It's uncommon to have a cleanup sink on the island. More common in large spaces but still uncommon is a second sink, a prep sink on the island.

I would rather have my island clear - moving the sink would be my decision.

I do have a Q for you - why is the countertop end slanted in the pantry?

Sink placement really shifts the “feel” and workflow of a kitchen. Since you don’t have a window there, putting the sink on the island can work, but I totally understand your hesitation about having dish drying visible from the dining or family area (that’s a legit usability + aesthetics concern).

Here's how I’d think it through: If you put the sink on the perimeter wall, you can hide drying racks in vanities, under-counter pans, or pull-out trays, and visually keep the island cleaner so it acts more as prep / social space. You also avoid plumbing runs through the center, which simplifies routing under the floor or island. On the other hand, if the island is structurally set, you can use it for a secondary (prep) sink rather than the main cleanup sink, that gives you efficiency without putting the mess center stage.

One of your commenters already said it’s “uncommon to have a cleanup sink on the island… more common … is a second sink, a prep sink on the island.” Houzz Also, someone mentioned they’d rather have their island fully clear.

1. Consider the distance you have to walk with veggies from the fridge over to the right hand wall should the sink live there. It is a far distance. Would you want a small prep sink in the island for cooking and your clean up sink and drying area on the far right wall?

The issue I never understood with a prep sink in an island though is if I'm prepping items on the island, I'd be tempted to throw my prep bowls, messy whisks, grater, and what not into the sink that is right there - the prep sink instead of walking the dirty stuff across the kitchen. For folks with a prep sink, how do you resist the temptation to throw your messy dripping cooking items into the prep sink when it is right there?

I vote to get your dish sink out of the island. But am curious about all of the other implications of doing so.

2. "meeting with the cabinet company in the next week or so to design the kitchen"

Have you considered using a kitchen designer to design your kitchen rather than having it designed by the cabinet company?

I used a custom mom and pop millwork company and the owner was a certified kitchen designer. She designed our kitchen and was incredibly honest and considerate about the layout and talked us out of buying some cabinets that she thought we didn't really need. This is incredibly unusual. Most often when a cabinet company is designing your kitchen, their primary goal is to sell as many cabients as possible, not to design the most functional kitchen possible.

We just removed the sink from our island and love it!

@dani_m08 Thank you for commenting :-) I have no idea why the counter is slanted...Maybe the drafter(he was not very good :-( ) thought it would be in the walkway...that is not set either. I had even thought about putting the dishwasher and main sink in the pantry but maybe it would be a hassle to take the dishes in their.

@Home Interiors With Ease Did you move it to a wall with a window, or is it windowless? If windowless I would love to see pictures!

@Kendrah The fridge is on the same wall

I I put the main sink in our pantry I was thinking something like this...

Cldean17….originally we had two sinks one in the island and one under the window…the island sink was just in the way when entertaining and took up so much space. I was fortunate to already have a sink under the window…now we have a nice big open island so glad we removed it….I would say do whatever you can to keep sink on the perimeter..you will be glad you did! here is the before and after…now I have a a big open island!

So many ways to make it a unique area for the sink without a window..have fun with the design!

You could do a small prep sink in the pantry if you feel you would really need one…and do sink on the side wall in kitchen with dishwasher…we have a second dishwasher we kept in the island for when we have parties..we installed a 39” stainless work station sink and it does it all.

@Home Interiors With Ease Thank you! I think I am going to do it on that permieter wall. I have 3 kids and we almost always have something drying. I would hate that visible to the dining and family room all the time. I think I will do a similar, full backsplash behind the sink and the stove top with an overhead light above the sink and small shelf for artwork.

No doubt it will be beautiful and needed with 3 kids! have fun and be creative! would love to see your finished project..make sure to keep us posted and always here to help with other choices!

@Home Interiors With Ease Thank you again! I will try to remember to do that. I know island sinks are uncommon on Houzz, but where I live in Boise Idaho, almost all new builds have the sink in the island. Just seems so weird to me.

Our current kitchen is open to the living and dining room. The kitchen is an L plus an island, with the sink on the island - but because there is a walkway in front of the island, there will never be seating there of any kind (and the dining table is just 3 steps away). There is a pony wall between the sink and walkway that hides the island from view.

