OT- 2 Tier Kitchen Island

[everylastbreath]

We are doing some renovations (ourselves) & just went yesterday to order cabinets for a kitchen island and just found out that the 2 level island I want has to be built, my husband does all our renovations so he can built, but I need some kind of plan with measurements- has anyone built one? I need height and how far the second level should extend to fit seating under it, supports (granite top) etc. I can't find anything on line! Thanks anyone who can help!!

 

[janey99]

If your DH is qualified to build this, he should be able to spec it out himself. There are standard and custom cabintry heights, standard and custom eat-up counter heights, PLUS different stool heights, and different overhang allowances, some of them depending on the particular granite you choose, and on whether you choose brackets, leg supports or nothing as a support.

I wouldn't try to gather this info free off the internet in piecemeal fashion and then put it all together unless your DH could rigorously confirm its correctness by comparing to his own cabinet-building experience. It might be worth it to pay someone for that one item design.

Good luck!

Jane

 

[mlulrich]

Hi - we have a two-tier island that accomodates 7 stools around 3 sides - our measurements are

- the lower level counter is 36 1/2" high (same as the other counters in our kitchen)
- the upper level counter is 42 3/4" high
- the upper level counter has a depth of 15" which includes the beveled edges of the Corian

Please let me know if you need any other measurements - I can try to snap some pics if I can figure out how to upload them!
HTH - Michelle

 

[crjack]

A great site to check out is the kitchen forum on gardenweb (www.gardenweb.com). If you google it with 2 tier islands you will see posts as well as photos.

I suggest checking out the finished kitchen blog for photos and inspiration. I loved using it during our kitchen reno and got great ideas on colors, layout, etc.

Good luck.

 

[J'aime Paris]

We have a 2 tier island that is triangle-ish shaped. Two sides have drawer and cupboard space. The third-ish side (its irregular shaped), has room for 5 stools. The 2nd tier is not very big or spacious. It is only 6 inches deep. It contains more drawers and an electrical outlet. Which is actually quite handy--I put my griddle on the island when I make pancakes.
Hope that helps!

 

[semo233]

Just an idea - My peninsula is one level, not two. One side of the peninsula has regular base cabinets, stove, etc. When you walk around to the breakfast bar side, there are wall depth cabinets under the seating area. They add 1 foot to the counter depth, but add A LOT of storage area. The granite counter top extends 1 foot past these cabinets for your knees to fit under while sitting. Adding these wall depth cabinets was my designer's idea!

 

[MineMail]

semo233's kitchen sounds like mine. Our house came with a two-tier peninsula-style countertop that separated the kitchen from the family room. We didn't like the setup - the top tier was narrow and anything tall placed on the upper level blocked the view from both sides. If a dish/glass got knocked off the upper tier, it shattered on the lower tier. I'm not tall, so I had to climb up onto the high bar stools and it was not comfortable to sit to talk to someone in the kitchen. If you sat on the kitchen side, you couldn't see over the upper tier to talk to someone in the family room or even look at a TV show while you did dishes.

We had the upper tier removed and a level granite countertop with an overhang installed. Fortunately, it didn't involve relocating any plumbing, but we had to move the disposal and dishwasher switches to the nearby wall. We kept the same base cabinets, so we have plenty of storage on the kitchen side of the counter. Target had the perfect counter-height stools on clearance. We love the setup and use it for breakfast, homework and sometimes dinner. We usually eat dinner in the dining room, but if we want to watch a special on TV, we'll eat dinner at the counter. That keeps my family room cleaner since they know not to bring food/drink in there - no need with the counter.

The upper tier was 18" higher than the lower tier and they framed it with 2"x4"s. The top tier counter was only about 18" wide, so it wasn't practical for anything bigger than a plate.