I'm one of those with very strong feelings against it (as many of you know all too well)!

If you're doing this for socializing, keep this in mind...

The majority of people spend:

• 70% of their time prepping

• 20% Cleaning up

• 10% Cooking

What do you plan to do at your island? An island presents a large expanse of wonderful workspace and serving space...if you break it up w/a cooktop or large sink, you pretty much negate the positives.

If you insist on a cooktop in your island, then...

1. Maintain an adequate safety zone on both sides and the back...you don't want to be splattering anyone with grease/oil or exposing them to hot steam or smoke...this applies not just to anyone sitting at the island but anyone standing near or walking past as well.

2. So, what's an adequate safety margin?

• At the very minimum, 18" on both sides and behind the back of the cooktop...if there's no seating.

• If there's seating, 24" is the minimum...more is much better. That's 24" from the back of the cooktop, btw.

3. How do you plan to vent?

• A downdraft?

  • A downdraft is not very effective for much more than short pots/pans on the back burner.

  • Anything on a middle or front burner or any tall pots/pans anywhere will pretty much just send their smoke, grease/oil, steam, heat, odors, etc. into your kitchen and the adjoining rooms...and the odors will probably linger for hours (just as if you had no vent).

• If you get an island hood that hangs from the ceiling....you'll have much more effective venting; assuming, of course, that you size it appropriately both in dimensions and cfms

  • But, you will have a vent hanging down in the middle of your kitchen.

  • If it's a small kitchen, you will have a looming presence that may overwhelm the kitchen.

  • If it's a large kitchen, it may not overwhelm, but it will block your view (if you don't have a view, then this isn't an issue).

  • However, if anyone in your family, or a visitor, is tall, they will have to duck down to talk to anyone on the other side of the island b/c the vent will be in the way (much the same as when people used to hang cabinets over peninsulas)

• No venting at all? Be prepared for the grease, smoke, steam, heat, odors, etc. to drift through your house. The grease will settle on cabinets that will then collect dust...making a gunky mess (I speak from experience, my parents have no vent!)

• Like I mentioned before, unless you have a very, very large island, you will no longer have a large expanse of workspace for projects (baking, cooking, crafts, homework, work, etc.)

• Be sure you have adequate landing space and workspace around it and do not plan for that space to be landing space for other appliances/zones as you need to keep it clear for emergencies (boil overs, fire, etc.). If you have an adequate safety margin plus at least 24" on one side of the cooktop, you'll be OK with landing space.

• Keep in mind that you should have plenty of workspace around your cooktop. I had only 24" on each...

I really can't add anything that buehl hasn't already covered. I too had visions of an island cooktop with family/friends hungrily and happily gathering around. However, after many many many layouts I came to the conclusion that it typically does not offer the most functional plan. Venting is an issue; downdrafts are an option but do not give the best function. I LOVE the idea of a working island with glorious uninterupted prep space. I don't know your family demographics but an expanse of working space on an island can serve a variety of purposes.

I really like mine, but in my new house, I will not have one b/c I wanted the pro range and I didn't think downdraft was adequate. Plus, I do like that I will have a place for an accent in my backsplash.

I will have a prep sink on island. I hope to use that a lot while socializing!

What Buehl said.

Have it in my house, and we are in the process of redoing our kitchen, and it is being moved. Buehl hit the nail on the head, better off not having it on the island.

I vote along the lines of faleash. It depends on your cooking style and your own preferences. My mother in law and friend are both avid cooks, both have cooktops in their island and both wouldn't have it any other way. Also, they both frequently entertain and I have NEVER notices smells in other parts of the house, other than pleasant aromas DURING cooking, but definitely not lingering smells.

So, following that advice, I am opting to have a cooktop in my island. But if you do make a lot of greasy food at high temps, downdraft might not be the way to go. I personally don't cook with a ton of oil, and I don't often use very high temps (might not win any awards for my cooking, but every one seems happy enough!)

Just my two cents. Good luck!

We have an island cooktop and until I started delving into the world of kitchen remodeling, I hadn't given it much thought and was just fine with its location. I am considering moving it to the perimeter for several reasons. Here are two.

First off, I would love an unbroken expanse of island counter top. I have other prep space but considering the island's location, it's really the ideal spot for prep work for me.

Venting is an issue, as others have mentioned. We currently have a 7" telescoping vent, which works so-so but I have to add that cooking grease has not been an issue, even on the pendent lights 36" above and about 5" to the side of the cooktop. We've been in this house for 15 years and cooking grease or dirt buildup on my walls, ceiling or elsewhere has not been an issue at all. That said, if we stay with an island cooktop, I intend to improve the venting with either a 14" telescoping downdraft or an island hood (much costlier since it would involve retrofitting venting).

I can not move the cooktop to the perimeter without giving up my wall oven set-up and going with a range, plus there's a few other hiccups in the layout that I need to work out. I still haven't made up my mind. I'm not strongly opposed to it staying where it is.