I know folks love their one-level islands, and I agree one level is far superior to a bar height counter with seating, but if the primary goal is to hide dishes and create some separation between the kitchen and the rest of the house, a pony wall can work. I have never had an island with seating, so I don't really get the appeal of sitting on a stool when I could sit in a chair at a table.

@cldean17 - I thought about clearances and making sure that there wasn't a pinch point when using the pantry - however, if you need to cut the countertop a little bit shorter, I'd rather do that than have the slanted counter. I don't think that it will need to be shortened very much + that slanted area isn't useful anyway.

I recenty commented on a post where the OP wanted renter friendly ideas for a sink that wasn't under a window. I posted MANY ideas - I was also limited to things that weren't big changes. I found quite a few ideas!

Home Interiors with Ease has posted some nice ideas. I like the two ideas of using shelves the best. Some people like to put a mirror that has grids like a window over a windowless sink. I think it looks fine - but I don't want to see myself while cleaing up dishes! You could put some plants that are low light ones - have a light fixture over the sink to provide some light for them. You could have some that "spill" down over the shelves.

If you think that you don't have a green thumb, I thought the same exact thing until three years ago. For the last three years, I have had an amazing patio full of containers of flowers/plants. Plus, I have some that I overwinter inside (after debugging). I really thought that I killed everything that I touched - and now I bring plants/flowers that look dead back to life. There just are some more touchy plants and some easy plants. I've added a few that are more difficult - but you start to get a feel for it. I even have one of my daughters - who never owned a plant ever - a little obsessed with plants. It's a fun hobby to share with her. If you are a plant person already, sorry for the long paragraph!

I don't think I'd like my sink in the pantry - unless I had another small one out in the kitchen.

I'm getting ready to renovated my kitchen - and I'm having a difficult time switching to a one basin sink because I use the other side to air dry a few items sometimes (and I like having it hidden). But I think I would love a big one basin sink - I just don't like seeing anything out looking messy.

On that note - while a two level island does provide some privacy from a mess by your sink, regardless of whether anyone sits at the island or not, I think it really closes up your kitchen + limits the usefulness of your island. Back when I graduated from law school, I built a house in 1996 and everyone had two level islands - my builder thought it was odd that I wanted my island to be all counter height. However, as my daughters grew up, they used to sit at the island while I was cooking (sometimes doing homework) + we'd have a "Christmas cookies baking party" each year - and the big empty island was awesome for that (plus, I'm half Italian - so, cooking in general is a big "family" event for us). Don't do a two level island. 😉

Another more functional for cooking option involves moving the frig. I'd consider moving it to the opposite end of the run its currently located on. A 48" counter for prep and then the sink with the dw to the right of the sink. Pantry blocking is less significant than how it currently blocks kitchen movement when doors are open. You get the added benefit of being closed to the sink and range.

Personally, I don't like relegating prepping or cleaning up to a "scullery" or pantry. It reminds me of the days when the Kitchen was a small closed off area b/c it was "woman's work" and it wasn't important enough to make it functional and pleasant. Or a servant's area. In both cases, it was "out of sight" b/c of the lesser value attributed to those areas - women and servants. Today, the Kitchen is the heart of the home.

Another thing to consider is that moisture, light, and heat are the enemies of food storage. Food should be stored in a dry, dark, and cool location. What hurts good food storage?

• Anti-Dry - sinks, MWs, freezers, refrigerators - all pump out moisture
• Anti-Dark - windows or interior lights on 24/7
• Anti-Cool - freezers, refrigerators, MWs, windows - they also pump out heat and windows let in heat

Whether a prep sink is used depends on location, location, location! If it's not properly located (as in the first picture Home Interiors posted), it will likely not be used. However, if it's placed where it's useable without, for example, having to run around the island, it will be used. In Home Interior's first pic, the prep sink is around the corner from the range, so not in a very useful location. Good design doesn't have you running all over the Kitchen to go to/from the sink & range or refrigerator & sink or refrigerator & range. A (prep) sink and the Prep Zone should either be next to the range along the perimeter (w/workspace between the sink and range) or across an aisle no more than 48" or so from the range.

