I spend so much of my day at the sink. We have two small children and I really wanted to be able to see out into the house to watch over them. From the sink at the center island I can see nearly every corner of the living area. once we decided that, the "work triangle" dictated where the rest of the kitchen components would be.

do you like having your island all one level or does it bug you with kids and day to day living that the sink and dishes and mess is always visable to the living space?

I was adamant about a one-level island. A multi level island cuts your prep and serve space down drastically. I love having the open space to cook, roll dough, or set up a buffet. Also, I prefer the design. It fit more with the industrial, professional look I was going for. I feel that multi level islands are a little contemporary in their styling. In terms of our dishes etc, our sink is super deep- you can't see any dishes left in there! I'm admittedly a little OCD about that, but the deep sink helps. Also for cleaning purposes, a single level island is much easier to wipe down and keep clean.

super helpful insight! thanks so much!!!

How long is your sink? We are going to have the sink and the dishwasher in our 10ft island and I’m torn about sink size. Is 32-33” too much? Is it better to stick with 30”? What is the one in your photo?