full size dish washer are next to the main sink)

kitchendetective- I am going to see if I can get to the store tonight to get the book. I have to make decisions on all this soon so I don't want to order it online if I don't have to. I'd like to see how they did it!

Beagles- I like it all in the blue, too. The wood is wrong (in the picture) but they did have the curve, in front of the stools.

I'd love to have beams like those in my french country kitchen :)

We have a beautifully done seam in our long peninsula, which normally you wouldn't notice. But at certain times of the day/year, when the natural light comes in at a certain angle, you can see the seam.

With the kind of house you are building, I think even a well done seam would bother you. I'd redesign the island to avoid this issue.

Anne

I would recommend against doing a two level island. The beauty of such a large island is the even, flat expanse of gorgeous stone.

If it were my island, I would do two book-matched pieces of natural stone to create a butterfly pattern.

{{!gwi}}

pharaoh that is a great idea. Can I find pieces of stone that match like that in any natural stone you think?

Thanks pharoah- I emailed my granite guy just now about book matched slabs.

The chandeliers, not quite sure they are french country or that they will go with the blue ;)

Thanks for the input Anne. I wish I could see a seam in person, done by my fabricator so I'd know exactly what it would look like :(

Love the chandelier pharaoh! Any ideas/places for good knockoffs?

cat_mom,

I have been fascinated by chihuly's work for years but dont have the budget for it ;)

I have started seeing knockoffs on ebay for a lot less. I suppose they are made in china. I dont care if it is original or venetian or chinese...

I would have to see them in person before buying one. My home has only 8ft ceilings so these would be too big but I may get one for a future deck outside! Chihuly often displays them in gardens and i think i may do the same...

One can dream...

Pharaoh, I just googled chihuly and the stuff is amazing!

I love this one. Wish I had the $$ and space for it :)
http://mocoloco.com/art/upload/2010/08/chihuly_chandeliers.jpg

There are some Murano glass chandeliers that have a bit of the feel of Chihulys without the same price tag. You have to search around the Italian vendors. Here's one link below. They do a lot of custom coloration, too. Unfortunately, I've lost my list of links from my search a couple of years ago.

Here is a link that might be useful: Murano

This link was on the list. $US has diminished since then.

Here is a link that might be useful: More

Thanks for the links kitchendetective. Thinking those are still just a bit outside of my price range (or, like 3x my lighting allowance!)

You know, I was just saying to DF the other day that I wonder how much cost my finding these forums has added to the total cost of my house so far, and now I find $12,000 chandeliers I like. I'm thinking that I may show him this so when I go over my lighting budget, he'll be impressed that I restrained myself and didn't get those. Think that will work? :)

We have a 15' island with 3 seams, one level. I don't really know what the big deal about seams is. The expectation that there should not be any seams doesn't really make sense to me.

So, in closing, I think seams are okay. Especially since the installer will match the epoxy to your stone.

Here is a link that might be useful: island

Still out of my price range as well--and I don't really even have a spot for one! Saw an awesome knockoff in NYC while bopping about with our own dear trailrunner. Can you believe she didn't even buy it for me? LOL!!!!

I am still kicking myself that I missed out on the Chihuly exhibit at the Bronx Botanical Gardens a few years ago....

A well done seam in book-marked slabs might solve the problem, and you obviously couldn't have beautifully bookmarked slabs without a seam. But . . .

Our peninsula setup is almost like your island--same curve on the seating side, centered sink. Each end on the curved side is supported by a 12" wide & deep cabinet, and the entire sink side has 24" deep cabinets. I know the adhesive used to join the slabs is supposed to be strong, and there are corbels supporting the granite, but like most corbels, they don't come out near the edge of the granite. Whenever we have people over, someone always seems to be leaning right on the seam where the two pieces of granite are joined. I don't tell them not to lean on it, but I want to! Maybe I'm worrying about something that would never be a problem. But if something like this would bother you, then it doesn't seem like a seam would be a good idea. ;o) Come to think of it, you could have plywood put under the entire countertop to stabilize it.

Anne

I think we're going to talk to the cab designer to see what he thinks about tiers, and also when we go see stone, see if we can find bookmarked ones we like. Then, I guess we shall see what option seems to be the best.

I also found this that I like and I think it could be done w/ mine:

Do we think that would look better or the long bookmarked slabs w/ the seam would look better?

Any island over 10 feet long qualifies as its own continent, doesn't it?

A friend of our, who is a contractor that built his own home, has an island very similar to the one your designer worked up. I love it.

I like a single level island myself. I don't remember if theirs has a seam or not. If it does, I didn't notice it. I'll have to look for it next time I'm there. We, as homeowners, tend to obsess over imperfections that no one else notices.

The blue island will greatly diminish in impact if multiple levels or additional counter materials are used. It won't be "the" feature of the kitchen anymore. The bookmatched slabs and single level are what's needed. But, this does require a skilled fabricator. Be sure you see many examples of his work, including bookmatched seams, before committing to using him. If he can't give you good samples, then find someone who can.

