I have an island, but thereâÂÂs lots of attractive peninsulas here:

Here is a link that might be useful: Houzz peninsulas

Thanks nanny2a. I have spent hours on the Houzz site - there is a lot there but I was really hoping to see some from this forum.

My kitchen isn't big enough (12x28 including 12x14 breakfast nook) for an island.

I guess my real question is - does anyone have a peninsula they are happy with? If you are happy with it - do you have one because your kitchen won't handle an island, is it a preference for you, and is it funtional?

I have looked on sites all over the net. They rarely share the room deminsions or answer questions that are posted.

I am in the position of a forced kitchen redo but just lost. I am looking on the kitchen forum as well but this forum has always been my go to place in the past. A comfy zone.

You might do better posting this on the kitchen forum. They are really good at pointing out potential problems with floor plans there. I removed mine our first week here because it blocked traffic flow bringing in applicances. I now have a small island on wheels.

Our kitchen including the peninsula is about 15'x15', the dining area is a bit bigger. It is nothing fancy, but it suits us perfectly. An island wouldn't work for us either, it would have had to be very small to allow for walk clearance. I love our peninsula! It is 7' from wall to end, is 37" wide and 39 1/4" high. (We are tall and had all our cabinets made to this height.) We use the peninsula for big buffet meals with family, and our 5 grandsons love sitting here for breakfast and snacks. I sew, and it makes an ideal cutting and piecing table. Hope this helps! It's a bright, beautiful Fall day, so it was hard to get some pics, but I think you can get the idea.

I have a peninsula and love it! I have a medium size kitchen + breakfast table area. Without the peninsula, the kitchen would be an L-shape, and without enough counter space for food prep and to put stuff. Many of my neighbors with the same kitchen do not have a peninsula and I don't see how they cook (we _cook_). From our configuration (doors, walkway, etc), I did not think an island would work -- less space available and would be essentially in the same place as the peninsula. Might as well join the counter mainland with the island = peninsula. It is totally functional for me. I might even clear away some of the stuff and cut some fabric. Thanks, prairiemom, for the idea.

Our previous home had a peninsula and small island.
I really liked the peninsula. I had bar seating on the back side and it helped delineate the casual dining room from the kitchen.
I think the room was about 15 feet wide.

I agree with madeyna - post this on the kitchen forum - lots of folks over there will help with your plan, especially if you have a layout with dimensions you can share.

From personal experience, a peninsula is not always the answer. Our kitchen was a U-shape with a peninsula that at first glance was great - lots of storage and workspace! Then we tried to use the kitchen with more than one person. There was only one way in or out of the kitchen and if you opened the fridge that one way was blocked. Ultimately we disconnected the peninsula, rotated it 90-degrees and made it an island. There is much better flow through the kitchen now. But a lot depends on your particular layout.

Thanks all, this is very helpful!

Thanks, prairiemom for taking time to share. The prep space is what I want/need but also functional for flow. Of course, a large island with great storage and seating would be the dream for me but it ain't gonna' happen in my kitchen! Your picture of a real kitchen with a personal review of its functionality is just what I am looking for. Many thanks!

Andee and Karenseb, Thanks!! - Very helpful thoughts and just the feedback I need to hear. The prep space is ia a big deal to me.

I do think I have read every entry on the kitchen forum that has been posted over the past year but I am too "frozen" to post all the required specs for that forum at this time. I sound so lame!

My kitchen flood happened at a very busy time in my life and I was not prepared for gutting my kitchen and having to make all the associated decisions that go along with restoring it.
A kitchen designer gave me three plans that I loved while she sat in my space - then when I tried to pretend "live" and "work" in them - they didn't work so well and I NEED prep space.

madeyna, I do have a small island on wheels and that is helpful for me too.

jreuter - what size was your u-shaped kitchen?

I have posted here for "rescue" sporadically over the last seven years - and no matter how many new sites I have poured over for hours and hours - there is no place like "home".

My kitchen is 11'7 x 13. Definitely too small for an island. i think there is a tendency to squeeze islands into any available space. I need room to move and not bump into things. My goal was to have a long run of counter, giving me uninterrupted work room. I love the peninsula. It's wider than the counter and it separates the kitchen from the dining room.

Sixty! Thanks!

Your space is about the same as mine. Yes, a long counter run vs the penn is the decision.

I like the layout of your fridge/oven/cooktop wall. Has that worked well for you? It seems that if you have a dishwashing kitchen helper while cooking, their space is out of the way and defined, accross from the cook.

Thank you

I went with a peninsula instead of an island when we had our major kitchen reno and love mine. Our kitchen opens into our family room and the new peninsula divides the two rooms a bit more and provides seating on bar stools on the family room side. I designed it myself, making it an extra 12" deep in order to create more storage for cookbooks, small appliances I don't use every day and more dishes, etc. It works very well and is so darn handy. Here's a pic of it with the bar stools pulled away and the cab doors open:

On the kitchen side, I designed my ultimate prep center. It faces the family room so that I can chat with family or friends as I prep. I took these pics to show the different design aspects of it for my friends over on the Kitchen Forum as part of my "After Reno" photos. For some reason, I can't find the photo with the drawers closed, to show how it looks normally. Sorry. Microwave cookware is stored under MW drawer. To right of main drawer stack is a super susan. Next is my knife drawer with double trash pullout under it. Dishwasher is next to that, but out of view in this pic.
Lynn

This post was edited by lynninnewmexico on Fri, Nov 1, 13 at 18:58

Hi perky - I love my peninsula, it works very well in our kitchen. We also have a small island, but seating and baking prep happens on our peninsula. Let me know if you have any questions.

The other side of our peninsula:

sochi, I am in LOVE with your floors. And your kitchen, they are beautiful!