As for the size an island should be to accommodate a cooktop, with all due respect to buell's advice and knowledge, Buell is more generous than NKBA's recommended minimums (stress on the minimums). They recommend no less than 9" on the backside, 12" on one side and 15" on the other of a cooktop. I have 16" on either side and 13" on the back. I can't expand the widths but I can add to the backside by 4". I showed my plan to a local KD and she had no concerns about my island's size for a cooktop. She said it was more than adequate.

I do have to add that I would love to have 24" on either side as Buell recommends. I think I would not have any qualms leaving the cooktop where it is if I could only stretch my island just a bit. Anyone know where I can find a kitchen stretching tool? ;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: NKBA guidelines for cook surface landing areas

buehl is completely right of course on all points and they're definitely not for everyone. But for my needs, I was able to address the thoughtfully brought up issues and totally love having my range in my island. It just fits my style. I tend to spend a lot of time at the range final cooking, putting out little appetizers, warming up sauces, doing fun food/plate designs... As mentioned, good venting is absolutely key and bear in mind that island hoods can easily cost up to $1,000 more than regular wall hoods.

We were really unable to move things around in our redo. Our cooktop is in the island.

I echo ebse and chefkev's comments: We have a smaller island with a 36" gas cooktop, and I love the location. I do my prep on the end of the island and enjoy facing our guests/family while cooking and prepping. We don't fry foods. Our house doesn't stink. Overall, I'm really content with the way it works. Maybe if we build a house in the future, I'll have an opportunity to try it the other way, but this works fine for me.

As I've said in other posts:

We've had our slide in range on our peninsula without any venting (except for window) for 21 years. Have loved the location so much that we are keeping it there in the renovation.

We have had NO ISSUES with grease, smoke or odors even without a vent. You can come and check my ceilings and the underside of my cabinets and you'll see they are clean even after 21 years.

Buell, maybe your parents under cabinets get icky because their stove is against the wall with no vent. In our case, being on the peninsula, any grease ends up on the stove and doesn't travel to the underside of cabs because there are no cabinets over the peninsula. Just a thought.

Again, our under cabs and ceilings are not icky . . . and I like to keep a clean kitchen . . . I wouldn't lie to you.

I agree that a cooktop on an island poses safety issues for people with certain cooking styles. My cooking style is a lot of saute and stir-fry, so chances of splattering are very high; plus there is lots of smoke. For this reason, an island with cooktop would not be suitable for someone like me.

I have another grouse about cooktop on the island: if you share the island as a prep space, it can get difficult to clean. It basically breaks up the space and my experience is that a continuous surface is easier to keep clean.

I, too, fantasized about the island holding a cooktop when I started out dreaming my kitchen but eventually realized that it was impractical for my lifestyle.

Yes, the social aspect is very valid too; one has to evaluate need for facing people Vs safety and ease of cleaning, not to mention cost of more expensive hood etc.

We put the cooktop in the island in our new house...I love it! The vent hood is glass and stainless and even though I am not a fan of SS, it adds a nice pop to a traditional kitchen. The glass keeps it light and unobtrusive. DH likes to clean, so that is his baby. The ceilings are high and we transitioned the soffit down to the actual vent chase with a large crown moulding. It looks great. The cooktop is induction, so it can function as normal countertop space when not in use for cooking. It makes for a wonderful, social space, as well as an efficient layout for cooking. When I am doing things on my own, I face out toward the room and the view, not the wall. The rangehood is by Kobe, because for the price you cannot find a higher quality, quieter range hood. It is literally whisper quiet, and the pro baffles look so much better than mesh. To each his/her own, but this works for me, and I researched every decision meticulously.

I think an island cooktop or range can work, but the ones I see around here tend not to. I've had two -- hated one and worked okay with the second. I had planned on leaving the cooktop in the island when we redid our kitchen, but some of our tinkering led to moving the cooktop to the perimeter wall and I love the change. In my kitchen, it makes for much better work spaces and flow, plus it gives me an open island for prep, serving, projects -- whatever, and better lighting over the cooktop. The ventilation is better, but that's like comparing strawberries to watermelons.

What didn't work for us was cooktops without enough room to work or even set something down on one side and/or the back, having the sink right across a 36" aisle so 2 people couldn't work at the same time without bumping and the cabinet usage below was terrible. In both cases mine were site built custom cabinets housing large downdrafts that were not installed by folks who thought about wanting to use the cabinets when they were done. Even if done efficiently, you lose a good amount of cabinet storage space where I really need it.

Haven't moved in to use mine yet, but my stove is in the island because I insisted on having a window. So that was the compromise. It was either the sink or stove and I prefer having the stove in the island. I can't imagine having to keep my sink so prestine at all times because it's sitting in the middle of the room. LOL

My only concern with the stove in the island was to ensure I had ample room on both sides and in front, in case of spills or splatters. The stove is a JennAir with built in down draft. I'm not a very busy cook so didn't have a lot of concerns. I've only used 2 burners on my current stove in the last 21 years. 99% of that was one front burner. The second photo is to show the amount of counter space in front of the stove also.

{{gwi:2107438}}

I considered an island cooktop long before I came to GW, but I decided against it for a reason I haven't seen discussed much here yet: raised gas burners and tall pots.