The book-matched slabs are gorgeous. If you're looking for WOW, there's your answer. That's the feature I was most moved by on a tour of the Vanderbilt family's Newport, RI mansion (The Breakers). Ageless and breathtaking.

Functionally, I think a large single-level island has a tremendously luxurious feel when you are actually using the space for prep/cooking. If the area in front of you is full of prep stuff but you have to land 3 large hot pans from the oven, just move over a few feet. Laying out food at the bar/eating area for guests? No problem, plenty of space and no worries about stuff falling off the edge.

On the other hand, for a kitchen that's less hard-working, bi-level islands do have a very nice look to them. They have a more "designed" feel to me. That is, they always feel to me like they have given up some functionality for looks. But they do look good. This is just my personal opinion as a guy that likes to spread out and enjoys his elbow room.

For the granite, book-matching is definitely the way to go. When looking at granites bear in mind that some stones are epoxied or whatever the term is, with a fiber mesh on the back. You won't be able to book-match those, obviously.

Beagles- You have many good ideas, here.

I think, with your kitchen having so many great details...and since there's cabinetry behind the stools, so no one sitting back there seeing any cooking mess....I'd probably go with all one big island. That would really show off the blue!

However, if your sink doesn't match the granite very well, then the marble on the lower level and the blue over the rest of the island...that's a nice solution.

I guess you'll know more when you see the stone. In the meantime, don't overthink it. You'll have a beautiful kitchen, whatever you decide to do with the island! :)

Thanks so much for all the opinions. We met w/ the KD again today, and actually, doing the tiered island seemed to solve a lot of problems (not just the seam). Namely, making those end cabs taller gave me extra space I needed that he was having issues w/ before, since we have appliances in both end cabs. It also allowed me to do pull out trash where I wasn't nec. going to be able to do it before and it solves the blue sink in blue granite problem. So, although I think the book matched slabs would probably make more of a statement and look nicer, we are currently leaning towards the tiered islands. We'd do the marble on the sink part and the blue on all the raised areas.

This may change upon further discussion or if we find book matched slabs we love, but the KD and granite person both kinda pushed me in the tiered-island direction, so we shall see!

good luck with the project. Would love to see how it all turns out.

I personally dont like the tiered look. especially on large islands. it end up looking like a starbucks service counter ;)
The single level island seems more family oriented (interactive and welcoming), the tiered one looks like a cook/server behind a counter (next in line please)...

Dont let the KD/granite people influence you. Get what YOU want. Their job is to make it happen.

Beagles,
Here's another example...one of my favs. JBrodie's kitchen. Just to give you some more ideas. I like the idea you posted with the black cabs, too. Maybe you could just have the very end to the right of the sink raised. Then you could probably do without a seam if your slab was long enough.

Here is a link that might be useful: JBrodie's Kitchen

Always late to the game....but I vote for single level with bookmatched stone. : D

As someone up-thread stated, having a large expansive surface like this can be a very luxurious statement and an incredible focal point of your kitchen space.

Fabulous layout!

Pepper

I normally agree w/ you Pharoah- I'm not usually a fan of the tiered island either. I am still going to look for book matched slabs b/c we're finding the granite before we do anything else. The ONLY reason I'm going for this idea is b/c it solves so many issues (sink, seams, space). Of course, it creates others w/ the island being tiered. The other thing I might like about the tiers here, though, is that my end cabs on my cab run are sort of bigger and taller cabs and making the island end runs bigger/taller kind of carries through the pattern and symmetry. We shall see, though, as this has all changed many, many times and could change again if I find book matched slabs I love.

Thanks julie for the pics. I like what Jbrodie did but I need to maintain symmetry b/c the whole kitchen is completely built around being symmetrical :)

A long post that I wrote a couple of days ago disappeared, so I'll try again. (Satellite in the lately windy boonies to blame, I think.) Visually, the greatest impact from the wavy ocean of blue quartzite will derive from a single expanse. No tiers. However, functionally, a sink in an island is the way to go, INMVHO and in my experience with and without sinks in islands. Also, although you have mentioned not cooking, you could find that you want to cook or bake one day and you may want to consider island functionality. A layout that has worked for me--and my scanner isn't working, unfortunately--is comprised of a thick rectangle, divided as follows: A large sort of "U" (but with right angles) in granite --inset into it is a lowered area of white marble, which is my baking slab. The height of this slab was calculated according to my bent elbow distance from the floor (I am short). The interruption in the colored granite isn't largely perceived from the main viewing side because the white area is lower. The mess I make with flour is somewhat obscured as well. My island sink is on the high side, though, because of other functional relationships of the island and range placement. I hope this makes some sort of sense. Anyway, this plan is just a suggestion, but it would involve only two levels, not three, and not four elevation changes; and it would still preserve symmetry. You could still make use of a large expanse of book matched quartzite slabs, but have an area to mess up and in which to hide things. (It would not solve the need for a seam of some sort, though, because the inset section would probably need to be along the long side.) To compare it to your photo with the three levels, the baking area would be where the cooktop is, the main level would be where all the rest is and would be deeper than what you've called the "eating" area. Make any sense?

