Please post a picture.

Sorry no pictures bc nothing done yet. Thx

Do you have pics of the space? Most people here are visual and need some idea what you are trying to do with pics.

No uppers? No shelves? I hope you don't have much in the way of dishes and kitchen equipment because if you do, there will be no place to put these things!

Post your design elevations. Your renderings. Your floor plan. Are you working with a Kitchen Designer that is showing you visually what you would be giving up by choosing no wall cabinets?

Anglophilia.....was hoping to store these things on open shelves in island.

was thinking of the large French style island from ..crate and barrel... bc this would be cheaper than custom island,

Pick one color from within whatever counter top you choose and then add one single row of tiles above the countertop with that color -- the kind of tiles that have a rounded top edge and are also used to top several rows of tiles. Alternately, you could use a row of white tiles or black tiles or a darker color of one of the colors from your countertop. Paint any space above that one horizontal row of tiles the same as the rest of the painted walls in your kitchen.

Keep that in mind if you are putting a window over a kitchen sink for help with window sizing/placement so you will not need to cut any of your single row of tile.

Before you choose open shelving rather than overhead cabinets, stand in front of standard sized base cabinet and see how far you can actually reach.

Open shelving in a kitchen as primary storage is not a good idea if you ever fry anything at all. You could well end up needing to wash anything you don't use regularly before using it.

Then there is the storage space issue: You could, of course, choose vertical drawers. They work especially well next to walls or refrigerators or a broom cabinet or a floor to ceiling corner pantry. You can make them narrow or wide enough to hold small kitchen countertop appliances. They can be one full height drawer or two drawers, one above and one below. The items on these shelves can be much easier to reach than those in overhead cabinets because you're not reaching over the depth of the base cabinet/countertop.

You might want to plan for a large pantry if you don't want either overhead cabinets or vertical drawers.

In lieu of a built in island, you might consider a rolling cart or table w/casters w/drawer and bottom shelf.

https://www.google.com/search?q=rolling+cart+table+island&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjmhsKm78zbAhXS0VMKHejAAFsQsxgIJg&biw=1366&bih=628

Yes will have a pantry (36” deep and 24” wide) on the other wall, other than within the L. It used to be where my double oven is.

Suezbell: Good thought re reaching over counter. I wonder if such a tall vertical drawer is sturdy or not. I do not have experience with that, just my spice rack pull out which I find limiting.

Boxerpal: Love that hex while wall tile in the first picture. My old fridge is 36” wide, counter depth, almost to the ceiling, Sub Zero with possible built in custom panels, right now it has white custom fibreglass panels slotted in.