I have at least one really large party every year (Mardi Gras), where I do a massive amount of cooking. I have other large events, but that one is the largest, usually with over 100 people. I have a five-burner setup, and when I'm preparing for these gatherings, all five have very large pots on them, including a wide 9-qt dutch oven, two 12-qt stockpots, a 16-qt stockpot, and a huge 30-qt stock pot. With the cooktop so crowded, I am always worried about one of my pots toppling over. With raised gas burners on an island cooktop, and with all those people in my house, I don't think I would be able to enjoy my party worried about a huge pot of gumbo or jambalaya turning over onto someone.

My kitchen is not large, but it is a decent size (14'9"x26'), and I couldn't figure out a configuration where an island cooktop wouldn't make me worried about safety issues. Perhaps if I cooked with induction or even electric I wouldn't worry, but with gas burners, I would be a nervous wreck. I also think the kitchen would be unbearably hot with all five burners going for most of the day before the party, unless I had a really strong island vent hood. Downdraft wouldn't cut it with all my tall pots.

I also do a lot of cooking that produces a ton of steam. For example, when we do low country boils, I have those huge pots going and they have to be drained into the sink. I would hate to have to carry those pots far, but even worse, I would hate to have my kitchen filled with all that steam. We live in Florida, and we have enough heat and humidity without adding to it that much ourselves! Having the whole island to spread out all the prepared food is wonderful for these events, because that kind of food takes up a lot of room.

All that said, I have found the social aspect of the kitchen to be fabulous with my current setup. The way I cook, most of my cooking is done before guests arrive, so I am just occasionally turning to the stove for a quick stir. By having the island free for prep and for layout out munchies as they are ready, my guests and I enjoy lots of worry-free interaction around my island.

I have had several gatherings where guests made their own food around the island. One was a sushi-making party, and a few have been pizza-making parties. I LOVE having almost the entire island available for laying out ingredients and for people to stand around the edges working. The only thing interrupting my island surface is a prep sink, but we use it frequently during both sushi and pizza events, so losing that island space was worthwhile.

So the decision to have or not to have an island cooktop does depend a lot on cooking styles and kitchen configuration. Still, because I like to entertain, and because I like to try a wide range of cooking methods, I...

What I would do, as I suspect, one of the purposes of the cooktop in the island, is so you can entertain your guests with your "Cullinary Expertise". Put an induction cooktop there---You can really entertain them with that ---Ie boiling water in seconds with paper towels under pot, You can do some great sauteying (spelling), etc etc.
That way your guest are not likely to get burned etc etc. Put your regular gas stove in a more conventional place.
That way you have the best of both worlds. You can be a little creative on your venting, put vent grates both behind and in front of the cooktop and use an external powered blower with a variable speed control. Everthing stays nice and clean, You have a unique blower design--that will probably cost you less than one of those "Fancy Pop Up Things"
Your guest havta have an open flame to be entertained?
Add a fire-pit outside or a gas fireplace as I did, mounted up high so plainly visible.
Anyway Good luck!!!

Gary

We are remodeling our kitchen (finally ordered the cabinets yesterday). I'm going with the cooktop on the peninsula with no venting. The only concern I would have is for frying and I seldom do and when I do, I use my deep fryer. Cooktop will be located within a couple of feet of garden window that is 65X34, side window that is 48X48 and a glass pane door. One more window that faces the kitchen that is about 10 feet away. I considered a downdraft cooktop for about 10 minutes. It's bad enough that I have to move my gas line!
If only 10% of time is spent cooking, why spend it facing a wall, when I could be facing the family room, TV and nook.

I had my range in an island for about 25 yrs, re-did the kit at that point and replaced the island range, 5 more years. Raised children, entertained and never had an accident. Our telescope vent was at least 12 inches and worked well enough.
Then we moved, there was no way to duplicate and I miss it terribly. It has been a yr and I still do not like cooking with my back to everything else.

I know it's been 2 years, but I wanted to add a counterpoint to Buell's well thought out arguments.

Even if only 10-20% of cooking time is spent at the stove and 70-80% is spent prepping, at least for my wife and me, we always seem to be finishing up the cooking at the stove. We're almost always done prepping by the time guests arrive. So we're leaning toward having the cooktop/rangetop on the island.

One more vote for the island cooktop: most cooktops give you at most 12" x 12" for each burner. I have VERY few pots that fit in that area, so we can never actually fit 5 pots on our 5-burner cooktop. Most pots on the back burner hit the back wall and push the front pot forward and nearly off the front burner. On an island, you can use both front and back burners because you can have both pots evenly overhanging front and back. Of course, you still have to deal with the side to side 12" limitation. LOL

There was also an interesting post by JudyDel with a report of a successful island stove with NO exhaust hood! From a physics point of view, oil can only spatter so high before it falls back down, so maybe 8' (and certainly 10') is enough to avoid oil spatter. Smoke is another matter. Interesting. Don't know if I'm gutsy enough to try it, but... interesting.

The truth of the matter is that the island stove vs. work surface vs. sink debate is endless because the island is the best place for ALL THREE functions.