Big Kitchen Island Design Ideas

Featured Image: Mont Blanc Satin Quartzite Kitchen Countertop Islands from Arizona Tile

A kitchen island is a beneficial addition to any kitchen—large or small, commercial or residential. This extra counter space will make working around your kitchen more practical and efficient and is ideal for a chef’s kitchen or a home industrial kitchen.

Not only does a big kitchen island make food prep and organization more manageable, but it can serve as a focal point in the room, whether by design, size, or color. Read on to put together some big kitchen island ideas to bring your kitchen design from ordinary to extraordinary.

Size of Your Workspace

It goes without saying that more workspace in a kitchen is worth its weight in gold. It doesn’t seem to matter how large a kitchen is, once you put a few appliances on the counters and a few people are in the room, it never seems big enough and you’re left searching for workspace. One way to help tackle this problem is to incorporate a large kitchen island into your design. If you design it right, the kitchen island can almost function as a kitchen unto itself. Consider adding a wine fridge, a countertop stove, a sink, or even a dishwasher to your kitchen island. Plus, it can add loads of additional storage space that’s tucked away underneath.

Fortunately, no matter how big you want your kitchen island to be, slabs of our beautiful stone are available in a variety of sizes to accommodate many design structures. Beyond a certain size, you may have to deal with seams, but that may be unavoidable. Slabs of granite and marble are often ten feet or less in length and six feet or less in width. If your big kitchen island idea entails something larger, more than one slab may need to be joined.

Image: Diamond Crystal Quartzite Big Kitchen Countertop Island from Arizona Tile

In the picture above, you can see the fine elegance of this kitchen and the big kitchen island that would make any cooking task a little easier with the vast amount of workspace. The slab used on this expansive island is Diamond Crystal, and is the whitest quartzite available on the market. Both beautiful and resilient, quartzite’s hard, resilient surface can be used for countertops without having the scratching and etching issues experienced with marble.

Shape and Storage for Your Space

In addition to size, the shape of your kitchen island can create another alluring and beneficial element. Depending on the kitchen layout, having a large, “traditional” rectangular kitchen island may not be best. A large square, triangular, L-shaped, or multi-tiered kitchen island may suit your needs better. A triangular island is beneficial for hosting so your guests can all chat; a multi-tiered island can create division to a prep area, cleaning area, and dining area; and an L-shaped or square-shaped island may adhere more adequately to the room to maximize your counter space and storage.

Image: Denali-N Quartz Waterfall Kitchen Countertop Island from Arizona Tile

Along with the shape of the surface, storage considerations may affect the shape you choose. While planning your design, there are elements to consider with storage: cabinets underneath, shelves, or even a waterfall slab. Maybe even a mix of different ideas. Waterfall designs are beautiful and eye-catching, like with the pure white of Denali-N quartz, shown below, but they limit storage—which is fine if you are mostly concerned with the workspace surface. With the slab running from countertop surface to floor, there are limits on where you can integrate storage; however, it is certainly doable on the front or back side of the island.

Image: Mont Blanc Quartzite Big Kitchen Countertop Island from Arizona Tile

An L-shaped big kitchen island is a stellar option if you’re truly spending a lot of time cooking and in need of storage space for your fine culinary accouterments. Just be sure to consider all your options while developing your big kitchen island ideas to ensure you will get the most out of the intended use. Consider Mont Blanc, which is a quartzite slab that resembles marble’s appearance yet is more durable and harder thus making it great for a kitchen that gets heavy use. It would add the perfect touch of elegance to any shape island.

Color Ideas

Once you have established the design that will highlight your chef’s kitchen, decide which material and color slab should be your next step. Creating a steady flow throughout the kitchen or making a statement piece is solely a stylistic preference.

Image: Aerial Quartz Big Kitchen Countertop & Island from Arizona Tile

The sheer size of your big kitchen island may create the desired emphasis in the room. Therefore, selecting matching countertops throughout the kitchen could appeal to your style. Like in the photo above, try a neutral but stylish quartz countertop, like Aerial—an Italian agglomerate emulated slab—with colored cabinets for a pop of color.

Again, keeping the countertop neutral and adding design or color around the slab—like to the kitchen backsplash and along the kitchen island—adds color and detail while making a soft countertop pop. See the glass mosaic tile against the Aviana quartz countertop in the following photo, making the white quartz countertop stand out as a focal point.

Image: Aviana Quartz Kitchen Countertop Island from Arizona Tile

Design with Confidence

When you are in the drafting process of your big kitchen island design, check out our helpful tool: the Just Imagine – Tile Visualizer, to see what slab colors and styles will look best. Make sure to visit an Arizona Tile store or slab yard to see your favorite materials in person and if you have any product questions, don’t hesitate to reach out!