I'm beginning to plan my kitchen remodel. The house is a 1973 ranch style. I want the remodel to suit my needs (working with fabrics, quilting in groups, the occasional sit down dinner party of 6-8, and less often a holiday parties for larger groups where people are mingling thru from living room to kitchen to patio. I want the kitchen to appeal to future home buyers as I'll probably move on in 5-7 years.

The room is about 20x22 ft, with an L shape kitchen in one corner, and room for my dining table diametrically opposite. The dining room table is 10 ft at its longest (quilt and sit down dinner parties), can be collapsed to 5 ft for 'mingling-flow thru' parties.

The current island is about 50 x 30 inches and sits at an angle (see current floor plan 1 sq = 1 ft). My designer is suggesting an island 87 inches long by 45 inches wide (countertop dimension, underlying cabinetry is 84x42) which is great for storage, but I'm worried it is too wide and will interfere with the flow at dinner parties as the island would be only about 40-42 inches from the dining room table - if a person is sitting there, then the between island and person walk space is about 30-33 inches.

Because I do work with fabric (quilting, dressmaking), and crafts and the island is a PERFECT height for cutting fabric, my friend is encouraging me to go with the designers width of 45. I did a mock up by adding some boxes to my current island and the length is great; just not sure about the width. I do plan to have a microwave drawer on the kitchen side of the island, but the surface is to be one solid unbroken space.

I would like some opinions, especially if you too use your kitchen for fabric crafts.