Nice! It reminds me a lot of my kitchen layout.

Questions: Do you need a desk/paperwork area?

Do you need a bookcase for cookbooks? (I put mine under the island on one end.)

Suggestions:

..Add a prep sink in the island away from the kitchen sink, but leave room for stuff on both sides.

..We put an open box in with an outlet at eye level for our MW so we could buy anyone and not a $$ need one with fancy surround. We put nested doors on it so we can hide it if we want to. The oven went underneath which left room for storage above and below.

.. I insisted on an electrical outlet in the front of my island for use with appliances as makers seem to make the power cords shorter all the time.

Concern: My sense of massing in a room is a strong one, so if it were my kitchen, I'd be careful about too much mass on the fridge wall and not enough by the sink. I'd walk in feeling it was lopsided all the time. Of course, YMMV.

Afterthought: Wondering how it would look if you didn't center the cooktop on the island, but a window instead with the fridge on the left and the cooktop/hood on the right? I also wouldn't want a gap in the counter with wall space as sketched above. I'd want a continuous run of counter. That would tighten up the work triangle and it would give you an opportunity for another lazy susan in the corner.

For fun, here's our kitchen...

That's a bar area to the left of the ovens, and a desk area to the right.

Interested to watch this develop. We are slowly progressing towards an extension with new kitchen and that is sort of how the architect laid it out with fridge on one end and sink on the other. I think an island prep sink will be necessary for me, but I prefer the look of ’one big beautiful flat island 🙊

Are you planning for a full depth fridge with deeper panels up to the front edge?

Happy planning and realization!

What design are you using for a pantry?

I much prefer the balance in drawing #1 vs #2. Moving the refrigerator makes it look odd and too bulky.

I agree with most of what Annie said. I don’t care for microwaves being out in the open and wish I had put mine behind doors. I could still do it as I have double ovens with a separate shelf for the microwave. In my plan for a mini-remodel, I’ll do this somehow. I also agree with adding a prep sink, maybe over near the refrigerator end rather than centered. I also love our pull-out trash bins in the island, narrow spots for trays and baking sheets so hopefully you can work in some of those type things in your design. Outlets on the side of the island are a must. It’s where I always end up using the mixer, slow cooker, immersion blender and several other small appliances. So consider where you will be storing your most-used items like that.

Good luck and happy planning with all the new stuff!

I like the top plan. I would not have the cabinets turn the corner though. I would run them all the way to the corner. Pretty much the same useful storage space with a cleaner look.

To me, the window offsets the refrigerator to balalnce the room.

Consider a microwave drawer in the island or in the outside lower cabinet run to one side of the cooktop. If you put a prep sink in the island, the worst part of your triangle (fridge to sink to wash produce, etc), would be moved to make a secondary triangle.

Option #1 gets my vote. I would make the two upper corner cabinets to the right of cooktop go down to the counter. You can hide small appliances, maybe even a small microwave (depending on its use/size).

Our current home has a lower cabinet microwave with tilt door - I would suggest one with a drawer instead of your current plan.

We have never had a prep sink in any of our houses and have not missed having one. I'd rather have a large main sink and skip the prep.

I like #1, except i would swap the sink and stove top and add another window above the sink.

I like #1 as well. What are your views out the windows and your sun exposure? I love Sherry's idea of a sink with a bank of windows that you can see from the rest of the space. If the view is a fence or unsightly, or a harsh Southern exposure, maybe not.

I think the island is too deep. 24" deep base cabinets plus a 24" deep overhang, which is very generous would be 51" with the top. I am not sure why it has to be 62". Maybe there is two layers of storage, one opening under the overhang, but you are going to be on your hands and knees or sitting on the floor to access it.

Also, the 48" is generous on the refrigerator side if you do not have a full depth refrigerator, but that 48" can shrink almost down to 36" including handle if you get certain full depth fridges. 36" is still fine, because many houses have 36" wide hallways, but it won't look like your drawing.

