The island is the heart of the kitchen. So make it the statement.
The question we hear most: “Can you make my whole kitchen island out of glass?”
Yes. We can. But before you commit 40 square feet of glass to the place where you chop onions, drain pasta and set down a hot pan, here are three ways to make the island the statement. Each one turns heads. Each one lives differently.
The short answer: most glass high bars we install in Florida come in under $10,000, all in. Many are in stock and can be glowing in your kitchen in two weeks or less. That price includes delivery, drilling your lower countertop for the brackets, installation, integrated 8,000,000-color LED lighting, and a texture made in our studio that you won’t find anywhere else. Not a stamped pattern. A surface nobody else has.
Option 1: The Stone Island with a Glass High Bar
Our favorite, and the one most clients choose.
The island stays stone. It takes the sink, the cooktop, the cutting board and the hot pan without a second thought. Along the seating side, a glass high bar rises to 42 inches, six inches above the 36-inch island, lit from within. It rides on just two 4.5-inch cantilever brackets, even at 130 inches long. That’s as minimal as engineering gets, and the glass looks like it’s floating.
Put the glass where the people are. Guests sit at the glow. The work happens on stone.
A 111-inch high bar is about 15 square feet of glass. A 4-by-10-foot glass island is 40. That’s 2.6 times the glass for the same moment when someone walks in and stops talking.
And here’s the part nobody expects: most glass high bars we install in Florida come in under $10,000, all in. Glass, lighting, cantilever brackets, delivery and installation. That’s less than a mid-range appliance package, and nobody ever gathered around a refrigerator.
See it built: a low-iron glass high bar in Bonita Springs, and the design considerations for a kitchen high bar.
Option 2: The Glazed Lava Stone Island
When you want the whole island to be the color.
If you want the island to stand alone as the statement, wrap it in glazed lava stone. We fire a custom enamel color onto PyroArch™, a white nanoglass surface fired in our Tampa kiln at over 1,400°F, matched to whatever you bring us: a paint chip, a fabric, a sunset photo. Prefer volcanic lava stone? We quote that on request.
The fired enamel surface is non-porous and needs no sealing, ever, so it lives happily around a sink and a cooktop. The color is fired in, not painted on. Surround a quiet kitchen with one island of deep cobalt, or sea glass green, or a red that looks like it’s still glowing from the kiln, and the room has its center.
Go deeper: the PyroArch color library, and the architect’s and designer’s specification guide.
Option 3: The All-Glass Island
The full Ferrari. We build it. Here’s what to know.
A 100% glass island is a sculpture. Light moves through the whole thing. Nothing else in the house looks like it. We make glass islands up to 130 inches long and 59 inches wide in one single piece. No seams, nothing to interrupt the light.
It’s also a lot of glass. A 4-by-10-foot island at an inch and a half thick weighs roughly 760 pounds, against about 293 for a 111-inch high bar. A sink or cooktop means cutouts in kiln-formed glass, and the island becomes a workstation as well as a showpiece.
Then there’s getting it into the house. A 10-foot, 760-pound piece of glass, or a full 130-by-59-inch island at about 1,000 pounds, doesn’t come through the door with two guys and a dolly. It takes a full crew, vacuum lifters, a clear path from the truck to the kitchen, measured doorways and turns, and cabinetry built to carry the load. Every one of those is labor, and labor is part of the price. A high bar goes in with a fraction of the crew and a fraction of the day.
For the right room, it’s unforgettable. For most kitchens, the glass earns more where people sit than where they cook.
See a freeform glass island bar in Clearwater, and how glass countertops hold up to daily life.
Or Go All White
White glass on a white kitchen.
No pattern, no color, nothing competing. A white glass island with waterfall sides that drop straight to the floor reads as one clean, luminous form, like the island was carved from a single piece of light. In an all-white kitchen, it’s the quietest statement in the room and the one everyone touches.
White glass is nonporous, so wine, coffee and lemon wipe right off. It passes the acid test. See it on the water in a white glass island on Lake Norman, and in a modern home in Palm Coast.
Already Have an Island? Bolt On the Ferrari.
You don’t need a new island to get the glow. A glass high bar bolts onto the island or counter you already have, on two 4.5-inch cantilever brackets. No demolition, no new stone. The room changes that night.