Just wanted to update you guys. We went to the granite yard today and they had 2 slabs of blue bahia. They THINK they are book matched, but they have to check tomorrow (we got there shortly before they closed and they kept the place open for us late as it was so we could look, so they weren't able to check for us today). They are going to call me back tomorrow and let me know if they are bookmatched. If they are, I am going to exceed my entire countertop budget just on this island (not even counting the rest of the house!), but I'm gonna do it and get bookmatched blue bahia!!

Cross your fingers it works out b/c I think it will look amazing IF they are book matched! This will be a sign about whether it is meant to be!

If it is sodalite, you may want to study up on its properties before committing.

Is that the granite? So it looks great with your sink? That's wonderful! Let us know what happens :)

Thanks kitchendetective. It does have sodalite in it and it is sensitive to acids. So too is my marble. This will be a kitchen where no orange juice or lemon is ever permitted I think :) Is there anything else to know other than the acid thing? I just cannot find any other blues anywhere near me that are anywhere close. I'd strongly prefer not to spend the $$$$ or have the acid-etching stone, but I don't really see any other option if I want the kitchen I want.

Lavenderlass- blue bahia is different than that blue granite piece I posted in that other thread. That one ended up being way too dark. I don't have a pic of the exact slab, but Blue bahia is way bluer. Here's an example I found online of bookmatched pieces. Ours have less brown in them than these do:

Blue Bahia is purported to fade to gray with prolonged UV exposure. I was warned about this in a Houston stone yard when my DSes saw some slabs they wanted for a shared bathroom in our house five years ago. DH heard that the color might fade and thought that was a bitter pill at those prices.

Hmm. I will have to talk to my granite guy about that, because no one mentioned that to me. The store we were at had some beautiful blue bahia signs and displays hanging on the wall right by the door and they seemed very vibrant. I wonder if they were newer or something.

Maybe I'll start a forum thread asking blue bahia countertop owners for feedback. I am going to be disappointed if we are back to the drawing board again and I think DF isn't going to be too happy after the 10 hour day yesterday of looking at granite! :(

Beagles- How dark did that blue granite turn out to be? Really navy, not enough blue highlights, or both?

How does the blue bahia look with your blue sink? Will you have enough to do the fireplace, in the sunroom?

Hope everything works out for you...it's a beautiful stone! :)

Hi lavender :) The dark blue was way too dark and not blue enough when we looked at it with everything else. I had been in love w/ blue bahia from day 1 but our granite person told us it was 3x the cost of regular granite so we had sort of crossed it off our list.

Then, after an entire day of looking at granite, which was a nightmare (we waited 45 minutes in one place only to find out that the slab of green we wanted to see for one of our bathrooms was not for sale!) we walked into our third place right before it closed and the perfect slab of stone was there... and then she told us it was blue bahia.

We asked to see some both blue bahia slabs that were there, but the girl didn't want to start moving slabs b/c I guess she didn't think we'd want to pay the prices for it/be able to afford it. So, I asked her to give us a ballpark price, which she could not do b/c they are a supplier to our fabricator, they don't sell to us.

I asked her to get a ballpark from my fabricator and somehow this turned into her calling him and demanding a full cost-breakdown for all the stone in the kitchen... which he very kindly did in 1/2 hour for us while we went over to a nearby dog park and walked our dogs who we dragged around in the car the entire day (the fabricator is amazing!).

The whole thing was a big fiasco, and then the price came back and it was extremely high b/c he told us that even w/ the 3 tiered island, we would need 2 slabs of blue stone because there was so much space that needed blue. So, at that point, I knew we needed the blue bahia because I was too fed up to look at anything else and because I know I wouldn't ever find anything just perfect like that since it was what I wanted in the first place. And, more importantly, DF also decided we needed blue bahia because he didn't want to drive 7 hours to the other stone yard that might have had other options for us in the blue.

The place we were at was closing in like 20 minutes and we didn't even have time to check if the slabs were book matched, so we left not knowing. We decided that if they were book matched, that was fate telling us to go back to the solid long island. If they weren't, we were going to try to shrink our island to just use one slab. The next day the girl called me and they were book matched.

Then, Friday night we met w/ our fabricator (did I mention how great he is, he came in on a Friday night) and we will have enough to do the long island w/ the book matched granite and the sunroom fireplace as well.

So, very long story short- everything worked out perfectly, we are going to get the exact thing I wanted in the first place 3 months ago, we'll be able to do the fireplace and we completely disregarded our budget. Again. Which I need to stop doing at some point very soon!

Beagles- That's amazing! What a great story :)

I'm so happy for you...it's so wonderful to find something so perfect for your new home. Congratulations!