I hate maneuvering around those end caps, especially when I whack my knee getting in and out.

We have the overhang style and much prefer it because you can somewhat face each other, so it's better for conversation. Ours actually an 18" overhang on the narrow end of the island, so people can sit on three sides if they want. Even if you just have two sides available for seating, that's preferable to sitting in a row "lunch counter"-style at an enclosed island.

We also are a family of 4 if that helps - we have a 5yo and 2yo.

I have an overhang and love it. Def do one on the side farthest away from your working area. And it’ll be ideal to seat 4 people.

I have the enclosed style and love it especially since the end can be seen from the living room.

If you want someone to be sitting at the end as you show, the enclosed style won't work for you. Having seating on the sides is a PRO in my opinion - and it looks like you have plenty of space for a person sitting there and walkway.

ETA: if you would consider a prep sink, I think it would be a great addition to your kitchen.

@cpartist ours will also be visible (from the dining room, stairs, and foyer). Do you have any issues with people hitting their knees or having trouble sitting down or getting up from the island? Does it bother you to have everyone sitting "diner style" at the island?

DS no and no. Now my island is 84” wide so I only have 3 seats at the island. And we use it mostly for chatting or for breakfast.

I love the look of enclosed, but chose overhang with corner legs because we are a family of 6 and needed seating on 3 sides . The legs still make it a little harder to get in and out than if there were none, but I love the peace of mind having the counter extra supported (I have steel supports as well). The legs give the island a more furniture like appearance.

Overhang for added seating. It depends on what function you want—if you want more cabinet function, go enclosed. If you want more functional seating, go with overhang.

I'm jelly of those with large islands, our new home will only have your standard 12 sq foot prep island.

@lucky998877 thanks for the reply! We're considering an option with legs as a happy medium. Any things you'd suggest to consider? E.g,, shape, position, etc?

I did a tapered leg, I lean towards modern without going completely modern. I had a small detail about 8 or 9 inches down from the top, past where the skirt hits the legs. Details are very important to me, so I was adamant about getting the exact leg that I had envisioned, and my cabinet guy was really great about it. I had the outlets placed in the skirt, you have to look for them to realize that I have outlets in both ends.

We did enclosed, you can see our island from all the main areas so I just thought it looked more finished. It seats 4, no bumped knees yet, we have room in between each counter stool. Family of 4.

Ignore the bad lighting and unfinished backsplash in this pic.

I also like the look of enclosed much better. If I needed the extra seating then I would add some type of leg on the corner. To me, the open counter just looks like something is missing/unfinished and the counter is just floating out there. Also more risk that someone (cough men/boys cough) will decide to sit or lean heavily on it, not even thinking about the fact that there is nothing supporting that "seat".

@itsourcasa your kitchen looks amazing!! How long of an island did you go with to fit the four chairs? Ever mind not having one on the end for meals/chatting?

@lucky998877 I was wondering about ways to hide the outlets so your picture is super helpful!

I like the open - for looks and functionality. I guess if I wanted a more formal look I'd go for the enclosed.

I personally prefer the "enclosed" style. I LOVE Islands...mine is going to be 5.5*9 with no sink, just huge workspace! And barstools on the 1 side only. :)

Thanks! Our island is 9.5x4.5 and we only eat there as a family when it’s a quick breakfast or lunch. When the 4 of us eat at the same time we eat at the dining room table. It’s a few steps away, open floor plan. Usually the kids eat there or when we have family over the cousins eat there and adults at the dining room table.

This enclosed legged island has worked out way better than I thought it would. It's my husband and me most of the time and I never sit there. We have 3 grandchildren so we have 3 counter chairs to accommodate them.

Consider changing the shape of the island. Make it a ”D” shape. The straight side still towards the kitchen, the curved edge would soften the design, no sharp corners. Also allows more seating space and visual contact during conversations. Use decorative corbels spaced under the overhang for support. No support legs needed, more open space. Also easier for cleaning the floor. No nooks and corners .

DS - an idea to hide the outlets: we have a false drawer in our island on hinges. It looks like part of the cabinetry until it drops down to reveal the outlets.

Outlets - personally, I would definitely avoid placing them where people will be sitting directly in front of, for fear that something would spill on/into the outlet. Or worse yet, the littlest of fingers would play with them.

Enclosed vs open - what if you did both? You could enclose the end without the overhang and the overhang end could have a leg, or two. Some people might disagree, but I think it would look ok, and could actually provide visual interest/uniqueness.

Our island is a pie shape, with cabinets in both the straight sides.

No island here. WAAAY too small of a kitchen. We have a pass through to the dining room that had an overhang on the kitchen side with room for knees. We decided the 'counter' should be double what it is, and the over hang should be on both sides of the pass through so DH replaced and now we have seating for four instead of two. The biggest mistake I see in islands is putting working space in them i.e. cook top, sink etc. WHY!!? Not esthetically pleasing to be seated near a stove top or sink for those eating or just hanging out. IMHO!!

Definitely an overhang style. The enclosed ends limit the number and placement of stools and you will always be hitting your legs/knees on the ends.

I’d go with open design without a support leg. Instead, use a hidden support bracket under the countertop.

https://cdn3.volusion.com/xkjmn.zfyxh/v/vspfiles/photos/ISS-3.jpg?v-cache=1558277635

Open. Your kids are little now. Imagine them with their friends after school or on sleepovers. The more, the merrier.

We planned an overhang so we could seat people on 2 or 3 sides. As soon as I saw it, I knew it had to be changed. Without the enclosed legs, the island looked skimpy and off-scale. If your kitchen was huge and you could do back to back cabinets to increase the visual "bulk" of the island, overhang works well. But if your island is one cabinet deep as shown, it looks unsubstantial and not as high-end with just an overhang. It's especially obvious if you're seeing the end of the island from another room or doorway, as you show. Function is important but it has to look good too. We can seat the same number of people, just on smaller stools.

