Kitchen islands and kitchen carts are versatile pieces that allow for multiple benefits in home kitchens. The worktops of these kitchen furnishings instantly expand your counter space, and the storage options that they feature relieve congestion in cramped cupboards. For large gatherings or big meals, kitchen carts and kitchen islands can be used for serving and seating, and the attractive looks available from today's top manufacturers enhance the beauty of your space.

To make the kitchen carts and kitchen islands in their collections even more useful to home chefs, manufacturers add special features to their designs. One of the most popular of these features among today's home chefs is the drop leaf, a hinged wooden panel that can be lifted and lowered whenever you need it.

Our Buyers' Guide to Kitchen Islands and Kitchen Carts with Drop Leaves was developed to help you find the perfect new drop leaf cart or island for your home. The guide will take you through all of the major considerations that go into selecting kitchen islands and kitchen carts with drop leaves, and by the end, you'll have a clear picture of the type that will work the best for you.

Benefits of Drop Leaves

Before shopping for kitchen islands and kitchen carts with drop leaves, it's important to fully understand the many benefits of having a drop leaf. Doing so will enable you to decide just how you will use the drop leaf on your new island and counter, which can ultimately determine what other features are necessary to make your new piece of kitchen furniture the most useful in your home.

One of the largest benefits of drop leaves is extra working space. During the course of preparing a meal, you can quickly lift the drop leaf to make room to set up another working task. You can also use it to hold ingredients and equipment while you work if the space on the top of your island or cart is being taken up by a large task or tabletop kitchen appliance.

Kitchen islands and kitchen carts with drop leaves are perfect for use in homes where space is too limited to allow for an island or counter with a large enough top to meet the needs of home chefs. The drop leaf can be raised to temporarily block a walkway and expand the working area and then lowered so that people can easily pass by once food preparation is complete.

For kitchen carts, a drop leaf is excellent in situations where the area in which a cart will be stored is smaller than the location where it will be used. While you prepare food, the drop leaf can be lifted, and when you're finished, you can lower it to decrease the size of the top and easily fit the cart into the desired storage location.

When it comes time to serve with a kitchen island or kitchen cart, the drop leaf can be raised to create more space for placing bowls and platters. It can also be used to serve the food away from the food preparation area, which may not be fully cleaned between the time that the meal was made and presented to guests.

For islands that will be used for seating, the drop leaf creates a ledge that is not closed in by the base of the island. This provides legroom for guests who will be dining, allowing for a more comfortable arrangement. The drop leaf also separates the dining area from the food preparation area, which gives the fun feeling of eating at a bar.


Types of Drop Leaves

Manufacturers of kitchen islands and kitchen carts offer different types of drop leaves on their products, with each type being useful for a different purpose.

• Back edge drop leaves run along the entire back of a kitchen island or kitchen cart and have a rectangular shape. Having a drop leaf on the back edge expands the width of the counter top, which can allow it to hold large appliances and equipment. The back edge drop leaf is the best for adding additional serving and seating space to an island or cart. Many manufacturers offer kitchen islands with back edge drop leaves, and some kitchen cart styles feature them as well.


• Single side drop leaves are rectangular or square panels that lift up on one of the ends of the kitchen island or kitchen cart. Single side drop leaves expand your working space and can allow you to set up two working tasks side by side or spread out more across the worktop. They can also be used for serving space. Single side drop leaves are common in both kitchen island and kitchen cart styles.


• Double side drop leaves are rectangular or square panels that lift up on both ends of the kitchen island or kitchen cart. The double side drop leaf offers the same benefits as the single side drop leaf, but with double the space. The double side drop leaf is slightly less common than the single side drop leaf, so your choices of styles will be more limited if you go for the double side.


• Cutting board drop leaves lift up from one end of a kitchen island or kitchen cart. Although they are generally rectangular or square in shape like other types of drop leaves, cutting board drop leaves are not the full width of the island or cart's top and instead resemble a cutting board mounted to the side. The cutting board drop leaf is great for kitchens that are extra crowded and is perfect for use for chopping vegetables and fruits and performing food preparation tasks. You can also use a cutting board drop leaf as an ingredient stand or a resting place for a cookbook. Cutting board drop leaves are not as common as other styles.


• Round drop leaves are an uncommon type of drop leaf that is shaped like a semicircle. Typically featured on table style islands or carts, round drop leaves are located on the front and back of the island or table, and when raised, convert its rectangular worktop into a round tabletop. Pieces with round drop leaves are excellent for converting a work table to a dining table.


• Roll out drop leaves do not feature hinges. Instead, they have casters mounted to their frames that allow them to roll along a metal track, similarly to a drawer. Rather than being level with the worktop, the roll out drop leaf is situated below it, so it is good for holding equipment and ingredients, for serving and even for seating one or two guests on low chairs. The drop leaf does not expand the counter top, however, so it will not give you more room to complete tasks side by side. Only a small number of kitchen islands and kitchen carts come with roll out drop leaves.

Styles

Kitchen islands and kitchen carts with drop leaves are available in a variety of primary styles, which like the types of drop leaves, are ideal in specific situations.

• Traditional carts are usually square in shape and small in size to make them easy to move from one area to another. Most traditional carts have open storage in their bases like shelves. The traditional cart is the most mobile of the styles, so it is excellent for situations where you are storing your cart in one area and using it another. A traditional cart with a drop leaf can also be rolled up to a table for serving purposes.


• Islands are usually rectangular in shape and are larger than traditional carts. Their bases are often closed in, and they have more storage options available than many cart styles. Some islands are mounted on casters to make them easy to roll, but the bulky sizes of these pieces make them inconvenient for moving over large distances.


• Table island and cart styles with drop leaves have mostly open bases like traditional carts, but are larger and shaped more like islands. The open space and large working surfaces on table island and cart styles with drop leaves make them perfect for pieces that will be used often for seating.

Materials

When shopping for a kitchen island or kitchen cart with a drop leaf, the tops of the styles will generally be made of wood. Golden birch and light brown maple are the most common wood types, though some designers produce kitchen islands and kitchen carts with drop leaves from different types of wood. Some also feature thicker butcher block work tops with thinner, traditional wood drop leaves.

For the base, you'll have your choice of stainless steel, natural wood or painted wood in many of the primary styles. The choice for what base will look the best in your home should be based upon the colors of your existing decor, including your wall paint, flooring, cabinetry and appliances.

Storage

Today's kitchen carts and kitchen islands with drop leaves offer a variety of convenient storage options, including:

• Open shelves


• Drawers


• Wood cabinets


• Cabinets with glass doors


• Knife racks


• Wire baskets


• Condiment racks