The other aspect is sufficient workspace right next to the sink and adequate landing space on the other side of the sink. There should be at least 36" of clear workspace on one side of the sink for prepping food. 42" to 48" is much, much better. On the other side, there should be at least 12" for "emergency" landing space and to minimize splashing water on the floor.

In our previous home, for example, the prep sink was next to the cooktop with around 45" b/w them. It was used all the time and made the layout work. Without it, we would have had to cross a 6' aisle to go from the sink to the cooktop - too far. (It was on the peninsula in the corner.)

Here are two quick ideas (there's not enough info to give you a more detailed layout):

I do prefer your proposed sink location on the fridge wall. I'm amazed no one on this thread has commented yet on the aisle widths and that the island needs to shrink a bit?! You really need 4 foot aisles (the gold standard) with this much traffic going around and through the kitchen. Please know the stated measurements are measuring to the cabinet BOXES, and after doors, end panels, and countertop overhang happens, you will lose about 2" on Each side of aisle with cabinetry. So that work aisle stated as 3"6" now becomes 3"2", even less at the stove if you take a look at how far ranges and their handles stick out! To get closer to those 4 feet comfortable aisles that will be traveled with grocery bags in both hands and more than one human in the space, make the island 6" less deep on the stove aisle side, and 3" off each short side. I urge you to mock up the size of aisles with bulky solid furniture items in your home to get a real feel for what works in a working kitchen! You'll see why Houzzers tend to go on about aisle width by trying it for yourself.

I hope you added soundproofing in the wall between your powder room and the dining room. If you have standard drywall, you will most likely hear your guests in there when you are seated at the table.

A 24" wide pantry door is a bit narrow, but might be fine if you are all small/thin.

^^^ At the very least, a loud fan/vent in the Powder Room so it drowns out the noise!

Bathroom fans - quiet in private bathrooms, loud in public such as a Powder Room!

Julie is correct about the aisle widths in the layout if they are cabinet box-to-cabinet box. That's why you will notice that I moved the island in the quick layouts I posted. But, as I mentioned, without real measurements, I don't have a fully-detailed layout.

Aisles are measured to/from the items that stick out into the aisle the farthest - appliance handles, counter overhangs, etc. Cabinet-to-cabinet measurements only count the cabinet boxes, not the door/drawer fronts, hardware, or counter overhangs. The usual counter overhang is 1.5" beyond the front of the cabinet box, so the minimum depth of a perimeter is 25.5" (24" cab depth + 1.5" counter overhang).

Items that stick out even farther:

• Refrigerators - usually 31" deep for counter-depth, 36" for standard-depth, 27" for built-ins
• Ranges are usually around 28" deep when accounting for oven handles
• Rangetops (especially gas) are usually 26" to 27" to deep

One note: for non-fully-integrated refrigerators, the doors must stick out past all surrounding items (cabinets, walls, counter edges) to open fully. If they are against a wall or other item deeper than the refrigerator box, filler or other spacing will be needed. How much depends on the refrigerator doors and how much deeper the surrounding items are.

The minimum recommended work aisles are:

• 42" for a one-person (and always one-person) Kitchen. I.e., anyone working in the Kitchen is always working alone.
• 48" for more than one person.

For a walkway (no appliance, counter, cabinet, etc., on the walkway aisle), 36" is usually the minimum recommended width.

If there's seating on an aisle, minimum widths vary:

• Nothing but a blank wall behind the seats and no traffic (i.e., a "dead end): 36" to squeeze by
• Nothing but a blank wall but traffic passes thru to another room or similar: 44" to 48"
• If counter, appliance, or cabinets: 54" to 60"

your counter runs in the kitchens are chopped up into different areas. a bit of a negative in my opinion as each counter area is so minimally sized. do you think of the pantry as being your work area or something? I would place the opening to pantry where the stove is. You will come in from mudroom w groceries and who knows what and to walk right around and into pantry w all the counter might serve you better. avoid walking across your kitchen aisle all the time. once you shove the stove over to the right to reposition pantry entry why not wrap the kitchen around ? and make a U shape w peninsula ? ..place fridge over on left short wall. But at least you can get the L shape with shift of stove over and island can remain if you insist. for a large amount of space plan is not ideal.

pantry access right around from mudroom opening ..then connect stove run with right side of kitchen....much to gain by this.

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