I would analyze how much extra space you get by having the uppers turn the corner at the sink wall. You may have almost as much just running the uppers straight to the corner on the range wall and it may look cleaner.

I also feel like the sink and cooktop location should be switched if you can eliminate/move the window on that end. Then I'd move the ovens to the other end by the new cooktop location and move the refrigerator closer to the sink wall (currently the cooktop wall.)

Thanks so much for all your comments!

To answer a few of your questions.

I don't need a desk area. I use one of the spare bedrooms as an office. Works great for me.

The windows on the range side look out to the side walkway. There are trees between our house and the neighbors, so it's a nice green view. The wall I placed the sink is our view to the yard and ocean. The sink on that wall is non-negotiable. LOL! We are making that window a slider and putting a counter extending into the patio for serving/entertaining.

I don't want or need a prep sink in the island. The sink will be a large single bowl workstation sink. I prefer the look and function of a clean island.

The fridge will be built in. I've gone back and forth with having a drawer microwave in the island, putting it above the wall oven or hiding it in a cabinet somewhere.

I am leaning towards having the cabinets run straight to the corners. I like the way it looks and I think I have enough space for everything I need to store.

I played with moving the fridge because it gives me a solid wall of cabinetry, a look I like and tightens the work triangle a bit.

Re: island size... I was planning on having back to back cabinets. I had that in my last kitchen and it was useful for storing rarely used items. I have a lot of those and currently keep them in the hall linen closet. I do want a 15" overhang. It will be supported.

It's a big kitchen and I worry a little about the 48" aisles. Is it too much?

These are pics of the kitchen currently. The corner sink is a nightmare at cleanup time and the dark cabinets are beginning to suck the life out of me. This is a listing photo. We did paint the walls. Couldn't get rid of the raspberry color fast enough!

Hm, a lot depends on how you cook and where you prep. What I personally have quibbles about: I like the back wall elevation with two windows from #1 very much, but the fridge does seem far, so I'd take #2 and scoot the range to the right by a couple feet, remove that countertop column (which I think are not a good idea in 90% of kitchens) and get a second window between range and fridge. I don't like how all the windows are at one end of the kitchen in 2- seems like you'd have a really dark left side to the room with no windows and tall cabinetry.

The trash ought to be between the range and sink I think! In these plans, where are you setting your stuff while you wash and chop it? Seems like there would be inconvenient steps to get to the trash. Myself, I always prep between sink and stove, and dislike having to pivot with a cutting board across an aisle.

The island is overly large and tiring to walk around IMO - larger aisles would be more spacious and proportional even after the island is shrunk 6" on every side.

I agree with Palimpsest not to turn the uppers around the corner as in #1.

You're definitely pretty close, I think just some tweaking is in order!

How many other meals in a day do you cook, and how many are cold prep? You want to accommodate all those, too, so are, say, your sandwich or cold salad ingredients close to the plates, silverware, sink, and maybe microwave or toaster oven?

Okay, if sink location is fixed then #1 isn't bad though I'd eliminate that one little upper cabinet on the sink wall. I prefer a more compact kitchen myself but I don't know that 48" aisles are a bad thing. It would be the 16 foot journey from sink to fridge that would probably get to me but you may be used to, and prefer, a larger kitchen space.

48" is probably better in a kitchen like this.

You will have trouble cleaning the middle of that island unless you are very tall and have really long arms. That's my concern.

Don't know if this helps but our current island is 55" x 102" with 36" of back to back cabinets. The doors on the (3) barstool side look like panels (knobs are high and not easily seen), and those cabinets are only deep enough to hold dinner plates and holiday casserole dishes. It is easy to clean the center from either side. Full size DW, large sink and pull-out trash cabinet on the cooking side.

42" to 48" is a nice aisle width in larger spaces.

