Kitchen Eating Bar or Island Ideas (with Pictures) | eHow

An eating bar is a great place to converse with friends and family and have a quick meal or snack. If your bar is positioned near your kitchen sink, it makes clean up easy too. When planning space for your diners, be sure to allow 24 inches of elbow room for each person and four feet behind them for traffic flow. Use bar stools for seating. This allows you to build a counter four to six inches higher than your existing bar, providing safety from splatters if a cook top is built in the adjoining counter top. The raised counter also allows a convenient space for plating a meal.

Built-in Island

A built-in island is an attractive architectural addition to your kitchen. Whether you use the same counter top and base cabinets as the remaining kitchen cabinets, or a design material that coordinates with it such as stainless steel, tile top or granite top in a complementary color, your island adds to your decor like a new piece of furniture. Built-in islands should have four feet of clearance on all four sides unless only one person needs to be accommodated on the kitchen cabinet side of the island. A built-in island can accommodate storage on both sides and since it is stationary, you won't need to worry about jostling its contents. Be creative with your built-in island. Design it in a non-traditional shape for visual interest.

Floating Island

Get the best of both worlds with a floating island. Whether built on rolling casters or traditional base cabinets and table legs, a floating island can be kept stationary or, once you are finished using it, push it over against a wall or in a corner to open up your traffic area. Be aware that floating islands have their disadvantages. You won't be able to install plumbing in a free-moving unit and electrical hookup must be done by extension cord. Plan this type of island as a table top with no storage underneath or build it as a traditional cabinet base, but do not store lightweight items underneath that will shift when moving the island.