Here are pictures of our peninsula. Our kitchen is shaped strangely (just like the rest of the layout). When we redid the kitchen I didn't have another place to move the sink so we did not disturb the location of anything.
From inside the kitchen you can see it is at an angle and contains a sink and trash compactor:

From the seating area side:

The lighting is weird--- but from the seating side you can see it is just an elevated breakfast bar. It's not that useful, and I would probably not design something like this from scratch regardless of the limitations of the room.

Our new place has a peninsula and we think there is no room for an island - even thought the previous owners had a small butcher block in the center. Too many cats tripping us up in there. Here's the listing pic - it's too messy to show a today pic ;)

We haven't changed much yet, except we had a small shelf unit inserted into the back of the peninsula to use up the blind corner.

Our last place had an island and a small peninsula: I still ended up using the 3-4' run of counter between the sink and range for prep - although the island was perfect for rolling out and decorating cookies :) Still, I used to mentally renovate to change from a U-shaped kitchen with island to a G-shaped kitchen to keep little creatures and kids out of my workspace. In this new (to us) kitchen, I am already mentally renovating to replace peninsula with a long island... I do meal prep on the peninsula (where we keep cutlery, knives, etc), and am pretty happy so far with the layout.

This post was edited by abbycat9990 on Fri, Nov 1, 13 at 12:49

Pesky- Our layout works great. I have a drop zone for the oven. We call that side of the room the "2 pillars." I like symmetry sometimes.
I usually don't prep on the island. I do use it when I am using the food processor or toaster. I try to keep the counters clear, so they are in the lazy susan cabinet in the peninsula. It's also a great place for serving.

WOW! " so nice to be back home!

This is just what I needed. Thank you all. I feel like I am thawing out from my frozen state already. I may get past this unplanned kitchen redo after all! Thank you, thank you, Thank you! I have had my DH over my shoulder looking at all of your beautiful kitchens and clever ideas.

Lynn, So clever! You created some mammoth storage there. I donâÂÂt think I have ever seen a design like that. That is indeed the ultimate prep center. I LOVE it. May I ask the measurements of the peninsula from the wall to the end? I am assuming the depth is 36 inches. Instead of a built-in microwave I could make that space a cut out for a freestanding microwave , I think. Your kitchen is awesome.

Sochi, your kitchen is fabulous and the floors are to die for! Another smart design. I love how you saved the dead corner space with the wine fridge. I was thinking of a fridge drawer there. Adorable babies too! Thank you!

Kswl, your home is beautiful, thanks for opening it up to me. Is it the elevated design that makes you feel it is not useful? I sure looks âÂÂfunâ with the bar stools and color of the seats. Actually the entire room is fun. I do love how your cabinets go to the ceiling! I am probably going with white again much like your cabinets. I considered another color but my grandkids were having a real tough time with anything but white, they donâÂÂt like changes at grandmaâÂÂs house unless it is new toys.

Abbycat, thank you for sharing your beautiful kitchen and your thoughts. I must say I love that cabinet at the end of the range wall. Yummm. The cut out is so smart , a place for table linens. Cool.

Sixty -LOL, I can see the two pillars now, I like I like symmetry sometimes myself. Thanks for the follow-up.

Perky, thanks!
The peninsula is 90" long. The cabinet base is 38 or 39" deep total, which is the 12" deep family room facing cab back to back with the bank of base cabs facing the kitchen. The quartz countertop is 48" deep, which gives us a comfortable 10" overhang on the eating/ sitting side. BTW, I had the cabinet pulls mounted at the very top of the doors so that they wouldn't bump anyone's legs while sitting there.
Lynn

Lynn, thanks for the measurements - we were close on our guess for the length. DH and I were in the kitchen with the tape measure trying to measure our cabinets and guessing at your's based on the what you have in it. We got 87 inches but we really missed it on the depth. LOL - at least I am unfrozen. I may be ready to ask the kitchen forum for design help soon.

To all: Many thanks for needed the boost

Do you need seating at the peninsula when you have seating in the breakfast nook? We didn't, so we took out the pony wall and useless bar counter to make a one-level peninsula. I designed it to act as a furniture piece on the dining room side. The cabinets are 12" deep on the DR side. Those are cabinets on the ends--hadn't put the knobs on yet. It has a 28" sink base, DW, and 13" trash pull-out. It measures 39" X 98". That includes the counter overhang.

Lovely "before" photo, isn't it? The previous owner wasn't much into decorating.

Thank you, perky-- if you could only have seen the faux Tuscan vibe of the "before" kitchen!! Yes, it s the elevated breakfast bar that limits the usefulness of the peninsula from the seating side. I always think a single height counter is best. However, in our case a lower (and all one height) counter would be a visual encroachment into the traffic pattern. So even though I don't really like it I understand why it was done this way.

I love my little peninsula! My kitchen is small, 10x10, and the peninsula turns the U into a G. It's like a roomy cockpit. My kitchen reno kept the old boxes and the exact same footprint, but had everything painted and new counters, etc.

Many people complain that peninsulas are in/out barriers, but mine is not. Adjacent to the peninsula is a slider out to the backyard and this is not a much-traveled path, even when I'm barbecue-ing. Also there might be a little disdain for peninsulas as being dated, and with the proliferation of islands. I don't have room for an island, even without the peninsula. For a small kitchen I have lots of storage and counter space, and, for me, function is what it's all about.

Attached photos are early morning and unstaged:

We have a very small kitchen (approx. 11' x 11') and I love being only three steps away from everything I need.
Our peninsula is a fantastic prep area! I do a lot of baking/cooking.

It also serves as a buffet/smorgasbord area where I set up all of the prepared food for family gatherings. They dish out their meal and take their plate into the dining room to eat.

Laurie