Gosh that looks silly.

OMG

If it were on wheels and could be pushed back against the wall, then we would have a winner for this small space. Every KD I visited wants me to have an island despite the fact there is not enough room. When I insist on keeping the peninsula they just sigh. I have given up. Literally.

Agree, that looks silly!

Hilarious! Oh my goodness.

I think there is some major distortion going on with the photo and the isle between perimeter and the island is wider than it appears. It looks like a very small apartment and I'm sure they appreciate the extra storage. I would be pretty happy with this set up as my city pied-à-terre!!

A ledge/cabinets would be so much more functional up against the wall. Galley kitchens can be great!

I like it. I would rather the top was different.L and that it was on wheels as said above. But I bet there are open shelves on the work side.

My 17" wide Ikea island cart is a godsend in my kitchen. It's an extra landing zone.

No one is bashing a cart! I'm going to have an 18"x6' movable prep table in my new kitchen. (It will double as a buffet when turned.) What I'm not doing is attaching it to the floor and leaving out wall base cabinets to get it.

I have the clearance for a row of regular cabinets...technically. It would be uncomfortable though.

Unless one plans to dance in the kitchen, I prefer this to wall base cabinets UNLESS one needs upper wall cabinets as well. This island serves as a prep and landing space and buffet/serving space plus it

keeps people out of the kitchen area as they pass by. I guess I am stupid as I don't understand the insulting comments. Wheels might be dangerous and why bother if one doesn't plan on moving it?

You lose functional 24" depth cabinets, sacrificing a lot of space in a tiny kitchen. That kitchen is in too small an apartment for a buffet like that to be of much use. On the wall, you could have had a pantry or broom closet, too.

Wheels wouldn't be dangerous. They would allow a two-person kitchen (it's very cramped for that now) most of the time and then let you roll the counter over if you did want a buffet or something.

Oh well. Why we are all different. I like it. I have a friend with something similar on wheels. It never moves in the 10 years it has been there.

i think the skinny islands look really, really goofy. I have a movable cart that is about 17 inches. It's great for extra storage and baking. I would want anything that narrow to be a permanent fixture.

I think there is some major distortion going on with the photo and the isle between perimeter and the island is wider than it appears.

This could indeed be the case. I looked at a picture on Houzz just yesterday of an island from the outer perimeter view and said to myself, surely they did not do this, there can't be a big enough isle on the other side. Clicked a different view and lo and behold, plenty of room. Looks can be deceiving.

@Milly, will your cart be 18 x 16 or actually 18 x 6? Hope we get to see pics when finished!

I'd have placed it against the wall, maybe shortened it,then installed deeper counters along work wall. Setting out beverages, snacks in urban entertaining situations makes it useful. The kitchen is basically a corridor so one walkway through rather than 2 walkways would have been okay.

18 INCHES by 6 FEET. :). 18"x6'. It may be 16 inches by 5 feet. Got to get the rest in first. It will be my last pick.

The aisle must be 8' from counter to counter. It's basically a U shaped kitchen. Technically, I could juuuust squeeze in a 24" wide island, but that would be claustrophobic.

The island will be an open table. It will be entirely movable. May have locking casters. I will have 1-2 adjustable countertop height stools under it. Alllll the way under it.

Purposes:

1) It redirects traffic to the fridge/freezer (which I really can't move) away from whatever side I'm working at.

2) Landing space and or decorating space for cookies, with kids on other side. This gets them blocking the side that's not used, not my aisle.

3). Seated prep area when I'm doing something fiddly, like tamales or pierogi or Shu mai. Or prepping 10lbs of apples for massive apple crisp. Right now, I do this in the living room on a cookie sheet. Regular chair-to-table height puts you too high for knife work, too. I want to sit if I'm going to be working for a long time.

4). A buffet. I turn it at right angles and push it against the cleanup sink area, and it makes a perfect buffet. This was a larger concern when I was considering granite, which sucks the heat out of everything. It's still a benefit now. I want stainless steel so I can put hot things straight on it.

This only works because one 21' (foot!) wall is the cooking, prep, and baking center. The fridge and freezer will be on the short in with small pantries flanking. The other 21' wall is clean up center, dishes, and a built-in bench for my long and narrow (3 foot) table (there will be chairs on the other side of the table, and a coffee center sort of place on the other short wall by it). My family loooooves booths at restaurants. It was my husband's one request for the remodel. I'm not worried about the middle of the bench not being used. Unless I'm eating, they will all crowd onto the bench side together. So it's a plus in addition to saving room.