Yes usually 4-1/2 feet up to around 5 is reachable for most people, the base here is 62 so the top will be 63-1/2" -66" depending on how the overhang side is handled so it's that last couple inches. And I would probably want 15"-18" of knee space under the seating side rather than the 12" shown if that is where you are going to be sitting a lot.

So much depends on how you use your kitchen. DH and I often work the kitchen together...he's clean up crew and I'm the cook. So having the sink and DW on a separate wall is great as that's his clean-up area. Having the prep sink in the island works for me as that becomes my work triangle, out of the way of the clean up area. It works great for company too as I often use my island as the buffet, and for clean up, it goes by the sink so the island is again free to lay out for desserts. It works well for us.

We use our MW all the time, so a drawer would never work for us. I never know how you clean the top of the inside of those kinds of MWs. Plus we sometimes need to watch as it's cooking, like for oatmeal and wouldn't want to bend down to do it.

Annie, you make some good points about MWs. I use mine all the time, too. I don't even think about it. Although I have a small kitchen, there's some counter space that wouldn't be useful for anything else, and it's basically hidden by my non-counter-depth fridge. I don't begrudge the space it occupies and don't mind its looks either. Watching it is important: melted butter comes to mind.

How exciting! Hope it is an enjoyable and smooth project.

Microwaves are the TVs of kitchens. Meaning something we all use a lot but no one wants to look at. I have done 5 kitchens now where someone tried to convince me to install an expensive MW, and I have resisted each time. MW are cheap. IMHO they should be bought as stand alone items housed on a shelf or in a cabinet (or, of course, under a basket!). They should also be at eye height. Of course, so should your oven. Therefore I would not put one over the other. YMMV. I was most happy with having the MW in a separate cabinet with pocket doors, on an eye level shelf, just above a counter level coffee maker.

On a totally separate note, the rental we are in right now has an island parallel to a run of cabs with the stove, etc., not unlike your set up. One thing they did that I have really liked is they have drawers at each end of the island. I like it a lot because when someone needs to access the drawers, they don't get in the way of someone working in the triangle. Just a thought.

Here is the set up.

"I was most happy with having the MW in a separate cabinet with pocket doors, on an eye level shelf, just above a counter level...." That's my arrangement too, only I have an oven underneath. Most practical.

But how can your regular oven and your MW both be at eye level if one is over the other? Do you change shoes, LOL?

Yes, your work triangle is way too big. And your island is a barrier island for #1. But the thing you could do to fix it (prep sink) is off the table, so I guess you'll just have to get used to walking around the island and carrying things a long way from the fridge to the sink.

I had a kitchen like this in my last house with a smaller island (5') and the fridge to sink distance bothered me immensely. I wished I had a prep sink. For someone who cooks a lot, I'm surprised you won't put one in for a kitchen this size.

Also comments like "I have never had a prep sink and have never needed one" are completely irrelevant to your kitchen and your cooking style. Not every kitchen needs a prep sink (my current one does not have one or need one, although I tried really hard to move the main sink to the wall to get one in the island), and not everyone cooks daily from scratch so their needs may not be the same as yours.

Your second option trying to create a nook for the cooktop is not great. Those nooks are done for big statement ranges, and they go to the ceiling and all the way around to encapsulate the hood. They are more for a wow factor and less for actual USE (in this case, it looks really awkward). It also puts a huge roadblock between the sink & cooktop in your kitchen, which means you'll have to pick stuff up to move it around the cabinet if you prep where you should prep in this kitchen (between the cooktop & sink). Also shelves above cooktops are just not a great idea IMO. Stuff just gets greasy.

The thickness of your backsplash will also impact the window depth. If you are not doing the entire wall height that might make trimming the window odd. Not that it can't be done but I think it's challenging to do well. Also read the horror stories about using quartz (if that's what you're using) as a backsplash on this forum, especially if you are doing a gas cooktop.

DW should be to the right of the sink to get it out of the prep/cooking space so switch your trash & DW.

I also agree that your island is too big. Remember to include counter overhangs in aisle measurements.

