Your plan, which appears to show a 48" deep island, does not appear too large. As drawn it does not encroach on the room it faces, but even the 30" deep cabinet with 12" of overhang for the seating area is only 6" less wide. As I am over 65 I would put drawers in the island and have them open to the pantry/stove side. The side with the chairs would end up storing junk you never use because it is more difficult to access.

Countertop strength can be increased by using thicker plywood beneath the top surface material. It is NEVER safe to stand on a counter top unless that counter is fastened to a wall or the floor. I can't speak to how the cabinet people construct their products, but a counter that is not fastened down is more likely to tip over than to crush from your weight.

Several questions:

What is the cabinetry style and finish?. A waterfall top appears forced unless this is a sleek kitchen, (not traditional,) and cookbooks at one end, waterfall other end, seems rather a mismatch, despite shelves facing a fridge. I doubt there is a recipe on earth that can not be found online with an i pad.

Second issue, storage beneath a top is generally a wasted expense in cabinetry, hard to access for all but the very infrequent uses.

A 24 inch deep cabinet, and a 36 x 6 x whatever "wall" built and trimmed behind that , yes even with a gap in spacing behind the 24 inch is plenty sturdy. Islands of this size are built every single day across the USA, virtually none with 30 inch depth cabinetry... Where is your KD? Where is the actual cabinet/appliance plan? I'd say get one, a real KD, and not a cabinet seller to replace the varied "guys" . Right away.

I think you are smart to plan that the side with chairs will be less accessible, but there are many things that you might want to store there anyways. Like ... some of the rarely used serving pieces for holidays and big get-togethers. Or extra stuff from a Costco run (3 of the 4 boxes of Ziplocs).

I think the 24+12 island would be stronger than a single 30" deep base cabinet. BTW - I am also a fan of cookbooks, between family recipes on paper and handwritten notes in the margins (use #70 scoop for 36 cookies). I can totally understand wanting space for some.

12 inch overhang for seating is not enough. Minimum overhang for counter height seating is 15 inches in order for it to be comfortable.

I am not sure if you are concerned about the strength of the counter on top of the cabinets or the overhang. Many people only do one row of standard 24” cabinets for their island and are fine. We have one row of 24” cabinets and then a 16” overhang supported by something like the below invisible brackets. The island is secured to the floor (as it should be). I like the look of the double cabinets but didn’t have clearance for that. If I had clearance and had to make the choice you are outlining I would go with 24” drawers facing the kitchen and 12” cabinets facing the overhang, because I don’t think you can ever have too much storage, even for things not used often. I am not an expert but would be sirprised if that isn’t adequate for strength as it is done all the time.

If you do do the double cabinets you may not be able to use something like the below, not sure, but there are other options for invisible support that can be built in so they wouldn’t effect your doors opening in the cabinets in the back. There are lots of threads on Houzz about countertop supports, you might search and read some.

IMO 12” overhang is just fine there are great steel supports so no need for ugly corbels and there are 1000s of kitchen s with 24” deep cabinets with a 6” wall and a 12 “ overhang with a stone top with no problems The island pictured above is not a good example . I do agree drawers are better as lower storage. I would not do the waterfall and book storage on the same island they do not work together style wise.I do not see the problem with making the island wider but I would make sure those walkways are all at lest 48” and please avoid that corner sink at all costs You have a perfect place for the sink under the window. As for standing on the counter get LED light fixtures you might not have th change the bulbs for years.

Patricia and I are saying the same things. You seem to have incongruous elements. One? A microwave oven over a range, ( is this the case ? ) is not a look deserving of a waterfall counter top in any scenario. The corner sink ? Not a good idea. Perhaps none of this is firm.........but post the cabinet/appliance plan. The island is secondary at this point.

Patricia Coldwell - why do you need a 6” wall after the cabinets? Why is the steel support not sufficient to support the overhang? We have no wall behind our cabinets and I have only really noticed people doing that with bar height overhangs (Which I get). Is it insurance in case your cabinets are not strong enough to support the steel supports?? My GC didnt seem to feel we needed an extra wall behind our cabinets and we have the steel supports with a 16” overhang.

Are you used to a corner sink? If not, you won’t like it. The corner is hard to clean and wasted space. Have you thought of putting the microwave somewhere else other than over the range? I find it hazardous to get something out of the microwave over my stove.

Put the sink under the window with the dishwasher to the right between the sink and the refrigerator. With that plan, the DW door can be open while you rinse dishes and easily put them into the dishwasher.
Putting a sink in the corner will put your face right in front of the upper cabinets, plus you will not be able to load the DW in one smooth motion because it will be almost behind you.
Before you “plan” any further, you need a diagram which clearly shows the placement of each lower cabinet.

I agree with the comments - waterfall edge on both sides of the island or none, sink centered under the window and not in the corner if at all possible. I also strongly agree that a microwave over the range is not a good option - poor ventilation, poor use of microwave, etc. Overall the kitchen design looks nice, but with these tweaks it will look and function better for you.

Hi everybody,

This was my first Houzz.com post. I have not received a single notification from Houzz.com, so I thought nobody had ever replied to my post. Now, 8 months later, I logged in, and I see all the replies.

Well, this was a busy, busy summer, so nothing got done.

The house came with a corner sink. There has been a lot of debate about moving the sink, too. If I move the sink, that means moving the refrigerator, and that means more electrical work.

The microwave is up there because that's where it already is. There has also been a lot of debate about where THAT should be. If I put it in the island, then I'll be reaching DOWN.

I have included photo of the original layout below.

I finally ended up building a mock island out of cardboard boxes. If the island is 102" long, that leaves me 48" between island and refrigerator. The box I happened to flatten to use as the "countertop" is 46" wide, and I have 47" between it and the cabinets along the stove wall. So, to get to 48" of clearance recommended above, then the island should not be 48" deep.

You have all given me a lot to think about. Will review all responses to see what else I have not answered.

Thanks!

In response to Jan Moyer's question: The proposed style of cabinets is shaker, with espresso finish. I happen to also love the glossy white, but never did get a quote for that.

The floor tile is 24" glossy cream color. It's not a solid color; it has a little bit of a pattern (white and cream).

I really like the sparkly white countertop.

Our home designer came up with a great solution to this. Our island is 48x104. Seating on one side, cabinets on the other. I think 12 inches for your legs is ridiculously tight, so I wanted 18 inches. We got standard cabinets for the side facing the rest of the kitchen (24 deep) and our contractor built an H shaped (looking down from the ceiling) support out of studs and plywood. The cross bar of the H is between the cabinets and the seating, and the sides of the H are the extra support for the slab. He then covered the exposed parts of the support with paneling from the cabinet company, and used flooring to protect the leg area from scuffs. It works great.