The room is 20 ft long and 11.5 ft wide. I have a few extra feet of width in that area on the right where the pantry cabinets and wall oven are. The island is only 27 inches wide and I have 3 ft clearance on either side. Don't even think of having less than this, I would say. When the chairs are pulled out on the island, its already pretty tricky to get past. Ideally you would want more clearance than that if you want to have seating at the island. Still, I would totally do it again, because this was for me the best way to get both seating _and_ a ton of work space into my long, thin kitchen. Good luck with your project! Kitchen renos are so much fun, but also very daunting...