Is Kitchen Island Or Breakfast Bar Best for Your Kitchen Design?

Breakfast bars and kitchen island benches look similar as they share the same basic design but have two differences. The overhang of the countertop is the main difference. Unlike the island that ends flush with the cabinet base, the breakfast bar would extend between 7 and 16 inches off the base. The added bench space creates a cosy place to slide a stool up and sit. The other difference is a breakfast bar may not be freestanding like an island.

Kitchen islands can be made in various shapes and sizes; you can opt for a built-in island or buy an island to use in place of a built-in. Typically, kitchen islands have a base with cabinets. The base cabinets usually match the surrounding cabinets or fit into the kitchen design for built-in islands. On top of the base, there is a workable kitchen benchtop space. This bench space will end flush with the cabinet base or extend to a minimal overhang for visual appeal. A built-in island features a cutting board, a stovetop, power outlets, custom storage designs, a wine fridge, a wet bar, a garbage drawer, and more.

You can even buy a ready-made kitchen island with a base made of cabinets, but it comes in standard sizes. Customisation is impossible with ready-made islands, but they are a fantastic solution, especially when built-in is not an alternative.

A kitchen island, built-in or ready-made, provides the utmost convenience and mobility around your kitchen when placed correctly and in the correct size. Kitchen islands are placed in areas where you can easily access many necessary points, including a fridge, stove, and sink while extending your working space when preparing meals. And you can store some of your commonly used kitchen appliances on the island for convenient access.

 You can integrate a breakfast bar within a kitchen island unit or as part of a peninsula. Doubling up a kitchen island with a breakfast bar is a sought-after option that creates a welcome social space in the kitchen. And peninsulas make for convenient breakfast bars in smaller kitchens.

What is a dead corner? A dead corner is a space in the corner of two perpendicular lines of cabinetry which is inaccessible and thus reduces the storage capacity of the kitchen. Although there are a number of ways that one can circumvent this problem through innovative storage options, the volume of storage that can be held with these contraptions can still be lacking in comparison to a front facing drawer system of the same size. Of course, if you employ a corner drawer system then this can also prove to be a superior solution, but it can be an option that takes a huge blow out of your renovation budget. Then of course, you can simply use a shelf – but then you’ll have to deal with getting on your knees each time you want to pull something out of the back of the cabinet.

Altogether, it means that minimising the number of corners you have in the room can be useful and having only one corner cabinet in the room is quite a solid deal when you choose the L-shaped kitchen.



Your kitchen design should have sufficient space to accommodate a kitchen island. On the other hand, you can cleverly fit a breakfast bar in a small kitchen where at least two people can dine together. If space is not a constraint, you can even go for a combination of a kitchen island and a breakfast bar, which will double up the functionality.