Visually, the drawer faces become part of the island body. When you're measuring overhang, I think you need to measure the drawer faces as part of the unit as a whole. In other words, I'd go with 1-1/2" past the drawers. I had to go look at my peninsula to work that out, but it seems visually correct.

I'm with suzannes. I think you want it to visually look the same on all 4 sides so the overhang on the drawer side starts with the drawer fronts. Having said that, what will your overhang be on your perimeter counters? My overhang from my cabinet boxes is not quite 2" and when the drawers are closed the overhang is 15/16".

Thanks for the input. I thought I was overdoing it, questioning having a one size fits all overhang.

I was thinking that I would do the same for the perimeter counters, 2 1/4" overhang, and 1 1/2" on the three "blank" sides of the island. That should be symmetrical all round then.