My husband recently built us a kitchen stove island that has all the trappings of a regular island with the added bonus of having the stove constructed on it as well. As the resident chef in the home–a job I take rather seriously–a kitchen island with a stove top is something that is ideal.
The purpose of a kitchen island is to offer up more space and to add a sense of openness about the kitchen room. When a stove is added to it, stations are naturally created within the kitchen island. There is counterspace for food preparation and mixing. The stove is a station in itself that is used for all the cooking. The sink is designated for post dinner clean-up. With a stove on your butcher block island, you can perform all of your usual duties in one convenient place. Since everything is in such close proximity, you can just switch from one station to the next in a matter of seconds.
For the person who enjoys to cook, a gas or an electric stove top would suffice perfectly. Even better, you can add an oven directly beneath the stove top so that you bake simultaneously while you cook a dish on top. One thing that my husband and I thought was absolutely necessary if we were to have a kitchen stove island was an overhead hooded vent to remove potential fumes. This kitchen island design is important, because I don’t doubt that the food would produce some good savory smoke, it could also create undesirable moisture that will inevitably collect on your stove and ceiling.