All of that being said, if you are building in your fridge and paneling it, I vote #2 without the nook cabinet and with windows on either side of the cooktop. I would also get a range, not a cooktop & wall oven (2 main reasons: cooktops have the smallest usable cooking space, and personally I do a lot of cooktop-to-oven cooking so the walk to the oven with hot things is not great. A 24" range has similar cooktop space as a 36" cooktop). #2 at least solves the barrier island problem. Your fridge to sink distance is still too much but it's your kitchen so if you are OK with that it's your choice.

I vote #1 with a prep sink in the island otherwise.

I wished I had a prep sink.

I have three sinks in our beach house kitchen (including the Butler's Pantry and Pantry Annex.) The vast majority of the time I use only one ... and I cook a lot, from scratch. I also have 2 D/W and 99% of the time only use one.

Part of it is I don't like having to clean up both sinks. I will think I am all done and then find, like a coffee cup someone put in another sink. But really I just rarely feel the need. I clean as I go so there is always room in the sink for whatever task.

I also agree that islands look better without sinks.

Efficiency is only one part of a kitchen. I have made choices from time to time, in both K and BA design, where I chose form over function. It's a legitimate trade off sometimes.

I missed that there is a window in front of the sink. Yes, that is a great location. I do not like countertop microwaves, or ones in a closet. I want mine to look like the ovens. I use one several times daily. I do not want to go into the pantry or remove a basket. I want it built in.

My son has a huge island and he loves it. Mine is not that big, cabinets are 12” deep. One faces the kitchen and two face the den. There is an overhang toward the den for an eating bar. I use the cabinets under the bar for crock pots and baking dishes. I love it and it works fine.

@mtnrdredux_gw

I think a lot of how you use your kitchen probably has to do with how it's arranged.

In this kitchen, if there's only a sink in the island and no DW, then it would be natural to put dishes etc. at the window sink and use the island sink only for prep. It's separating functions. If there is no DW at the island then there's no reason to put a dirty dish by that sink. I don't know how your kitchen is laid out but it's understandable if you have sinks & DWs in multiple places that it's hard to keep things separate.

And yes, you're right, there are definitely choices the OP can make between function and form, but my reading of her question was asking about function.

Regarding looks...there's a big difference between a large single sink in an island and a smaller prep sink. Personally I would rather have the pretty significant increase in function than the perceived increased beauty of an uninterrupted island. But that's me. I nearly didn't build my house (production build) because the 8' island had the sink & DW but insufficient prep space. Thankfully the builder let me extend the island to 10' and move the sink & DW to one side so I have 5' of prep adjacent. My entire work triangle is 22' and it's amazing. The only problem with my kitchen is the location of the ovens (hence my preference for a range). So I pick function over form in my kitchen every time, especially form that's kind of arbitrary (island sinks aren't horrible ugly behemoths - I feel like most people react more to the clutter around the sink than the sink itself, TBH - and for a prep sink it's really just there to assist in cooking, not cleaning).

Anyway, my 2 cents. Option 2 to minimize the barrier island and tighten up the work zone a little, with windows like Option 1, no cabinet on the counter, and panels on the fridge.

No sinks in island, ever, for me.

I have 2 ovens, one under counter in the island which I do have to bend down to see into, the other is under the MW so the top is about 6" above counter height. Yes I have to bend down, but not very much. I posted a photo upthread.

Sherry, DH loves that there's a prep sink in our island. Part of it is because I'm out of his way when he's at the main sink. The other part is, it's in front of the refrigerator, and above the fridge is a TV he watches every a.m. So he sits at the island for breakfast every morning and props his newspaper up on the faucet to read while he watches the news.

I do so appreciate all the comments and suggestions!

I have a new idea(actually not so new).

This was my last kitchen in a house on the east coast.

And this was my last kitchen in CA.

