Yes, aisles are narrow (35" cooktop countertop to island countertop and island countertop to oven handle, and 42" from island countertop to fridge handle. I envision my island as being my main countertop space.

A big goal is to eliminate things from being on the counter. With that in mind,the microwave (not built in) will be hidden behind doors over the oven. In the wall of cabinetry, to the left of the oven, mid-way up will be an "appliance garage" to hold coffee maker and a few other often used small appliances.

We are demo-ing a wall that currently separates the kitchen from the DR...we have a water pipe challenge (hopefully that's the only real challenge in the wall) that we are working around by building a false wall behind the cooktop that will give us 1 1/2" to move and run the pipes upstairs.