Kitchen islands help shorten distances
Article from the Shreveport Journal (Louisiana) November 5, 1968
The cook’s tour of the kitchen should be as brief as possible — and islands can help to shorten it.
The well-arranged kitchen island, in fact, may almost eliminate steps in the refrigerator-sink-range work triangle. The actual cooking can be done at the island if the range is installed on it.
With a sink and adjacent workspace, the island can serve as a food preparation center. It may be the place to install the dishwasher, or it can divide working from eating areas.
Whatever the use, ceramic the counters on the island, as on other workspaces in the kitchen, will eliminate heat and spillage damage, and make clean-up easy.
Easily accessible storage is one of the great boons the kitchen island can offer. If it is a cooking island, pots and pans can be stored underneath. Where it borders on an eating area, drawers and sliding trays can store linens, tableware and baked goods.
Large vintage-style blue, white and silver kitchen with big island
This large kitchen, approximately 15 x 37 feet, has a refreshing warmth and graciousness that is characteristic of the entire house.
The kitchen island unit, 4-1/2 feet wide and 9-1/2 feet long, divides the room into work centers, with a sitting room at the far end. The table in the foreground seats three for snacks, and also serves as a planning desk.
Butcher-block wood island in a royal blue kitchen with industrial-style appliances
Round kitchen island with bookshelves above for cookbooks (1964)
This 4-foot round block-top work table, convenient to counters on all sides, helps the kitchen function smoothly.
Storage cabinets occupy the entire unit below the block top, except for space for a stool and a shelf for the phone. Meals are here, and cookbooks on shelves above are within easy reach. The counter at left has a pass-through opening into the breakfast room.
MORE: Six wonderful, workable kitchen designs from the ’60s
Green and red kitchen island decor style
This semicircular kitchen island was covered in red formica formed a breakfast bar, and was accented by green rattan bar chairs
Mid century modern kitchen design with central island
Vintage kitchen pass-thru on a kitchen island
Cooking on a sunny island
The cook’s always on vacation in this gleaming California kitchen. Surrounded by gay tropical flowers, fiesta colors, and sandy-white stretches of counter space, she gets meals in a breeze on a cooking-top island of ashwood cabinets.
But the holiday aspect of this kitchen doesn’t end with the decor. Every inch of this small-scaled kitchen has been engineered for easy-does-it efficiency.
Notice the well-defined and uncluttered work centers, easy-to-clean surfaces, generous storage cabinets, proper cooking-area ventilation, and bright, cheerful lighting.
MORE: 18 cute & cheap kitchen cabinet facelift ideas from the 60s & 70s
For the gourmet cook, there’s plenty of elbow room to dice, slice, shake, and stir. For everyday cooking, here’s a gay sunny place for the lady of the house to speed through her chores. Note the snack bar for the children or coffee-sipping neighbors.
Conveniently accessible to other rooms and the outdoors, the kitchen also incorporates a laundry area tucked behind folding doors and away from the food preparation center.
Look carefully — some of the design concepts in this kitchen may spark ideas to turn your own kitchen into an isle of joy through efficient planning and lively decorating.
Vintage 60s circular kitchen island
This cooking island even had a matching circular light/vent hood above
Huge center island with cooktop & eating area
Save time and motion in a large kitchen by bringing everything closer with a center island. The island shown here includes a sit-down vegetable sink, cooking top, and warming drawer. The island is lighted by ceiling spots and by fixtures in the vent hood.
Vintage 1960 kitchen island with two-tier Formica countertops
Vintage-style open kitchen island with sink & countertop space
Curved wood kitchen with central island
House Beautiful (1963)
By solving everyday needs with beauty as well as efficiency, this kitchen gains a new look. Planned for easy movements without unnecessary steps and equipped with all the aids a gourmet could desire, it goes a step further to introduce a living-room-like atmosphere due to its carefully crafted fine materials.
These are the makings of an elegant kitchen. After an era of clinically sanitary functionalism, we seem to be moving on to this further refinement.
The kitchen shown is not a “dream” room of the future. All its components are currently available. All of them — cabinets, appliances, flooring, ceiling, counter surface, lighting, even the intricate redwood grillwork — are manufactured products, at hand to serve this new sense of elegant simplicity.
Slender tiled kitchen island with inset electric stove
ALSO SEE: 20 vintage 1960s kitchen tile design ideas & popular retro mosaic tile styles
Angled kitchen island on the cover of BHG kitchen ideas 1966
Vintage kitchen with wooden cabinetry and a large Formica-topped island
Big open kitchen area with split-level dining area and living room (1966)
Big tiled kitchen from the late 1960s with a small kitchen island in the center
Groovy green accents on this retro kitchen island with wood cabinets (1968)
More wonderful retro kitchen islands
