These designers agree it’s time to ditch the kitchen island

Most kitchen plans are executed on autopilot. You’ve got major appliances, cabinets and a loveseat-sized island with three obligatory stools facing the cook and the same number of light pendants above, give or take.

But a convivial classic is making a comeback: the kitchen table. Rather than an island, some designers are opting for old-world (or ersatz antique) replacements, coveting harvest tables or freestanding workbenches for their flexibility and personality.

For generations, it was typical to have a table by the stove. A shift began in the 1960s, popularized in part by Julia Child and her cooking antics on The French Chef. Child’s joyful butchering of chicken for coq au vin, for instance, became theatre on a colossal stage-like island, part of the TV show’s set in a Boston studio.

At home, however, she did not have an island. Instead, she prepped ingredients off-camera on a kitchen table covered with a yellow oilcloth. It was the room’s “centre of gravity,” writes architect and author Pamela Heyne in her book In Julia’s Kitchen.

Indeed, a kitchen table is a connecting point that invites people to gather, says Richard Ouellette, a Montreal-based designer who runs Les Ensembliers with his architect partner, Maxime Vandal. “If I have the chance to design a kitchen with a table in place of an island, I find it opens the space completely.”

In their Victorian home in Montreal’s Westmount neighbourhood, a nicked wooden table with turned legs is set against luxurious plum-toned kitchen cabinetry. The contrast is spectacularly quirky.

Opting for a table “is part of that concept of living simpler, of realizing you don’t need to cram your kitchen with every gadget and utensil,” Ouellette says. That means rethinking the jam-packed island with its integrated appliances, wine fridges, pop-up outlets and embedded cooktops.

In another project, he topped old saw-horse legs with a slick, black-lacquer top. “We love the juxtaposition of the materials and effect,” Ouellette says. “I will always love a simple, beautiful antique mixed with a clean modern space. It brings soul and character and a sense of livability.”

Gianpiero Pugliese and Mariya Naumov, the architect-designer couple behind the design firm Audax in Toronto, spent months tweaking plans for their kitchen island. Eventually they went in a completely different direction, landing on a 12-foot-long harvest table.

“We deliberately chose something out of wood that was rustic and could get beat up,” Pugliese says of the piece, which has a long bench on one side and ladderback chairs on the other.

Adds Naumov: “We kept thinking about, how do we want to live? We have three kids. We want a big area to do homework and eat and feel comfortable. The island didn’t offer that.”

With its checkered floors, grand hood vent and classic cabinets, their kitchen was inspired by the paintings of Vermeer – right down to a crackling fireplace – so such a table felt right. “We wanted an element of authenticity, that old-world feeling that’s lost with modern, contemporary kitchens,” Pugliese says.

But while the harvest table has throwback appeal, the room doesn’t feel dated. “We have two dishwashers, a Sub-Zero fridge and freezer and lighting control. The trick is to marry the best of today with the past,” Pugliese says.

This past March, Michelle Agnelo, co-founder of Grey Isle Design in Toronto, travelled to the Round Top Antiques Fair in Texas, a popular event among design enthusiasts. She was on the hunt for a rare, extralong workbench – perhaps a pharmacy counter, or a marble-topped bakery table – for a kitchen in Etobicoke, Ont.

“I didn’t find the right piece,” Angelo says, “so I had a 10-foot-long workbench made out of solid walnut.” There’s an open area to stack plates on one side, and drawers on the other. A deep brown tone makes it an eye-catching showstopper in the custard-coloured kitchen.

Another proponent of choosing a table instead of an island is Colin Blanchard, owner of the 31 Westgate furniture store in Halifax. “I think it works best in traditional spaces, where you want a curated feel,” he says.

His former cozy kitchen is an excellent example, with warm wood plank floors and a matching table on wheels that allows the classic smoky green cabinets to shine.

“A centre table feels so warm and elegant,” Blanchard says, adding that the open base provides more sightlines and can make a small space feel larger. “But you’re going to sacrifice counter space.”

If you like rolling dough, he recommends opting for a moveable stone-topped piece that can be rolled away when it’s time for dinner.

“I grew up in a traditional home. We ate at the same time every evening – five of us sitting around a table and connecting,” he says. “I love that.”