The narrow island will mostly live between the clean up center wall and the prep wall.

I wrote a post but I guess it disappeared. Or maybe I didn't hit submit. Who knows.

My single wall kitchen in an apartment I had when in my 20s, and not yet much of a cook, was about half the length of this kitchen. I probably had about 18" of counter space. I used the 6" ledge between the living room and kitchen as landing space on the odd occasion I used more than my rice cooker and a single small skillet.

And I STILL wouldn't want that island. I'd much rather have a narow work table that could get out of my way.

Miley, looking forward to seeing your vision turn into reality. You sound like a good cook!

I would have something movable over one those "islands" any day that the OP posted or worse, the sliver of ridiculous that Gennifer found in another source!

That's not an island, it's a half-height wall with a countertop on it (the second photo). It looks weird, but, then, so is the space. Actually, I don't think either of them are so bad, given what there is to work with. I can absolutely see why they chose it and how it would be helpful, and I think they made reasonable choices. I think it's far better there than against the wall, though I agree if it was moveable it would be a nice option for certain circumstances.

Yeah, I know, I was supposed to pile on about how horrid it is, but I really don't think -- given the restrictions of the space -- that it is.

I'm baffled about the purpose of the pony wall. If they had a drop down table attached, it would make sense. Baffled.

Mobuddy, thanks! I COOK ALL THE THINGS. Not all the time but often enough. I like world cuisine.

These look like very small apartments. One does some pretty odd things to make such a space work as there IS no space! I'm sure they probably use these things as a buffet when serving guests as they have no room for one. It's easier to put food/plates there than to walk across the floor space and put it on something up against the wall. But in a house? Probably not...

It looks like it's 24" deep. Skinny but usable.

It's better than no work surface, and it does keep traffic out of the cooking area, which wall cabinets would not.

On teensy NYC apartments you do what you can.

It looks like it's 24" deep. Skinny but usable.

That's what I thought. And that's the depth of most counters. Do we think they're too skinny to use? *confused* My island will be a 36x24 cabinet. I relish that extra space I'm going to have!

re: Wheels wouldn't be dangerous.

It would be dangerous if one needs electrical. Mixing, crockpots, hotplates... And, I would want electric there considering the size of the kitchen. I suppose a floor outlet could be placed under a cart on wheels, but that would be a dog hair magnet in my house and cords aren't that long anymore. As for 18 vs 24. I only use the front 18 inches of my counters anyway. I don't prep right up to the wall...

I'm wondering if they did it to keep guests/kids away from the cooking area. Some people don't want anyone in their kitchens when they're cooking. So this island would force people to stand and to walk through on the other side without disturbing those "in" the kitchen..

When I see kitchens like this, my first thought is that they probably could have done better and they likely lacked knowledge or imagination. As I learned with Katrina Tate's NYC apartment reno, you can create amazing, functional spaces in these urban condos but it will take a lot more time and thoughtfulness than some folks are willing to spend.

I think the first example is fine in context. I had an 18" x30" -- couple inches bigger with top-- island in my last kitchen and it served several purposes.

I am the original poster of the pony wall island. This one really makes little, sense to me. I am 95 % sure that back door goes to a back yard about 3 feet wider than the kitchen and about 8-10 feet deep, and it's either a dead end or has a locked gate to a narrow common alley.

So the kitchen is essentially a dead end, not much "traffic" to divert and all you will do is bang your elbows on it or knock things off the top.

This is what you get when you demand island-at-all-costs.

A galley kitchen would've been better -- cabinets on both sides.

Every KD I visited wants me to have an island despite the fact there is
not enough room. When I insist on keeping the peninsula they just sigh.

Islands are very much "the thing". I won't say a trend because a trend comes and goes, whereas I think islands are here to stay -- but that doesn't mean they work in every layout. Peninsulas are not as cutting edge, not as sexy. Doesn't mean they aren't sometimes the right choice.

A ledge/cabinets would be so much more functional up against the wall. Galley kitchens can be great!

Oooh, what about a fold-down table? Something you could pull up when you need it, flatten against the wall when you don't need it?

The island lets people get to the back of the house in a straight shot instead of jogging around a chunk of cabinetry. It creates a bit of separation. It's not like there are bar stools there...

NO....just no.

"The island lets people get to the back of the house in a straight shot instead of jogging around a chunk of cabinetry."

Yeah....something against the wall would be worse, IMO.

