25 Winning Kitchen Island Design Ideas

Surround your island with salvaged items, like brick. You can get the same type of look as this kitchen, by Atlanta designer Jenn Ryan, by scouring building supply depots for thin non-structural bricks. For this inspiration room, Ryan used brick veneer tiles that were cut in quarter-inch slices from century-old bricks in Chicago.

For a quick update to an existing basic wood island from Ikea, DIY blogger Dena Stormer simply painted the base and legs of her island white to match the rest of her kitchen. Then she added a vintage metal file cabinet for her recipes to the shelf below, along with retro kitchen accessories. 

Remember that kitchen islands don’t have to be a traditional, rectangular shape. Designer Donna Mathis of Haven Design Works fashioned an unsually shaped island here out of necessity to make room for a breakfast area, and the result is striking. This can also be a great way to save money by using irregular countertop remnants. 

Skip the demolition phase and keep the base of your current kitchen island to save money. Georgia designer Beth Johnson created a much larger island by using the base of the homeowner’s original island to support a larger countertop. She painted it and added molding to look like wainscotting. She replaced the dated laminate with HanStone quartz, and installed legs to support the counter’s extended width and length.