Contents
- Tricks and hacks that will WOW your friends when they see your new kitchen island!
- #1 Built-in charging station!
- #2 Doggy station
- #3 cooler fridge
- #4 Island seating area
- #5 service storage
- #6 hanging pots and pans
- #7 Double Island
- #8 Ikea metallic stand-alone kitchen island
- #9 wine cellar
- #10 Hole in one cutting board hack
- #11 Ice bucket slot
- #12 kitchen utensils spring drawer
Tricks and hacks that will WOW your friends when they see your new kitchen island!
Most people think of an island as an extra workspace in the kitchen with space for an extra sink and a place to eat a quick breakfast with the daily paper before heading out the door. In 2022 they have become so much more than that!
Now you can have extra storage space and better flow in your kitchen with these twelve savvy storage ideas, tricks, and hacks that can be built into your kitchen island.
Using these tricks and hacks in your new kitchen will make your friends and family feel as if they are a century behind you!
#1 Built-in charging station!
Built-in charging station!
Yes, you read that correctly! this kitchen island has a built-in charging station with outlets and USB ports to charge any device.
This idea is incredibly awesome because it will allow you to work in the kitchen with easy access to a plug so you can charge your device and keep going, without having to move to another room in the house. You can cook with your favorite songs playing, without worrying if your phone or speaker will die on you while you only at the stage of sauteing the onions.
What’s most exciting though, is how much this will impress your friends when they come over for a party and have a secure place to charge their phones, they will love you for this!
How to design this:
- Install a built-in cabinet at the side end of the island
- Use a wooden backboard to cover the back wall of the cabinet
- Measure out a wooden shelf and a wooden sleeve for laptops and tablets.
- Have an electrician set up the circuit connected to the charging ports.
#2 Doggy station
This is an incredibly unique design that you probably would have never thought of.
Anyone who has dogs knows how loving and loyal they are, and we adore them. Show them they are considered part of the family by building them their very own doggy station located within your kitchen island.
You could even place their bed there so they can sleep, eat and drink in peace.
This doggy station will allow your dog to join the family meal in the kitchen without annoying you to give them food.
This particular station was built from marble but for a cheaper option consider using polished wood. You can DIY this idea for a fun family project. They made holes for a water bowl and food bowl respectively and installed a tap to easily fill the water bowl, another clever idea would be to install a food dispenser above the food bowl.
By placing the station at the end, your dog won’t be in the way of your cooking.
#3 cooler fridge
If you host friends over a lot or live in a bachelor pad, you most definitely have a small cooler fridge for beers and sodas.
Save space in your kitchen with this hack!
Use the space on the side of your island that usually becomes wasted space as a place to install a cooler fridge. Choose a glass door with a shiny frame to put your drinks on display and include them in the design while the frame complements the glossy countertop of the island.
#4 Island seating area
This is new and trending!
Make the most of your kitchen island and open floor plan with this dual-purpose kitchen island with an adjoining dining table.
This L-shaped island is savvy because it provides you with two extra counters to work on parallel to your original L-shaped kitchen counters, and it gives you room for an extra sink.
Furthermore, on the one side of the island, you can have stools for quick meals and on the other side, you can install a bench with pillows, and add a dining room table with chairs surrounding it which is ideal for large families who enjoy eating together.
This modern rustic idea is dynamic and will add so much character to your open kitchen and dining area.
With this idea, you can have casual weekday meals in the kitchen and save your fancy dining room table for guests and special occasions.
#5 service storage
An Island on wheels that lock is clever because you can move it if you need more space to move around or place it in another room when you are hosting as it can be used as an extra table to place the food on.
This island is perfect because it is both a table and has shelves beneath it for storing your service ware which saves you space in your cabinets or allows you to use wall space for other ideas in place of cabinets like shelves for electric appliances.
*** This is not a good idea if you have little kids or pets at home, they can easily reach the glass plates and break them hurting both them and your plates.
A safer alternative for this idea is to close off the island with cabinet doors that open to your service ware from either side.
#6 hanging pots and pans
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!
This design is magnificent, elegant, and super stylish!!!!
The kitchen is a beautiful blend of marble and matte with a touch of nature and neutral shades.
The kitchen island is a classic space saver kitchen hack for storage- the suspended pots and pans over the island are not just a perfect centerpiece for your overall design but it’s a clever way to save space. You can easily store away your pots and pans, hang them to dry, and access them easily by having them readily available on a hook.
DIY a metal suspension that can be hung from the ceiling and buy metal hooks to attach to the bars, hang your pots, pans, and strainers, and you are set!
In addition, this island has a sidebar for hanging towels and oven mitts which adds to the design and helps to make the cooking process much smoother and neater because it gives you quick access to a towel to dry your hands and prevents leaving them lying around and getting dirty in your workspace.