I'd really like to have seating at the island facing each other in our 'last' kitchen,

I realize that this configuration would not work for everyone. But for us, it will be rare that someone will be sitting at the island while I am cooking or cleaning up. The Island would still be 96" long but the width would be 48", allowing for full size back to back cabinets. We'd be losing the 15" cabinets of the last design. We'd still have ample clearance on both sides of the island.

We really liked sitting face to face in our other kitchens rather than in a row. Also, my DH loves this idea 'cause he can sit and see the TV in the family room.

What say the board?

What if you flipped the latest island left to right?

My hubby does not put a toe in the kitchen if I am there. He only sneaks in if I go to bed or leave the house. I do not know why, he just does.

He eats what I cook, except when he does not and complains. I never really know why???

I like it Czarina. I 'd prefer backless stools or at least not black tho (understand they are probably placeholders>

What if you flipped the latest island left to right?

Because a chair in front of the range seems odd? Because they you are closer to the fridge (but further from the sink and I think a door to the outside)

I know I am jumping the gun but

The sink side of the island is more open to the family room. The fridge side of the island opens to the dining room.

Yes.. the pictured stools are just placeholders. I love those stools! Source?

Or rotate the island 90 degrees so you get the view and don't conflict with the stove.

I am also not a fan of the new island, for a few reasons.

Look at your previous kitchens. The place where people sat at the island was outside the cooking work zone in both cases. What you have here is seating right smack in the middle of your work zone. Assuming you want to prep on your island, your prep space will be right where those stools are. That means you have to move stools to prep, and it means you have to fully clean up your space before you can eat there. If you like sitting at your island, backless stools are probably not the way to go, especially for aging in place.

Flipping the island is better but it puts seating in your landing zone for the fridge.

DH doesn't ever sit and talk with you while you cook?

Honestly if you really want seating on 2 sides, then put seating at the end by the fridge so you're in an L shape, and make your fridge aisle MUCH bigger (FWIW my fridge has 48" clear to the island and I wish I had 6 more inches). Seating in the work zone is just not good.

If watching TV while you're in the kitchen is a priority, consider putting a TV in your kitchen.

I like the latest island idea. In the only kitchen we've ever remodeled we had seating on three sides of the island (much smaller island). I loved that and would never choose to have all the seats on one side. I always sat at the seat with the view if it was just me at the island.

Our lake home has a prep sink. About the only thing we use it for is cleaning the coffee pot. It's in a corner facing a wall and I can't stand to do anything facing a wall in the kitchen. I've ruled out buying a house that has a sink facing a wall (since we don't buy houses that need new kitchens).

Our new house in SC has a prep sink in the small island and both it, and the main sink, look out the window with the view. I seem to use this one much more - mostly for rinsing and draining produce. Our main sink is a normal size sink and it's often in use for washing/draining things that don't go in the DW. Plus I have kind of an obsession about "clean" things not doing in a "dirty" sink. Could never go for the single bowl as clean side and dirty side are so ingrained in my thinking.

The biggest problem I have with sinks in the island is splashed water that you don't notice until you set something in it. That would probably be less of a problem with an eight foot island - you could stay far away from any water. For smaller islands I like them to be free and clear - especially of sinks and cooktops.

https://www.ballarddesigns.com/holden-stool/606866

I can't stand to do anything facing a wall in the kitchen.

100%. This is why I always thought desks in a K were miserable; most of them face a wall

I cannot bear a sink that isn't under a window, and that includes the main sink in an island.

My stove faces a wall, as do most, and that's never bothered me. But I don't stand there idly washing dishes or rolling out pie dough. Time at the stove is pretty focused on the food in the pan or pot.

I agree with sinks facing a wall. That is a total deal breaker for me. Washing dishes is not enjoyable and having a wall in my face makes it less so.

I could live with sink in island if it's the only good option, but much prefer it in front of a window.

I'm not a fan of the last island idea because as mentioned the seating area is right smack in the middle of the work zone. That would bother me (and I hardly cook!).