Spruce Up Your Kitchen Island with Board and Batten Style Trim

August 23, 2022

By: The Finished Space

A kitchen island is one of the most exciting and prominent elements featured in modern kitchen design. It’s incredibly versatile, adaptable, and great for adding character and dimension to a room that is classically a challenge to design, but the benefits don’t end there.

Designing a kitchen island takes time, expertise, and patience, but if you do it right, you can transform your kitchen into something awe-inspiring. Here is everything you need to know about kitchen islands, how they can be used to enhance your design aesthetic, and how to spruce them up with board and batten.

The Purpose of a Kitchen Island

A kitchen island is a freestanding cabinet typically installed at the kitchen’s center. It usually matches the existing kitchen décor and can be accessed from all sides, often serving as the focal point for the overall design. Additionally, there are many ways this incredible feature can improve your home, including:

  • Added Storage: The extra cabinet space is excellent for storing pots, pans, utensils, spices, and canned goods. A kitchen island might be the ideal solution if you are lacking cabinet space.

  • Extra Counter Space for Cooking and Prepping: Kitchen islands add a great deal of counter space, which allows you to cook and prep without running out of room.

  • Additional Seating: There are few things quite as fun as sitting around a kitchen island with your friends, drinking your favorite wine, and chatting about your lives.

  • A Multi-Purpose Seating Area: Kitchen islands can be a great place to enjoy a casual lunch without the formality of the dining room. It’s also the perfect place for children to do their homework after school while you’re prepping dinner.

  • Sink Placement: Many homeowners choose to install their sink on their kitchen island, which frees up counter space along the wall. This choice helps to create a centralized area for gathering dishes.

There’s no debating that a kitchen island can add a lot of function to your home. It’s not just about function, though, right? Kitchen islands also play a significant role in interior design.

The Kitchen Island in Interior Design 

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As already mentioned, installing an island in your kitchen is a great way to add dimension to your space. It allows you to elevate your proportions, creates a centralized space for friends and family to gather, and adds a natural flow to your overall design.

It can also be an ideal setting place for decorations. In addition to the added storage capabilities a kitchen island provides, it also allows you to create a clutter-free, hyper-organized, and cleaner-looking kitchen design.

Beyond that, a kitchen island also serves an additional purpose that is pretty familiar to anyone in the interior design space. This incredible feature can also be utilized to pull focus and create a statement, much like the concept of an accent wall.

Using Your Kitchen Island Like an Accent Wall 

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Before we jump into the complete comparison, let’s take a moment to discuss accent walls. They’re a design feature that can make a room really pop, and they draw attention to the places you want to highlight. Most interior design work is about manipulating the overall sense and feel of a space, and accent walls are a great tool to accomplish that.

It’s a singular feature that stands out against the rest, and though it may seem separate, it makes the whole room come together. A kitchen island serves the exact same purpose. It stands out from the rest of the room, and if it’s designed the right way, it’ll make your kitchen look and feel complete.

There are also many ways to design a kitchen island, making them just as adaptable and diverse as an accent wall. You can use different colors, moulding styles, and patterns to make the island design pop. Plus, you can take advantage of unique materials, like granite, concrete, or stainless steel, to add a level of intrigue to your aesthetic.

However, it’s vital to remember that you can’t just focus on the top when you’re sprucing up your kitchen island. You also have to consider the design of your cabinetry and siding. After all, that’s typically the first thing people see when they enter your kitchen.

The best and most effective way to do that is with board and batten. Here’s how.

Make An Impact with a Board and Batten Kitchen Island

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Board and batten are a type of siding that utilizes thin strips of wood to cover the seams of panel boards. In the most common board and batten design, you get a design style that closely resembles pinstripes. Don’t limit yourself, though.

If you’re using board and batten to enhance the overall design of your kitchen island, you don’t have to use them the traditional way. Instead, you can use the materials to create abstract, intricate patterns that are equally as pleasing to the eye. If you want to get fancy, you can use both styles in the same room to complement each other.

Board and batten are excellent for kitchen islands because they add intrigue and symmetry to your design. They also pull instant focus, to draw the attention of your guests to your kitchen island, which is precisely where you want them to look.

Plus, if you’re a homeowner that loves the board and batten style, but you aren’t quite ready to commit to an entire wall, the kitchen island is the best place to start.

Bringing the Whole Look Together with a Board and Batten Kitchen Island 

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The best part of choosing board and batten to elevate your kitchen island is that a little goes a long way. It’s also the perfect choice if you want to keep your design aesthetic minimal and luxurious. Check out Metrie’s extensive catalog of board and batten, plus other moulding and trim products.

If you’re thinking about installing moulding and trim in your home, but aren’t sure which style is right for your home, be sure to check out Option {M} today. It’s an innovative design tool that pairs moulding styles with popular design trends.