This Old House Reviews Team

An island can tie a kitchen together and provide countertop space for utensils, dishes, and decorations. Some even have cabinets for additional storage or a fold-up tabletop for added seating. Whether you're looking for a kitchen island with ample storage space or one with a basic, low-profile design, the This Old House Reviews Team can help. We researched the best kitchen islands on Amazon to help you select a model that’s right for you. Here are our top recommendations.

Whether you’re looking for a kitchen island with ample storage space or want an island with a more basic design, the This Old House Reviews team researched the best kitchen islands on Amazon to help you select a model that’s right for you. Here are our top recommendations.

 

Buyer’s Guide

Before purchasing a kitchen island, it’s important to understand its countertop space, mobility, storage space, and more to make an informed selection. Read our buyer’s guide below to learn about these factors.

• Countertop Space: Countertop space refers to the dimensions of a kitchen island’s tabletop. While a large countertop can store more items or give you more room to prepare food, it comes at a higher price point and takes up a lot of kitchen space.

• Mobility: Some islands have attached wheels, allowing you to position the cart anywhere within your kitchen. Finding a model with wheels is important if you plan on changing the configuration of your kitchen frequently. However, these wheels may decrease the island’s stability.

• Storage Space: Most kitchen islands come with built-in storage space. These compartments may include shelves, cabinets, drawers, and racks.

 

 

Tips for Saving Space in Your Kitchen

An island helps you organize your kitchen appliances and accessories, which saves you cabinet, drawer, and countertop space. Here are some additional steps you can take to organize and save space in your kitchen.

• Use hooks: Hooks allow you to hang items in cabinets or on walls. They’re useful for containers, coffee mugs, and even pots and pans.

• Use the top of your fridge: If you have a small kitchen with limited cabinet space, a clever solution is to store items on top of your fridge. This not only frees up cabinet space, but it also stores wide items that may be too big for cabinets, such as blenders and stand mixers. 

• Store items out in the open: There’s no rule that says you can’t use your counter for storage. While having too much clutter on your countertop may make it unusable for preparation work, storing a few containers is perfectly fine. 

• Consider pegboards: While pegboards are usually used to hang tools in a garage, they can also store items in a kitchen. Not only will a pegboard act as a space saver, but it will also make it easy to find and put away all of your items.

• Use smaller appliances: Consider ditching or replacing large appliances that sit in your cabinets or on your countertops and don’t get much use. 

• Organize your snacks: Boxes and bags of snack items can take up useful space in your cabinets and be messy to look at. Instead, consider purchasing storage containers and emptying the snacks into them. These containers often have square or rectangular shapes to allow for stacking and airtight lids to keep your snacks fresh.

 

 

FAQs

• Is my kitchen too small for an island?

It depends on the size of the kitchen island. While some kitchen islands are large, stationary centerpieces, many models have compact designs with wheels.

• How much overhang should a kitchen island have?

A kitchen island’s overhang refers to how far over the frame its countertop extends. While there isn’t a specific length required for an overhang, there should be enough for ample legroom if you plan on using your island as a bar.

• How much is a kitchen island?

Most kitchen islands on Amazon are between $100 and $300.

 

 

The This Old House Reviews Team provides overviews of select products that are top-selling on Amazon and/or popular in consumer searches. Our team evaluates the products based on industry research, consumer reviews, pricing data, hands-on testing in select cases, and other objective criteria unique to a given product line. Unless otherwise noted, these product reviews are intended to help inform buying decisions for DIY or other non-pro users only. Editor’s picks are made by members of the This Old House Reviews Team.