A kitchen peninsula is a furniture module that is an extension of a headset or is located close to one of the walls of the kitchen. Unlike the island, which has access from all directions, the peninsula is usually limited to access from one end of the structure. Such modules are convenient in that they provide kitchen owners with the opportunity to increase the number of storage systems, work surfaces and spaces for integrating household appliances, but at the same time take up less space than islands located in the center of the kitchen..
For small kitchens, the peninsula may become the only opportunity to organize not only additional furniture, but also a place for breakfast, and even full, long meals. In typical apartments, there is often no possibility of organizing a separate room for a dining room, and within a modest kitchen, there is also no place for a dining area, in which case the counter of the kitchen peninsula becomes a sector for meals for a small family. We offer you the opportunity to consider on specific examples of design projects of kitchen facilities, in what situations, at what location, modification and design, the installation of the peninsula can be justified from a functional, aesthetic and ergonomic point of view..
Peninsula for organizing a place for meals
Most often, the peninsula in small kitchen spaces is used to extend storage systems and organize a place where two or three people can have a snack if the house has a full dining area or enjoy a long meal if there is no possibility of organizing a dining segment in an apartment or household.
For very small kitchen areas, which, among other things, are burdened with a balcony door, the peninsula becomes a multifunctional furniture system. Its surfaces can be used as a cutting table, and later as a dining table, the inner part can be used for small storage systems.
Another example of a small kitchen that managed to organize the use of the countertop of the peninsula both as a cutting surface and as a place for short meals, such as breakfast.
Sometimes the peninsula (which is essentially a breakfast bar) is placed on the outside of its base. Where is the empty legroom in the center of the kitchen unit. This happens if the bottom from the walls of the peninsula acts as a support, for example, a soft living area or a screen for zoning space.
Even in fairly spacious kitchens, you can find the layout of a kitchen set with a peninsula. If elderly people and small children do not live in the house or apartment, then the dining area located behind the counter of the peninsula and equipped with bar stools will not be a problem. Many homeowners, and especially those who are often on a diet, like this approach to a place for eating – you won’t sit in such a place for a long time, which means you won’t eat much.
Continuing the countertop of the peninsula (if the kitchen area allows it) and supporting it with only one counter, you can get a full dining area for 4-5 people. Before you is a universal version of a similar design in a snow-white color with a marble top. Brightness not only to the dining group, but to the entire interior was added by the colors of the soft seats of bar stools.
White kitchen furniture will never go out of style. Any stylistic design of kitchen furniture looks harmonious, fresh and light in a snow-white design. And the countertops of the work surfaces and the racks of the peninsula, made of light wood, will help not only to diversify the color scheme of the kitchen space, but also to bring a little natural warmth into it..
The contrasting design of the kitchen set with the peninsula has become a feature of the interior. The combination of the wenge-colored fronts of the kitchen cabinets and the base of the peninsula and the snow-white countertops with wooden elements produces a dynamic and striking effect..
Another example of a contrasting kitchen interior, but this time with a dark execution of the lower tier of kitchen cabinets and the base of the peninsula and a light version of the upper storage systems.
And in this kitchen space, the dark countertops have become a contrast to the white color of the kitchen set and the interior decoration. Decor in black and gray tones «supported» play of contrasts and created a harmonious image of modern kitchen.
Peninsula for integrating home appliances and sinks
Placing a sink or a hob in the working surface of the peninsula allows you to ergonomically fulfill the working triangle rule. If you installed a sink in the peninsula, then placing the stove and refrigerator on opposite sides of the kitchen unit will ensure a safe and convenient location of the tops of the imaginary triangle, which will not only follow the rules of ergonomics, but also reduce the time and effort spent by the hostess on the implementation of kitchen work processes.
If the peninsula is wide enough, then placing the sink closer to the inside of the headset will not interfere with the location of households for a short meal on the outside of the countertop. The combination of bright colors with white is always relevant, and especially for kitchens. The yellow color is filled with positive, summer mood and holiday, this is the atmosphere that will reign in the kitchen.
If your household or apartment has a dining area, then you can safely refuse to place the dining group behind the peninsula counter and use all the free space of the outer part of the module base for storage systems, and integrate a sink or hob into the work surface.
In order to place a gas stove on the surface of the kitchen peninsula, you will have to transfer communications, in particular gas pipes and an air outlet. This will be necessary after the permission of the relevant services. As a rule, in private households, such manipulations do not cause problems, but in apartment buildings, permission to transfer gas communications is not always possible. It all depends on the features of the layout and the passage of engineering systems in your apartment building.
If the gas stove, refrigerator and sink are at a distance of more than 80 cm from each other, then from the point of view of ergonomics and safety rules, this is a convenient and practical layout. If the distance between the vertices of the working triangle exceeds 1.5 m, then the hostess will have to «wind up» kilometers during the day spent in the kitchen to prepare a full dinner for the whole family and clean up after it.
If you are integrating a hob or gas stove into the space of the peninsula, then the logical location of the hood will be to fix this household appliance to the ceiling above your work surface. Powerful hoods with a built-in lighting system are very convenient. As a rule, an ordinary chandelier or ceiling light is not enough to fully illuminate the kitchen, and work surfaces need more bright light..
The multifunctional peninsula in the original kitchen space accommodated not only storage systems in its base and a stove within the work surfaces, but also an oven located at the end of the structure. Of course, such an option for installing the oven is possible in rooms with a sufficient distance between the wall and the end of the peninsula (at least 60 cm, but 80 cm will be more ergonomic). In the design of the kitchen, where there are so many stainless steel surfaces, the yellow color of the kitchen facades has become a personal sunny mood of the interior..
Integration of a gas stove and a sink into the working surface of the peninsula is not a frequent constructive and design move. The fact is that insufficient distance between such important functional areas as a sink and a stove can provoke dangerous situations. Such a placement of water and fire is advisable only in sufficiently wide peninsulas and in the absence of the opportunity to do otherwise..
Another example of an unusual kitchen peninsula, which, in essence, is a console, one end of which rests on a furniture set, and the other on a dining table. The hob, integrated into the console peninsula, has a low glass «protection» in the form of a small bar and a powerful hood attached to the ceiling above it. There is enough space between the work surfaces of the kitchen space and the tops of the working triangle, but the layout is quite compact.
