We are looking at homes in the Denver area and many if not most have the cooktop on the island. I’ve only cooked a few times on a friend’s island cooktop and I hated that the venting was quite poor and how it made the island mostly un-usable while cooking. Do any of you have an island cooktop? Do you like it? FWIW, none I’ve seen had a overhead vent hood. It’s hard to tell from the photos is many have any venting at all!
the price range we have seen these in is 600k up to 1.2M so, it does not seem to be limited to lower end homes
Hate them and always assume that those that have them don’t actually cook. If you find the house you like, reconfiguring the kitchen shouldn’t be that big of a deal. Don’t get hung up on it as you would probably want to upgrade the appliances anyway. Just factor it into your bid.
As someone who’s lived in condos or apartments most of his life my only advice is - don’t buy a cooktop that doesn’t have outside venting. It a constant annoyance.
We have a Thermador Res/Commercial cooktop with 6 burners and a grill. The unit is 48 inches wide. There is a single bowl deep stainless sink between the cooktop and prep area. Total length of the island is 10 plus feet. The faucet is extendable to accommodate stock pots. We have a Vent-A-Hood over the cooktop that exhausts outside. The four fans are in the base of the hood and a little noisy, but that was what was available in 1992 when I built Carrie’s kitchen. We also have a ton of counter space, a pass through and a large stainless two bowl sink and dish washer along the walls.
The Vent-A-Hood is so efficient we can’t use our fire place if it is running as it pulls the smoke through the house and out the hood. Nowadays, you can buy hoods with external fans that are almost as efficient and much quieter in the house.
My recommendations would be no center island unless it is big enough to house the cooktop, ample prep space and a sink with H/D garbage disposal. Overhead hood is the only way to go. Our island has a large knife drawer, 2 drawers for ladles, spatulas, whisks, tongs, etc.; 2 sliding shelves that hold almost all our pots and pans, a cabinet that vertically holds trays, plus the space under the cooktop accommodates Carrie’s stock pots and my fire extinguisher. (Yes I’m the only one who has had to use it.)
Our island has a 3 foot space between the wall counters/cabinets/refrigerator and 5 feet of space on the opposite (non-working) side and it works to keep the company and relatives out of the working area.
I don’t think Carrie or I could work in a kitchen without an island and gas cooktop, as long as it is set up properly.
In theory, our kitchen operates in a circle. The pantry and refrigerator are located at the prep area of the island. The ovens located in the wall, at your back when standing at the prep area. Food moves to the cooktop or oven, then plated and out the pass through or 4 foot kitchen entry, to the dinning room. Everything comes back through the pass through to the garbage disposal side of the wall sink, moves to the large bowl for rinsing and into the dishwasher located next to the sink. Left overs bypass the sink to adjoining counter top for placement in containers/baggies located in the cabinet below and then placed in the refrigerator.
Considering how many foodies we have here, I’m surprised nobody takes the time to build an efficient kitchen.
Thanks Randy! I can see that working but it’s just not what I’ve been seeing in the RE shots
I might get to plan a kitchen if we don’t find a decent one…
Just so you know Mel, I added 240 sf to the back of my house to accommodate the new kitchen. It was worth every penny. If you get to the point of adding on, I can provide pics and maybe even pull up my old plans. I also drew up plans for a couple for friends. If you didn’t have children, I’ve seen some stellar galley kitchens and drawn up a plans for friends. Allows more living space. Galley kitchens also work well for busy people who use their kitchens “to cook only,” and not host parties in them. We should really have a galley kitchen now instead of one that actually measures 420 sf and includes a breakfast nook.
We’re in the process of designing our new kitchen now (all sorts of nifty toys planned), and when I suggested the possibility of an island cooktop, my husband (a former chef) nixed it right away. He is worried about the splattering of oil and other elements when you toss food in sautee pans if you don’t have a wall with backsplash.
