Closet Island

A 60-inch island is 24 inches deep, so it needs a room at least 12 feet wide to keep a 36-inch walkway on both sides once the perimeter cabinets are in. At 42-inch walkways, plan on 13 feet.

The island is the first thing people want and the first thing that should be tested against the tape measure. It needs 36 inches of clear walkway on every side — the island walkway, and 42 is more comfortable — so a 60-inch island genuinely occupies about 12 feet of room width once you have walked around it, and 13 if you want the comfortable 42. If the room cannot give that, the same money buys a run of drawers along a wall and the closet will work better. Where the island earns its place is a room that already has enough perimeter storage and needs a surface: somewhere to fold standing up at 42 inches, somewhere to lay out a suitcase, and drawers that open from both faces so two people are not queueing. Put another way, an island is a working surface that happens to hold drawers, not a drawer block that happens to sit in the middle.

60 inches long, 24 inches deep and 42 inches high — standing height — with drawer access from both long faces and a choice of stone, laminate or matched melamine top.

36 inches on all sides is the minimum for the cabinet to fit. We design to 42 inches on the faces you open drawers from, which in practice needs about 12 feet of clear room width.