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Built my kitchen island out of cardboard first and the tape measure said 42 inches but the real room said otherwise
I sketched a 42 inch island for six weeks before I finally cut cardboard. Took me two hours with a box cutter and some packing tape, and the thing looked ridiculous in the corner of the kitchen. But when I slid it next to the fridge, the gap to the stove was 9 inches, not the 14 I had on my drawing. I would have spent $300 on butcher block and cabinet grade plywood for a counter I could not walk around. Anybody else measure their mockup against the actual appliance swing before they commit?
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rose_murray6d ago
That 9 inch gap is the exact thing that bites people. When you measured the swing on your fridge door, did you check it with the door all the way open or just cracked? On our last place the fridge door needed 22 inches of clearance to pull the crisper drawer out, and the drawing never showed that. Also how tall did you make the cardboard top, counter height or a hair lower so you could tell if it felt right to stand at?
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elliot_harris256d ago
The all the way open thing is so real. Most drawings only show the fridge box size and nothing about door swing, and then you move in and realize you can't open the door past 45 degrees without hitting a wall or the island. We ended up going with a counter depth fridge partly for that reason. And to answer your question, I made the cardboard top exactly counter height, not lower. Because if you make it lower you trick yourself into thinking it feels fine when it really doesn't. You want the fake counter to match what you'll actually build so your body gives you honest feedback. Standing at a too low counter for 10 minutes is a whole different feeling than standing at one for an hour while you're cooking.
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