Don’t Make the Same Mistake Neil Patrick Harris Did When Installing His Kitchen Island

In his weekly newsletter, Wondercade, Neil Patrick Harris has been keeping fans in the loop about a lot of things — a lot of “weird things,” as Harris himself wrote. And one of those “weird things” is the upgrading of the East Hampton, New York home that she shared with his husband David Burtka and their two children. And the process is making him reflect on renovations past,  including how the kitchen island never quite worked in their Harlem brownstone because of one shortcoming.

“In our Harlem brownstone, we [had] a giant island in our kitchen, and I wish that we would have had the countertop overlap the cabinets that are underneath it,” he wrote in Wondercade. “Right now it’s flush, and had I only thought to have the slab be a few inches longer on both sides, then we could have had six more people sit all around the thing.”

Hey, you live and you learn — and now everyone can learn from NPH that kitchen islands should all have overhanging countertops, just in case you want to host a casual dinner party, or simply hang out comfortably in the hub of the home.

Or, if you don’t have enough space on either side of the island, you can always elongate the countertop to add eating space at the end.

And perhaps it’s the kitchen island faux pas that has Harris really thinking through all the decisions he’s making in the East Hampton home.

“I’m doing an exorbitant amount of research on the best table saw, the best flooring, and the best dust-collection system,” he wrote. “Should I go pegboard or French cleats?!”

Hopefully, you’ll learn more from Harris’ wins via Wondercade than missteps. But “always include an overhang on your kitchen island” is a huge mental note to take into the future.

This post originally appeared on Apartment Therapy. See it there: Don’t Make the Same Mistake Neil Patrick Harris Did When Installing His Kitchen Island