The island is a hot commodity in contemporary Chicago kitchen designs. Not only does a kitchen island increase surface work space and storage, it also creates the room for additional features that make a kitchen remodel more functional.

Ideas for enhancing the kitchen island end cap

Here are ideas for enhancing your kitchen island end cap. These enhancements can take a boring, flat end, making it more attractive – and you might find the suggestions give your kitchen that little something extra you were looking for.

An extra dine-in overhang

One of the benefits of a kitchen island is the ability to offer additional seating – or space for kids and guests to hang out. In a narrow kitchen design, this might not be possible. However, if your kitchen opens up from a U-shaped or galley kitchen into a larger space, you can expand the end of the kitchen island using extended countertop slab.

In this Chicago kitchen design, the rounded countertop allows room for three comfortable chairs to be placed around the end. That type of countertop overhang, without any legs to get in the way, is also a nice, accessible feature to consider.

Finally, a space to store the cookbooks

Bookshelves are definitely the way to go for those who love to cook and want to have their favorite cookbooks at the ready. Of course, these bookshelves can also serve as a display place for seasonal décor or those colorful items that add pizazz to a more neutral kitchen backdrop. You can see how the owners of this transitional/traditional kitchen benefited from both extra eat-in kitchen space as well as shelves on the end cap for books and curios.

Safely display your serving platters

It’s a shame to keep beautifully patterned serving platters tucked away in upper-cabinets, and yet the alternative puts them at risk for drops and breaks. We can design platter-specific shelving on the island end cap, based on the same idea as the bookshelf example, but with a simple guardrail put in place to keep platters safely and securely in place.

An illuminated, glass cabinet door display

There’s something really beautiful about the end of a cabinet, finished with glass paneled cabinet doors, allowing beautiful antiques, china or glass collectibles to be on display. Paired with the right interior cabinet lights, you’ll have an end cap feature that is as beautiful during the day as it is in the evening – and it also serves to create nighttime safety and ambience.

Wine and beverage storage

The end of your island might make the just-right spot for that wine and beverage cooler you’ve coveted for a while now. Definitely a must-have for gourmet kitchen designs, wine coolers are becoming increasingly popular because of their ability to keep wines at their preferred serving temperature, not to mention the space that is freed up by wine bottles and other bottled/canned drinks that would otherwise take over in the refrigerator.

Don’t let your island’s end become wasted potential if you don’t have to. Come by Kitchens & Baths Unlimited and we’ll be happy to discuss your ideas and suggest options you might not have thought about. We’re committed to creating Chicago kitchen designs that are as functional as they are beautiful.