kitchen island inspiration

 im on the hunt for a kitchen island. our kitchen is a big wide open square, everything is pushed to the edges, and it would benefit from the addition of some type of island or cart. This addition would better utilize the open space. It would also be nice to have some extra, accessible storage for those things we use every day, and my growing collection of cookbooks 

 my concern is, that while i would jump at the chance to have a big old square butchers block in the center of the kitchen, my kitchen table is already very wood heavy. It sits in an dining nook just off the kitchen so I don't want them to compete. This leads me toward a metal island, but they all seem to look a bit sterile, a bit hospital. I also like the open feel of a cart-like island more than a closed cabinet type.

what do you think? 






images: 1, 2, 3, 4