Retractable kitchen island controlled by iPhone - Yep, there's an app for that!

More pics and details here: http://design-milk.com/a-motorized-ki...

This is my kitchen island, below is an unfinished utility/storage room. A hydraulic scissor lift is at bolted to the cement, and then a small frame is built on top of the scissor lift table. On top of that is a subfloor, flooring, and then the island. The cabinet doors are on the other side, and have safety push button switches that kill the electricity from the Smart Home Insteon switches, and prevent it from moving when the doors are not fully closed. This lift can easily lift over 1,500lbs, so it was an important safety feature! Please comment if you are interested in seeing the inner workings of this.

Believe it or not. I used IKEA boxes and hardware with custom walnut fronts built by Scherrs. They are the best: http://www.scherrs.com/

• Category

  Howto & Style

[Nadav Zohar's Youtube page]

This is cool, and the whole smart house idea is appealing.

BUT: I'm a fan of kitchen islands, so unless you use your kitchen as something other than a kitchen part of the time I don't see why you'd ever want it gone.

Did you have a pressing need for your island to disappear on command or are you just kinda into gizmos? I ask because they also make portable kitchen islands that can easily be pushed off to the side and are a lot easier to maintain and less expensive than what you built.

[tpthaler]

the kitchen footprint was small, so removing the island from the footprint made the kitchen feel relatively big and open. But we don't need the island much, mostly we use it for storing things we use once every two weeks. An island that can be pushed away was not an option, as there is no where to push it in my house. And it's been virtually maintenance free for over a year. And it wasn't that expensive, it was a DIY project involving craigslist, ikea, and under it was 1k.

[Shawn Downey]

"Heeeelp.......Daddy my fingers are stuck in the Island"

[tpthaler]

no kids in this home. and there are safety measures in place to prevent that type of stupidity.

[maxfs2000]

So basically you prepare food on your floor.

[tpthaler]

basically.

[Steven Castano]

Way too many haters.... I think its AWESOME!! Granted, I live in a condo and don't have much use for the retractable island, but I surely want to do this exact same thing to retract a large flatscreen TV into the back of a low dresser in my mater bedroom!

I'll be checking out your site and working on building almost the same thing! AWESOME!!

[modsandends]

I love the idea, but it's so loud. Still, as someone who also makes things myself I don't want to bash what is actually really awesome.

[christian101112]

*facepalm* it's covered with carpet

[Ethan Link]

It's cool, but gross. You would have to clean it every time you bring it up to use it.

[kitchencabinetvalue]

This is fantastic. What a great idea.

[SybergDesigns]

Cool solution to a small space. I like it.

[Nadav Zohar's Youtube page]

Ah, gotcha. I still don't think I'd attack that problem the same way but hey, it sounds like a fun project, and it's definitely impressive. Plus it sounds like it functions exactly as you intended it to. Good for you!

[Nadav Zohar's Youtube page]

Plus now people are walking on top of what becomes your counterspace. Not an ideal situation when you're preparing food...