I design and build a lot of high-end kitchens. I really don’t like island cooktops. I would NEVER use one with out an overhead ducted hood. Even the best of the pop-up systems don’t work. I typically don’t like the way an overheadhood then breaks up the space in the middle of the area even though they can look slick. To function correctly they need to be mounted lower than many architectural photos show. A hood should not mount above 72" and functions better at 68". So personally I would only ever do an island cooktop in a large space where constricting the sense of space and sight lines is not an issue.
As Sarah said, there’s a big practical plus to a backsplash. While I’m a fan of islands, I think putting the cooktop in them neutralizes the better uses for the island, namely prep, maybe a sink, and available space to congregate or even sit at a stool. The practical downsides of an island cooktop design are more often than not ratified by prospective buyers, at least at the high-end in Cali, if that angle matters.
Mel, what Denver neighborhoods or what suburbs are you looking in? Most of the homes that I see in Denver proper do not have island kitchens. I can also give you name of a good agent if you wish.
full disclosure I am not a realtor nor is anybody in my family but I used this person when we moved back to Denver a few years ago and found her to be very knowledgeable.
Yes, we are moving to Denver. Looking at neighborhoods that have highly rated school districts.
and on the light rail line (or soon to be on the line that opens in 2016)
I’ve mostly watched the real estate over my wife’s shoulder during the “we might be moving to Denver stage” but we are now entering the “holy sh*t we ARE moving to Denver stage” & I’m becoming more involved. Basically, I don’t know the actual names of the towns yet… I know where they are (south of downtown and now west too) but I’m not exactly clear on the names… liked Arvada, Centennial
looking for any advice for towns that meet the following requirements
top scoring schools
public transportion to dwntn Denver
walkable bikeable neighborhood with lots of kids
as too the center island, I’m not kidding, I think it’s over 1/2’s of what I’ve seen
here’s 4 that I found after looking at 7 or 8 houses…
We had an island cooktop at our old house and had the vent custom made and vented to the outside. It worked but an island vent isn’t going work as well as one against a wall. It’s o.k but if you do a lot of cooking that gets smokey you will notice a difference. And if it’s not vented to the outside it won’t work well at all.
We were very involved in the design of our home and kitchen. We have our cooktop on the island. My wife and I absolutely love having it there. Would never go back to facing away from guests and towards a wall while cooking.
I think each of those kitchens has a design flaw, aside from the fact that none has an overhead hood.
A cooktop/range should have space on one side of at least 10" and 16" or more on the other. If someone is to be able to sit on the opposite side of the cook then they should be 15" there. The nicer of the four examples seems to violate standard clearance to an adjacent edge, as in behind the cook. If there is no specific work area or appliance behind the cook the clearance is ok at 36". However if something like the sink, as in the photo, is behind the cook then there should be 42" of clearance.
Btw, island cooktops have come to prevalence more in the last dozen years as open concept has become more popular and kitchens need to utilize a large area to accomodate fridge, sink and range along walls but not side-by-side.
That’s what I thought would be the case with my husband - when I’m cooking, I certainly like being able to face guests - but he said his cooking on the stove involves 1) things done in larger pots that are done in advance of guests arriving, or 2) things he needs to concentrate on enough so that he doesn’t want the distraction of people right in front of him. It’s ok because there’s a larger selection of cooktops available for against-the-wall, particularly if you’re looking for a professional level range, and the hood doesn’t have to break the sight-lines.
One thing, un-related to the cooktop, that he’s insisting on that I think is genius, but haven’t heard anyone else mention, is that all storage below counter is a drawer. No cabinets. It is a million times easier for reaching things, and nothing gets lost in the back of a cabinet you have to bend over to see. He built his current kitchen that way, and I have to say, it is the single most useful design choice I can think of.
Sarah, yes lot’s of current kitchen designs eschew lower doors for drawers, or at least include pull-outs within doors for the same function. The drawbacks to the drawers are: they cost a bit more, they actually have a bit less clear space in height and width, and they don’t utilize corners well. In the end, even with high budgets, I end up incorporating a few door cabinets. They end up getting used for very large, even boxed items that are not used consistently.
Make sure to check for adequate extension and weight rating on glides, as it’s always worth getting the higher rated glides on big drawers.
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