The Kitchen Island Design From Christina Haack That You'll Want In Your Home

Kitchen islands have a lot to offer in open house designs. Not only do they provide a little more space and storage, but they also help to section off your cooking area from the rest of your home. Unfortunately, these features can end up looking blocky and become a bit of an eyesore if not designed just right. If this is how you feel about your kitchen island, and you are looking for a simple way to make this home feature more charming, design expert Christina Haack might have the perfect solution using a textural element — shiplap. 

This material has come back into the limelight over the years, with many big-name designers adding it to living rooms, bedrooms, and even bathrooms. However, Haack shows that there are many creative places to use shiplap in your home, including on the sides of your kitchen island. On her Instagram, Haack revealed this exact design choice for a house flip in Tennessee.

Adding shiplap to your kitchen island isn't just a way to introduce an element that is both timeless and trendy. The material also gives it a bit of durability. It's fairly common for flat paint and drywall to show off scratches, scuffs, and stains easily. However, shiplap holds up against daily wear and tear, and is better at handling spills, scuffs from swinging feet, and barstool scrapes, especially if you pair it with a paint finish that is easy to keep clean.

Looking at Christina Haack's stunning shiplap kitchen island design, you may wonder if it works for the standard home or if it is a trend that would only work in a fully renovated house, considering it made our list of luxury kitchen islands the HGTV star designed that will inspire your renovation. However, one major benefit of shiplap is its versatility; it works with many different kitchen styles, including rustic, cottage, modern, and traditional. 

Shiplap is easy to adjust to your tastes, and one of the quickest ways is with paint. Traditional white boards are great for cottage, coastal, and traditional homes, but Haack's design featured black boards that worked in the more modern space. If you want a rustic or lodge vibe in your kitchen, highlight the natural wood panels with stain instead of paint.

The layout of the shiplap can also be customized to your existing style. Though Haack used long horizontal boards in her design, you can add visual appeal by breaking up the horizontal rows into columns of shorter rows with trim. Or, try a vertical installation instead for a more contemporary or mid-century style, giving the illusion of added height to your space. For a more unique approach, consider laying the boards in a pattern like herringbone or chevron.