It often helps to have pictures to show the KD. We did something similar to what Microbugs described. We have an overhang of about 15" and the cabinet base of the island is about 8 foot long and 3 foot wide. There are 5 metal bars - they had to be angled to avoid the cut-outs for a prep sink and rangetop. Here is a picture of the plywood support with the bars routed into it:

Here is a close-up:

We have 2 cm granite with a laminated edge. We were also going for a clean line contemporary kitchen to fit our Mid-Century Modern house. I also like the non-laminated edge with wood covering the edge of the plywood support but my DH preferred the thicker laminated edge. Here is the result: