Granite Kitchen Islands

There are many reasons to buy a granite kitchen island, but the visual impact is certainly one of them. Couple that with a good immunity to hot pans, easy cleaning, and an almost perfect surface for rolling and kneading any kind of dough, and a kitchen island with a granite top can become hard to resist.

Decisions about kitchen islands

First decision, what do you need your kitchen island to do? A kitchen island can be as elaborate as space and money allow, but most people have both a limited budget, and limited space. So concentrate on what it needs to be good at. Storage for pots and pans? More drawers for tools? A bookshelf for cookbooks, or storage for “rainy day boredom” items for the kids? An extra towel rack, or paper towel dispenser? Knife block? Finally, an area you can hang all your favorite spoons and spatulas? Pretty much anything you can imagine is readily available. Dream as much as you want!

Using tape to discover your usable space

To get an idea of how much space you actually have for your island, get a roll of masking tape. Open all your bottom cabinet doors, the refrigerator, the oven door, or anything else that opens into the workspace. Next, use your tape to mark the outside edge of these things, so the space they use is marked clearly on the floor. Now use more tape, and connect all the little pieces of tape together. Congratulations! You have a visual picture of how much space is really available, and can begin to plan.

More measuring

Once you figure out how much floor space you have, next is planning for how much space you will need AROUND your island. You’ll need about three feet around it to walk, and if your kitchen island has doors, you have to make sure that those doors, and your existing doors, can both be open at the same time.
Another consideration, if you have one side for sitting on your island, is to allow for enough space to have folks in the chairs, instead of just how much space to store the chairs. Nobody wants their tummies pressed up against the counter.

Granite Kitchen island installations

Kitchen islands work best in large kitchens with an L, U, or G shape – but that may not be what you have. To make clearances work, you may have to have a granite kitchen island that is angled, or even L-shaped. If that happens, you need to know that “stone” tops of any sort can not be joined with any other method than “square joint”, which means the ends can’t have more than a slight angle between them. Also, the joints can’t be butted against each other; they have to have a small space between them, usually filled with silicone or flexible epoxy. This is because “stone” tops (this goes for quartz and marble tops, too) need a small space to expand and contract with temperature changes.

Care of Granite Top Kitchen Islands

Granite tops are strong and tough, but they’re very susceptible to acid damage – think orange and tomato juice, for example. Clean up any spills immediately, then go back and clean any residue with a warm wet cloth. They will also stain quickly with items like spilled grape juice or wine. Sealed or not, this is a “clean it now” countertop, if you want it to stay new-looking.
You’ll need to seal your countertop every two or three years; more often if its used for “ordinary” cooking that involves a lot of oils or greases. To check it, simply flick a few water drops onto the counter; it they don’t bead immediately, it’s time to seal it again.

With proper care and forethought, your granite top kitchen island can not only give years of cooking and visual pleasure, it will reward you with a great return on your investment when you decide to sell!

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