Short answer: when an island fits
An island fits when it can leave about 90–100 cm clear on every side, and around 120 cm if two people cook at once; if you cannot reach those figures, a peninsula works better. An island is a freestanding module with access on all four sides; a peninsula is attached at one end to a wall or to the rest of the units.
In practice, an island with a usable worktop needs a kitchen at least 3.5–4 m wide, counting the wall units. Many Barcelona flats fall short, and there a well-sized peninsula gives the same bar, the same storage and a more comfortable walkway.
Measure with the real furniture, not an empty plan
The most common mistake is measuring the island against the walls without counting the depth of the units, the open dishwasher door or the bar stools. An open dishwasher takes about 60 cm; if it faces the island with a 90 cm walkway, nobody gets past while it is being loaded.
Draw to scale the wall units, the island or peninsula, the stools with someone sitting on them and the oven and fridge doors open. Then mark the real dimensions on the floor with painter's tape before ordering anything. Ten minutes with the tape avoids an island that gets in the way for the next twenty years.
Sink or hob on the island: drainage and extraction
An island with just worktop and storage is simple. With a sink or hob it becomes building work: the waste pipe must reach the downpipe with a fall beneath the floor, and extraction needs a ceiling hood ducted through a false ceiling to the facade or light well, or a hob with built-in downdraft extraction.
In an older flat, the drainage fall from the middle of the room can mean raising the floor by several centimetres or installing a pump. A peninsula against the services wall achieves the same with far less work. These decisions are made before demolition, because they shape the screed and the ceiling.
Bar and seating: dimensions you will feel
To sit comfortably at an island or peninsula, the worktop needs to overhang the base units by about 25–30 cm, and each stool needs around 60 cm of width. A 180 cm bar seats three people, not four.
At worktop height, around 90 cm, you use medium stools and the bar doubles as prep space. A raised bar visually separates kitchen from living room and hides worktop clutter, but gets used less for eating. With small children or elderly people at home, standard height is usually the more practical choice.
Sockets and lighting on the island
An island with no sockets becomes a place where you cannot use a blender or charge a phone. Since it has no wall, power comes through the floor: a conduit under the screed to the unit and sockets on the side panel or pop-up sockets in the worktop. This is decided before the floor is laid, just like the island's exact position.
Pendants above the island are centred on the worktop, not the room, and are best on their own switch. Task light over the hob and sink comes from the hood or recessed spotlights. We cover the three layers of kitchen lighting in a separate article.
How the link with the living room changes
An island puts the cook facing the living room and makes the kitchen the centre of the home. It also leaves everything on the worktop on display, so it needs enough storage and a quiet hood. A peninsula draws a clearer line between cooking and living and, in medium-sized rooms, leaves more space for dining.
In the Urgel flat in the Eixample, 109.80 m² with four bedrooms, the open kitchen is part of the day zone, alongside the herringbone parquet. In a case like that, kitchen fronts are chosen for how they look from the sofa, not just from the hob. The island-or-peninsula choice is made the same way: with the full furniture plan, not just the kitchen drawing.
Next step
Send us the plan or measurements of the kitchen and living room and tell us how many people cook and eat at home. We reply within an hour, and on the visit we check where the downpipes are and where extraction can exit, which usually settle the question before taste does.