I am working on renovating a family member's kitchen. The goal is to maximize seating as the house does not have a dining room. As such, we'd like to end up with 6-8 possible seats at the island. 2-4 stools wuld likely be stored in the basement and taken out for parties, leaving us with 4 full time seats. Point being, it's okay if the extra 2-4 seats are a bit tight, it just needs to be possible.

What I'm finding challenging is that the kitchen has two openings on opposite sides that really limit the layout as we need that walkway to be clear. The range and sink need to stay where they are, and the structure cannot be altered, so we can't shrink the big opening down. The fridge can be moved anywhere.

We'd like to avoid full uppers on the stove/sink wall to keep things light and open feeling. The dishwasher and fridge will be panelled to avoid having too much stainless. The hood will be a custom made wooden hood. Cabinets will be shaker, hardware is unlacquered brass, and counters will be soapstone. Additonally there is a 7'x7' window on the wall opposite the stove.

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Aesthetically we're going for a slightly modern take on a traditional english kitchen, along the lines of devol or plain english.

Thank you in advance.