Decisions, Decisions

I hope you all had a great weekend!  This is a big week for us coming up, as we are waiting to hear back from the workmen with the estimates for the long list of projects I have asked them to price for us. Yikes!  I'm a little nervous, and we'll have to wait and see how many things we'll be doing ourselves...

One thing the new house really needs is a big kitchen island, and I realized that I hadn't put much thought yet into what kind of island exactly.  When starting from scratch you have some options: just a box to support the countertop?  Seating or just workspace?  How many seats or stools?  Cabinets, drawers, or shelves for storage?  

Since we're trying to keep the cost down, we will be forgoing features like a sink or appliances built into the island, which keeps things simpler.  Adding an outlet or two adds a lot of convenience for not much extra expense, so that's on my list.  And we definitely need some seating; I'm thinking for four around two sides of the island.  

Where I'm feeling stuck, though, is the STYLE of the whole thing...  Do we want something boxy, with clean, strong lines and a weighty, substantial feel?

Or would we rather have an island with more furniture-like elements... Or a combination of the two?

There's even the option actually to use an existing piece of furniture as the base for your island, too.  Just to keep me totally confused:)

Now THIS one I'm obsessed with.

House Beautiful

Any thoughts for me??

Happy Monday!

Liza