#7 Double Island
Twin islands!
Double islands are trending in 2022 and are ideal for an open kitchen that is spacious.
This look is clean, modern, and fresh.
Not every home needs this much workspace but if you are a family who enjoys cooking meals together this could be a good idea as it allows many people to cook together without crowding each other. This idea is savvy in that it gives you loads more storage space and room for additional ovens and dishwashers.
You can have a separate workspace for milk and meat.
You can also decide to use one Island for cooking prep and the other for eating and working on your laptop.
This idea is savvy in that it is versatile and gives you many options.
#8 Ikea metallic stand-alone kitchen island
If you are looking for something extra but not overboard or crazy expensive, then something like this stand-alone kitchen island from IKEA could be just what you are looking for.
This island has character and it is multifunctional so despite being small it looks stylish and offers you storage options.
Use the wooden counter to cut vegetables and eat your breakfast. The island has shelves at the bottom to store your spice and the upper section has a shelf to store some larger bowls and plates, and below it, you can hang your pots, pans, and strainers as well as cooking utensils.
This idea, is unique and unexpected, which is what 2022 is all about.
#9 wine cellar
This classic and sophisticated kitchen has an island with a wine cellar!!!
There are many ways to incorporate a wine cellar into your kitchen island, go to Pinterest for more awesome ideas.
If you love wine, you probably drink top-of-the-range brands from the best wineries. Most people love wine so much that it becomes a collectible and they keep a wine suitable for every occasion tucked away in their home wine cellar.
Wine cellars are considered to be somewhat of a luxury but it doesn’t have to be an entire room it can be as simple as installing a few built-in shelves and bottle holders within your kitchen island. This not only makes the wine accessible at every meal but putting them on display adds to the overall design of your kitchen. consider installing shelf lights to illuminate the cellar for everyone to see your wine collection.
If you don’t want to spend a lot of money you can do it as a DIY project if you have the correct machinery or buy pre-cut and measured wood. “Wood can affect the wine cellar’s look, the longevity of the wine rack, and even the taste of the wine. Wood is most often used to construct wine racks because it can withstand a wine cellar’s cool temperatures and humidity. You will also notice that many wine cellars feature wood flooring for this same reason” to learn more about the types of wood you can use go to Vinotemp
A wine cellar is a good addition especially if you are renovating to sell your home, this is because cellars are unique and many homes don’t have them so it automatically rises the value of your home.
#10 Hole in one cutting board hack
The kitchen island is the ideal place to cut and prepare your fruit and vegetables. Most have a wood cutting board covering a section of the counter but this one has multiple hacks and tricks in one to make the cooking process simpler and smoother.
For starters, there is a sink for you to wash and rinse your produce, and then having a drawer that pulls out into a built-in cutting board with a hole over the bin allows you to prepare the vegetables without going back and forth between the sink, board, and garbage.
Simple as wash> cut> throw peels>cook
We recommend having a towel rack so that you can easily wipe down your board before hiding it away by pushing the drawer back in.
This trick is ingenious and will save you a lot of time! it also looks cool and will make your friends jealous.
#11 Ice bucket slot
If you host a lot or have many parties this trick and hack will come in handy.
This idea speaks for itself really- it’s an open chill box for drinks…
To make this idea better incorporate our previous ideas of a wine/champagne cellar within your island, install a mini bar fridge on the side end of the island directly below the ice slot and you can even have an ice maker on one of the sides close to the ice slot in the counter.
This idea is incredibly unique and could make you the next trend setter.
Just picture it – beer and wine (not red) chilling on the ice, and your friends hanging out drinking and talking while they charge their phones in the charging port cabinet all in close proximity to each other.
#12 kitchen utensils spring drawer
How often do you go on a scavenger hunt for your baking and cooking utensils, that constantly get placed in different drawers or storage containers each time you use them? If you are thinking, VERY OFTEN, this hack is for you!
The kitchen island is the perfect surface for prep work and baking so here is an idea that will change everything and make things so simple in the kitchen.
Install a spring drawer that’s dedicated to hosting your kitchen utensils for any manual work in the cooking or baking process. Divide the space into sections so that you have shelves for mixing bowls, scales, and measuring cups and on top add a shelf with holes big enough to hold buckets to store your whisk, spatula, spoon, and all your other utensils.
This hack will save you so much time because it’s at hands access and super organized!
We hope you find these ideas, tricks, and hacks useful! check out more of our articles for other design ideas!
FAQ:
How do I make my kitchen island stand out?
Make your kitchen island stand out with tricks and hacks that are new and trending, that your friends don’t have in their own homes. Include ideas that are unique to your home: ice bucket cared into the counter, charging port cabinet, cooler fridge built into the cabinet, doggy stations, and more, read our article to find out what other ideas we have in store for you to make your kitchen island stand out.
