Tips for Styling a Kitchen Island • Robyn's Southern Nest

Happy Monday sweet friends! I hope y’all had a wonderful weekend! Last Friday we finally got our kitchen island delivered. Chris ordered this kitchen island for me for Christmas, and I’ve been patiently waiting for this beauty to make her way into our kitchen. So today I’m sharing a few tips for styling a kitchen island. I’d like to call this segment “Stylin’ My Island”.

So let’s go back to delivery day. I had a brief moment of panic when the delivery guy said our entryways were “too small”, but I knew it would be fine. Our doorways are wider than normal doorways so I’m not sure what he was so worried about. Long story short he had nothing to worry about, it fit just fine without question. This French Kitchen island is from Crate and Barrel. I had been looking at islands for our kitchen before the home was even officially ours to be honest. I kept coming back to this one. It’s simple lines and timeless appeal really just couldn’t get out of my head.

I loved that it had open shelves on the bottom and even three large soft close drawers to house extra stuff. Our kitchen really needed some extra counter space for prep work, but we needed something quite large. So when I found this 72 inch island that came with a marble top, there was really nothing out there that could even compare. We didn’t want one that was so permanent that would mess up our original hardwoods either. This beast is heeeaaavyyyy y’all. It doesn’t even budge! So if you’re in the market for an island I highly suggest this one. You can even fit three stools on the backside.

So here’s a few helpful tips to help you style your kitchen islands or even open shelving.

Tip # 1

Gather the items you want to use to style your space and put them in one area. Even if it’s more than what you’ll use, at least you’ll have options to choose from. I like to lay them all out on my table so I can have easy access to see what works and what doesn’t, and just edit from there.

Tip #2

Vary your textures and finishes. Because this island is black on the bottom I knew that I wanted to use a mixture of white elements to really make it pop against the black base. I also like to bring in some warmth by using wood and copper just so not everything is white.

Tip # 3

Play around! This is probably the most important tip I have when styling a space. As you can see from watching my video I mess around with multiple different cutting boards to finally decide on what looks best. Don’t give up. Just shuffle it around, step back and try again.

Tip # 4

Add height to the top of your kitchen island. I used a cake plate filled with plates to add some height to this island. You don’t want to keep everything on one plane. This way your eyes travel all around instead of on one particular thing. You can use a floral arrangement or a tiered tray to add height as well.

Tip # 5

Keep it simple. After all, this space is suppose to be functional for everyday life. If you overdecorate it you’ll find yourself moving things out of the way just to cook. Of course I left out a cookbook for the “photoshoot” but I most likely will just keep this book underneath with the rest of them.

Tip #6

A large bowl for your produce. I think the best place for your produce is in some type of bowl on your counter. It adds color and texture to the island and you’re more likely to snack on the produce if its front and center. If you have darker counters add your fruit to a lighter colored vessel like a white bowl, and if you have light colored counters a wood bowl looks amazing too. Having that contrast really helps when it comes to styling your kitchen island and countertops.

Tip #7

Vary your heights when stacking plates and bowls. If you have open shelving in your island or somewhere in your kitchen the variance of heights adds interest. For instance I added 6 large bowls here with 4 small bowls right next to it.

Tip #8

Stack your cookbooks. Unfortunately the shelf height wasn’t as tall as I had hoped so instead I just added a few of my cookbooks that had prettier spines in a stack. There’s no need to add your full collection of books to the shelf, as that tends to look messy and cluttered. By adding just a few it showcases your favorites.