8’ is really the min. for 4 stools so the stools will need to be small and swivel for sure I am not sure about the style of your space but I like a pedestal type stool to minimize legs that might make the stool too wide.

Our island is 9 ft with seating for 4 but you can squeeze a 5th seat on end. Would you consider this configuration as show in my pics? I have 5 ft for cabinet space on both sides. One side has wall cabinet depth but holds a lot

Do you have a table nearby, where 4 people could sit? How often do you envision seating 4 people at the island, versus using the extra drawer space? Only you can determine which is your priority.

@typeandrun I like the idea of that. Thank you for sharing

@AnnKH currently we have a 5' island with 2 chairs and table in the kitchen plus a table in the dining room. I'm extending the bar to at least 7' and doing away with the table in the kitchen. It's too crowded already. Honestly, the island is where we will eat mostly. My oldest has moved out and now it's just me and the hubs and my 16 year old. With the hours my husband works usually it's just my son and I eating together.

Meals require 2' for place settings and you want some elbow room, so 8' is minimum.

We don't have an island, and eat all our meals at the dining table (or on the patio, for a few more weeks, until the weather turns on us!). Maybe you could try that for a couple of weeks, to see if you could learn to do without 4 stools?

I hate to give up a whole drawer stack ion exchange for a stool I might not really need. Assuming your so moves out in a couple of years, that 4th stool might not get used much at all.

@AnnKH I know, decisions decisions.. I was trying to plan ahead. My daughter doesn't have kids but I figured on having grandkids in few years. She wants 3 (although she hasn't had 1) and I've always planned on watching them for her to work..

I have an 8 ft island with 4 stools. It’s comfortably spaced for eating, but is a little awkward if you are eating and talking with another couple. Guess that’s what the dining room is for.

Our island seats 4 across one side. I like the *look* of it this way, but having lived with it for a year now, I wish I'd gone for something like your first drawing. It's awkward having all of us facing... not each other. (Also -- there are 5 of us in the family, so someone always has to sit sideways on the non-overhang side when we eat at the island. I clearly didn't think this through when we designed the kitchen -- although this *was* supposed to be the beach rental house, not the let's-move-in-full-time-during-COVID house.)

Emily R- lol. I think I will keep the first option. I still get 8’ of granite either way. I’m just always trying to get the most storage space possible.

I have your top option and love it, especially when it's just my husband and me.. I don't like sitting in a line with no one facing each other. It's not conducive to conversation or interaction. I really like what @typeandrun shared too.

Someone mentioned 24" elbow room for each seat, but you also need to consider a comfortable depth for the seating overhang. NKBA recommends 15" minimum at counter height, so you need that for both overhangs. And don't forget to consider the front overhang and back cover panel, which will reduce the seating overhang. For your first option, the top should be a minimum of ap 40-42" deep, depending on the thickness of the cover panel (cabinet skin, paneling, or faux door panel), and the front overhang (I like 1", but the standard is 1.25-1.5").

You might have already planned for those issues, but we see many posts where someone has planned a 36" deep island counter, not realizing that seating overhang won't actually be 12" deep on the finished product.