The Unforeseen Costs of Adding a Kitchen Island
For the homeowner who loves to cook for the family, throw dinner parties, or simply spend plenty of quality time with loved ones over food, the kitchen is a special haven where magic happens. Here, you get to chop ingredients, stir giant pots of sauces, watch over meats and veggies cooking on the stovetop or in the oven, plate up gourmet dishes, share an after-school snack with the kids, or sneak a mouthful or two of a sinful dessert in the middle of the night.
With all the hustle and bustle that goes on in this space, it’s easy to understand why many long to renovate their kitchen so that it can finally include one of the most coveted features: the kitchen island. You’ve seen it in movies, TV series and home makeover shows — a man or woman busily (but happily) puttering around a gorgeous kitchen island as they throw a meal together — and you feel a primal longing to have one in your own home.
Weighing the Costs of Renovation
A kitchen island does indeed offer a plethora of benefits. Additional counter space for prep work, more hidden storage options are just a few possible benefits. Extra spaces for different amenities, more seating areas can increase your home’s resale value.
Before you decide to make a move it’s crucial to take a closer look at the work to be performed. Make sure to consider unforeseen costs of adding a kitchen island so that you can have realistic expectations about budgeting for this kitchen renovation. Bottom line: It’s a lot more than just slapping down a slab of granite over your existing base cabinets.
The island countertop should be easily carried into the kitchen. The countertop is the crowning glory of this renovation project. The goal is to bring it into the home in one piece. If the slab is too big to clear corners or carry up and around staircases, it has to be cut. That can cost you (as well as create an unattractive seam in the stone).
You need tasklights. Overhead lighting fixtures are necessary and the costs can vary depending on the fixtures you choose and the distance of the kitchen from the electrical panel. Your electrician may need to open the ceiling and run new wires; this will also involve repairing the drywall and repainting the ceiling afterwards.
Electric outlets must be added. Islands are required by code to have electrical outlets every 6 feet. It can be costly if concrete must be drilled through to run electrical wires to the electrical panel.
Entirely new plumbing must be put in. Since islands are nowhere near a wall, there is an issue that must be addressed. The plumbing has to be installed under the floor, yet the requirements or the island’s water, vent and drain is the same for a kitchen sink that abuts a wall.
Kitchen sinks typically require a P-trap to prevent sewage gases from entering the sink. In an island, however, this P-trap will inevitably stick out horizontally.
To create proper venting, loop venting must be introduced. To achieve this:
- A plumber must attach a T-fitting to the P-trap drain; this causes the water flow to be directed down toward the floor.
- Afterwards, the T-fitting is attached to an inverted U-designed vent pipe. The top should run upwards to the counter’s bottom, and then loop back down through the floor.
- Both pipes will now be connected to the primary drain, and the vent pipe will be hooked to another pipe that is connected to the house’s main vent pipe.
- In the event that loop venting cannot be applied to a kitchen, a plumber should instead install an air admittance valve.
Talk to your Fox Cities plumber about all the facts of adding a kitchen island. It is critical to take the best approach when building the kitchen of your dreams.