I like it! If you have people over it gives them a place to be in the kitchen with you but not in the way - if the cabinets were against the other wall like a galley kitchen everyone would be in the middle of where you are working. Quite often in NYC apartments, the "rules" they follow for walking spaces or island sizes etc are smaller than what would be used in a home....

I do live in NYC, have for nearly 20 years, we would put a folding table under the window.

This looks like something in Brooklyn, where a builder simply wanted to put the word "island" in a listing.

There is new construction in my neighborhood and the islands are 4 ft by 12 inches. No storage below. Crazy!

Some people put lowered islands in smaller kitchens as a way to have a lower, more ergonomic place to work if they aren't the average 5'6" that kitchens are designed for. People used to use kitchen tables as work zones. Now they are islands.

My parents had an island that was 4x2.5'. It buffered the kitchen from the breakfast nook, caught incoming mail, and held the trash and recycling. It was also a standing for a wall and totally out of the central traffic pattern. So it worked.

"It looks like it's 24" deep. Skinny but usable."

I don't think it looks that wide. The counters are most likely 24 -25" deep, and that island is definitely narrower than the counters. I think it is 18" deep. But I don't think 24" is skinny anyway. It's counter-sized. Seems pretty normal.

I actually find this thread amusing. If this were a new user asking for layout advice checking to see if their idea of an island was okay, the majority of people here on Houzz would be all over it. There would be all kinds of reminders about aisle widths, NKBD guidelines, etc. With those proclamations, the new user would saunter off never to return. Why can't we be a little more open with new layout advice seekers as we are being here claiming it is okay because it is NYC?

Difficult spaces often require compromises. The purpose of an island also dictates how practical sizes are. Some design choices are simply poor given the space. Like that mysterious pony wall!

mobuddy89, I don't care where it's from. My opinion would be the same whether it was someone asking for advice or a design pic.

Mobuddy I think this is why people get frustrated in the kitchen forum. An island like the first one is fine whether it's 24" or 18" in that kitchen because it is large enough to serve a function in a kitchen that size. (The pony wall is not functional).

But you would not be allowed to design that kitchen in the Kitchen forum because it doesn't follow the dogma. It doesn't matter that it's a small kitchen incapable of meeting the "minimum" requirement. If they can't be met, you shouldn't bother. Or you get help with a shrug like "Well this is New York City and people there eat out or eat takeout anyway, it doesnt really have to work".

Over the years I have posted a couple existing kitchens in houses that I was thinking about buying (and eventually bought one of them).

The kitchens were all about 7 feet wide or so with various lengths.

There is no room to expand. I made that clear. In one house the "yard" was a 30 inch wide alley that had common access with the house next door. In the house I bought, the front door abutted the kitchen wall and the party wall was the other kitchen wall (party wall equals the house next door)

I got comments "Can you expand into the yard? You have to be able to expand in the yard. If you have 30 FEET I know that's a small yard but you have to steal part of it" I had 30 INCHES.

Then "Seven feet wide is not code compliant. You can't have a kitchen that's only Seven feet wide, you have to expand it" (Where?)

Code requirements in my area are seven feet minimum in one dimension with a minimum square footage of 70. Excluding Kitchens. Which can be Five feet wide in one dimension.

"Don't buy this house, you can't put a functional kitchen in it" Both houses had 50 year old kitchens with at least a range, a refrigerator, a sink, a dishwasher, and some actual counter space. One of the kitchens had served a family of eight for decades. It already had a functional kitchen in it. It certainly had enough room to make a more than functional kitchen for a childless couple.

I removed post here because it was a response to a post which is no longer here.

A prominent designer did this one, definitely not in the confines of a small NYC apartment. Not built in, but not exactly moveable either. Violates all sorts of GW dictates (and common sense dictates...). Doesn't look like you could use it to eat OR prep. But striking and gorgeous piece centered there, no? Cool enough to land in a shelter mag. Not the most functional. But if you loved it, maybe you'd be in the kitchen more anyway as a result of your love for the kitchen's aesthetics. That's my opinion about considered rule-breaking anyway.

(But don't ask how you are supposed to use those cookbooks way up there! Maybe a very handsome ladder-toting sous chef always at the ready?)

Now THAT^^ looks ridiculous.

I love planning tiny kitchens. Not so much using them!

Lapsang- I really like that kitchen, minus the long narrow driftwood table. My real problem with it would be the reality of greasy/dusty/sticky cookbooks when you did reach them! Really appealing space overall, however.