A floor plan would be helpful, but a double island wouldn't be my first choice.

Thanks for the input. What do you base your comment on? I can't send plans yet as they are still at the designers. I just don't want to make a mistake and have the designer configure the kitchen with a double island if it is not functional. We are downsizing and I am struggling with losing a 350 sq foot kitchen that I would have added a double island in had we reno'd. So far the proposed kitchen is 19 by 19 feet, open concept to dining and living. It is very common to have 15 plus people at any time in my kitchen. Though I want everyone around me, I would prefer that they hang at another Island rather than my cook Island. Right now I cook and prepare using my perimeter counters with my back to the crowds that take over my island. I would like to partake in the convo while I am still cooking. My husband is just as active with cooking and that it why we are toying with the cook island that we can cook from both sides. My husband is a builder and will build our house. I know we will end up with a smaller kitchen than the 19 x 19. I am just not sure how much smaller I can go as the crowds keep getting larger as Grandchildren are now starting. I am willing to lose sq footage in the overall footprint but keeping the kitchen larger as we have found that most people hang out in the kitchen. Most dinner parties I have attended end up in the blessed kitchen. I guess that is why its called the heart of the home.

Any island that the cooktop could be reached from two sides would be so unsafe that it should have orange pastic safety fencing around it. Any kitchen that is large enough to truly have two islands in it will be so large that you won't need to go to the gym to get a workout.

Don't mistake ridiculous fads for good functional designs.

It seems to me that "more grandchildren" means more young people = more opportunities for accidents. I would keep the cooktop on a perimeter wall for safety. Perhaps you could put a mirrored backsplash on that wall so you could see behind you.