Side by Side
| Stone island + glass high bar | Glazed lava stone island | All-glass island | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The statement | A lit bar where people sit | A custom color across the whole island | Light through the whole island |
| Sink and cooktop | On the stone | On the lava stone | Cutouts in the glass |
| Glass involved | About 15 sq ft | None | About 40 sq ft |
| Glass weight | About 293 lbs | None | About 760 lbs |
| Install | Small crew, part of a day | Stone crew, standard install | Full crew, lifting equipment, cleared path, reinforced cabinetry |
| Best for | Kitchens that work hard and entertain | Color lovers, art-forward rooms | Showpiece rooms, light cooking |
Which Island Is Yours?
If you cook every night and host every weekend, put the glass on a high bar. If color is your thing, make the whole island lava stone. If you want the room to stop people in the doorway, and you’re ready for 40 square feet of glass, we’ll build the island all in glass.
The bottom line: if you want the glow without 40 square feet of glass, the high bar is the move. Most come in under $10,000 all in, in-stock bars can be installed in two weeks or less, and the texture is one nobody else has.
Whichever you choose, one craftsman designs it, makes it, delivers it and installs it. And for a typical kitchen, the Ferrari Kitchen is one number, all in.
Keep Reading
- The Ferrari in the Garage: spend big on one surface, be smart on the rest
- L-shaped glass bar tops, and one in a St. Petersburg modern home
- What glass countertops cost in Florida in 2026
- Glass bar tops: the complete buying guide
- The glass bar top buyer’s checklist
- How we hand-polish a glass edge
- What is a lavastone countertop?
- Selected projects and the glass countertop FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you make a whole kitchen island out of glass?
Yes. Downing Designs builds all-glass kitchen islands in one seamless piece, up to 130 inches long and 59 inches wide. A 4-by-10-foot island is about 40 square feet of 1.5-inch glass and weighs roughly 760 pounds. Most clients choose a stone island with a glass high bar instead, which puts the light where people sit.
Can you put a sink or cooktop in a glass island?
Yes, with cutouts in the glass. For islands that hold a sink or cooktop, we usually recommend stone or glazed lava stone for the work surface and a glass high bar along the seating side.
What does it take to install a glass kitchen island?
A 4-by-10-foot glass island weighs roughly 760 pounds. Installing it takes a full crew, vacuum lifting equipment, a cleared path from the truck to the kitchen, measured doorways and cabinetry built to carry the load. A 111-inch glass high bar, at about 293 pounds, installs with a much smaller crew in part of a day.
What is a glass high bar?
A glass bar top set 42 inches above the floor, six inches above a standard 36-inch counter, and lit from within. It rides on just two 4.5-inch cantilever brackets, even at up to 130 inches long, so it reads as floating. A 111-inch high bar is about 15 square feet of glass.
How much does a glass high bar cost?
Most glass high bars Downing Designs installs in Florida come in under $10,000, all in: glass with a studio-made texture, integrated 8,000,000-color LED lighting, cantilever brackets, drilling the lower countertop, delivery and installation. That’s less than a mid-range kitchen appliance package.
How fast can a glass high bar be installed?
Many Downing Designs glass high bars are in stock and can be delivered and installed in Florida in two weeks or less. That includes drilling the lower countertop for the brackets and installing the LED lighting.
Is the texture a stamped pattern?
No. Every Downing Designs texture is made in our studio. It isn’t a stamped or catalog pattern, so the surface is one you won’t find anywhere else.
What is a glazed lava stone island?
An island surfaced in glazed enamel: a custom color fired onto PyroArch™ nanoglass in Tampa, or onto volcanic lava stone on request. It takes the heat of a cooktop and the splash of a sink, and the color is matched to whatever you bring us.
Can a glass kitchen island be white?
Yes. Downing Designs makes white glass islands, including waterfall islands with glass sides that drop to the floor. White glass is nonporous and suits all-white kitchens where the island should read as one clean form.
Can I add a glass high bar to my existing island?
Yes. A glass high bar bolts onto an existing island or counter on two 4.5-inch cantilever brackets, with no demolition and no new stone.
Which option costs less: a glass island or a glass high bar?
The high bar. It uses about 15 square feet of glass against roughly 40 for a full glass island, and it installs with a fraction of the crew and labor. Call 813.784.5211 for the number on your kitchen.
Glass. Lights. Ambiance.
We don’t have office hours. We have phones.
Jeff Downing
Founder, Lead Designer & Custom Glass Countertop Expert
Jeff Downing of Downing Designs, is a Tampa Florida–based design studio specializing in custom Glass Countertops, Glass Bar Tops, Glass Vanity tops and Glass Stair Treads. With decades of hands-on experience, Jeff is widely recognized for delivering textured glass surfaces integrated with LED lighting to create dazzling abstract statement pieces.
"Glass. Lights. Ambiance".