Kitchen space is among the most valuable real estate in any house. You need room to work, but you also need space to move around. Where is the happy medium? Maybe it can be found in Tim Thaler‘s motorized kitchen island.

Thaler wanted the maximum possible amount of floor space in his kitchen, but he also wanted some extra storage and surface area.

He went about solving his problem in a unique way: by installing a kitchen island that stores under the floor, rising when summoned by a touch of a button on his iPhone.

The island’s top surface is (wisely, we think) covered with protective carpet squares when it is hidden, keeping the countertop from being marred with footprints and other unsavory detritus.

Although this is not a kitchen solution we can all afford (or one that all of us would know how to implement), the concept is so inspiring that it encourages us to think of other seemingly-impossible storage fixes in areas that seem cluttered beyond hope.