Sarah Richardson designed this island. I have always liked it.

Overhang all the way! More seats the better - especially if seats can face each other somewhat like you have with the seat at the end. A “D” shape island is a great idea to allow for more seats that can also face each other. My island seats 5 even though we are a family of 4 (it has a gentle bend between seats 3 and 4.) Every time we have company, those are taken immediately - even though we have a spacious dining room. It’s the heart of the home. I’ve been to a home with a “fantasy island” that was simply huge and fantastic! Lots of workspace, dish space, craft space and of course gathering space. Use supports instead of legs. We have outlets under our overhang and use them all and never had a problems with spills (they’re under an overhang). All the best!

Our 4' x 6 1/2' island has enclosed ends with no appliances interrupting the work surface. There is room for 4 backless stools on one side which snug totally underneath when not in use. We added 5" drawers on the seating side which are ideal for placemats, tea towels, etc. We don't eat at the island. It is more for perching at snack time or to keep the cook company. Enclosed ends with decorative panels & posts make the island look like a piece of furniture.

you said "we plan to use it for meal prep and hanging out as a family of 4 or with guests during parties post-COVID" -so I think you need a overhang -that is the best for "hanging out"

Overhang to allow for additional seat. Use backless barstools that fit under overhang when not in use. Use decorative supports. I have backless barstools and while I did not think that they would be comfortable (Ballard Designs), they are and you don’t sit in them that long anyway. Mine are 15+ years old and are in great shape. Backless stools allow for clean sight lines and non interrupted view of beautiful island. Also like idea of D shape but space may not allow.

I've had kitchens with plain islands, islands with cooktop, islands with sink. All without seating. Our daughter has a plain island with seating on one side. So I've experienced several different kinds.

My favorite kitchen -which worked best for me - had no island. Where an island would be, we had a big kitchen table and chairs and a great light. The kitchen was L-shaped and I was able to work efficiently and still have family and friends close enough to enjoy, but not in my way.

If I were to design a kitchen again, I would move the kitchen table slightly away from the center and have a small work island on wheels for occasions when more space was needed.

When we replaced our island with a new one we eliminated the overhang to allow for deeper drawers for storage. We never used the old island for seating anyway so eliminating the overhang while keeping the countertop the same size and adding more storage made sense.

I am not a pro by a LONG stretch of the imagination but I like the enclosed look a lot better but as 24" is recommended width to plan on for each chair at an island, can't you still have 4 chairs if you enclose as you said you have 97" across in the knee-well ?

Very similar to our new kitchen's layout. We're going pretty contemporary, so going "waterfall" on the island. Quartz countertop material on the sides as well as the top, with a mitre joint.

If you like the enclosed version, I don't see why you couldn't extend the length of the island to accommodate 4 chairs in a row? With the open design, you show enough clearance to walk behind a person seated on the short side. If going with the enclosed design, you won't need that clearance since no one will be sitting there, so you can extend the long side of the island just enough to have 4 chairs AND enough room to walk by the short side of the island.

open. more room for more seating. plus if somebody wants to stand and work there, there is a place for them to put their feet.

Open, with no seating on end unless you have a mansion.

Open, with no seating on end

agreed -- keep the extra seat stored away and only bring it out when needed.

We have almost this exact layout for our kitchen and dining area. I went with an open counter so we could fit as many stools as possible. I have 4 kids and (pre-covid) lots of friends wandered in from the yard for a snack or meal and sat at that island. We have 4 stools on the long side and I love that we can fit a chair at the end so it feels more conversational. In fact if I could have made the island a bit wider I would put two stools at the end. Once you fill it with stools it no longer looks like a floating counter in my opinion. I also prioritized the way our family lives and uses the space over aesthetics whenever I had to make that choice. We love have the dining table where it is in this layout too. We eat at the table often and it's nice and convenient. Even for casual meals if my husband and I are at the table and the kids at the island we all feel like we're still eating together. My guess is you will be happy to maximize its use and not worry so much about looks when all is said and done!

@kim k, what are the dimensions of your island?

I’m late to the party but will add my .02. I don’t care for the look of the plain overhang. To me it makes the island look unfinished, and if you have a decent size overhang it looks unbalanced. We wanted seating on two sides of our island so we went with a leg. The front kitchen side of the island has a panel between the leg and cabint to give a finished look. We can easily sit people both on the long side and on the end and, in my opinion, it looks more like a finished piece than the open overhang would. We have no issue with people bumping knees but our overhang is large to give comfortable seating too. We did a larger overhang on the back and have stools with backs there. The side overhang backs up to the dining area and we did a smaller overhang with a stool with no back there (not shown in the picture).

@kazmom, thank you for your island review and photos. I too am having the "legs or no legs" island debate. I'm glad to hear there hasn't been an issue with hitting knees at the island. Like yours, we will have seating on two sides with one, short side with seating backing up to the dining room. Could you provide how many feet you have between the short island side and the dining room chairs when pushed in? We will have a 4 foot walkway between the island's short side and the dining room and a round table and chairs in the dining room which I think will be plenty of walking space even with seated diners at both areas. Also, does the short side of the island match up with the run of wall cabinets nearest the dining area or is the island length a bit shorter than the wall cabinet run length? I've seen it done both ways with island seating on that side backing up to a dining area.

@JJ Mekai ours will be 103" x 38"

We have a 9 foot island with waterfall edge. Five stools on one side and works great for us. Kids colour and do art all the time at it.