What the heck do you do for dining when your condo is basically a great big square room with a kitchen along one wall?

A couple of years ago I worked on a loft in the fashion district and you can see from the photo below that there was really no practical place for a dining table and chairs. The island was too small to seat more than one or maybe two people comfortably and the client really wanted to be able to entertain friends and family.

The pillars, while very cool, posed a real challenge when it came to space planning.

What I decided to do was to replace the counter top on the island with a larger L-shaped top that would “wrap around” the pillar and provide seating for four. Matching the existing granite would have been a challenge so I opted to go with a darker granite on the island that would provide a nice contrast to the granite on the other counter. I replaced the one chrome leg on the island with three new ones to support the larger counter top.

To compliment the red accent wall and provide some visual interest , I chose two red stools and two black ones.

Now my client had an island that was visually appealing and very practical.