My DH pondered your responses and looked again at the space with the island taped out. We have 3'7" on aisle walkway with two stools underneath island - we can increase that amount to 3'10" by moving 3" which gives us 3'3" on the other side where our shaw sink and DW are located. Remember on that wall we have to the right of shaw sink the DW a bit of counterspace then it jogs R to the east wall. To the left of the sink are 2-3 banks of drawers and then it opens up into DR. The only claustrophobic area if we minimize clearance on sink side would be only to the right of the sink. Remember, the island which is directly opposite & is decreasing in length by 6" so there is more clearance between range, aisle to sink,DW and garage door. Hope this articulates what this looks like. To summarize, we will chop off the end of the island by 6" to create more space around the range, island, garage door. We will move the entire island towards sink side, AWAY from appliance & pantry by 3". DH will raise height of island from countertop height to an inch or two above that to create better visual interest between long island and long countertop on sink side. This is the best we could come up with. We did not have this discussion regarding clearances with our KD and that was a huge oversight on our part and hers. We have to work with what we've got. DH does not want to give up seating at island as that's what is driving the entire design from his standpoint. He envisions sitting there, drinking a cup of coffee and looking out our new thee bank of windows. It almost looks like living in a treehouse as we're up on the second floor and have many deciduous trees in the back yard with an open lot right next to us. Feels very private. If I could figure out photobucket, I'd take a pic of the plans I just found and post them. I've opened up an account before and that's as far as I got. Thank you so much, all of you, for your feedback. Lisa

So had paragon installed... definitely not that white. Very grey in my kitchen for some reason... almost throws blue. Looks quite dark against the perimeter cabinets (maybe because there’s no window?). I did check with against my cabinet colour (white) but I guess until it’s installed in a slab you never know. I wanted white subway backsplash but I think that makes it look even darker/greyer so back to the drawing board with that. Kind of wishing I had gone with my second choice (misterio) but you live and you learn!

For all intents and purposes, your range is definitely an "island" or "peninsula" range. The half-wall will help a bit, but the majority of the effluent will still be in the open. Regarding the wall, it should be at least 9" thick -- that's the bare minimum you should have behind any open range or cooktop. If those are stairs directly behind the range, then I would be very careful about skimping on ventilation -- people going up/coming down will have anything not caught by your hood in their faces -- think billowing steam from boiling water, smoke from any browning/frying, splattering grease, etc. I'm with you on no downdraft -- they're better than nothing at all, but not much better! (Experience speaking!) They only work for items right up next to the fan -and- shorter than the top of the fan by several inches! They're also loud! (See that item in the video above -- tiny and short! Did you also notice in the video that even at the highest speed not all the steam was captured - quite a bit escaped above the fan? If that were a typical pot -- say 8 quarts or 12 quarts, even more would escape!) Regarding the need for venting...there are two primary things that affect what you need for venting: the type of cooking you do and the type of cooking appliance. Cooking is the most important with appliance second. If you do any grilling, you will need a very effective and much larger/stronger hood. If you fry, stir fry, brown meat, etc., you will need a good hood If you just steam or boil water, you will need a good hood, but the fan may not have to be as strong. Gas, especially high BTUs, will need better venting b/c of fumes and higher heat "Regular" electric still has heat, but not the gas fumes Induction does not introduce added heat from the burners, but there is still heat from the food -- much less heat overall, though BTW...others are correct, it's more expensive to vent in an open space like your situation than when against the wall. The hood is more expensive b/c it has to be finished on all 4 sides Venting can often be more difficult -- having to go up, turn a corner, and go out an exterior wall (be careful about venting through the roof) You need a bigger and stronger hood b/c you have more and stronger air currents that will make capturing the FOGSS (fumes, odors, grease, steam, smoke) more difficult....plus anything missed will quickly spread throughout the home. The lack of cabinets flanking the hood and a back wall to help corral the FOGSS is also an issue. So, how to minimize the impact since you are dead set on having the range in that location. First suggestion: Would you be wiling to leave part of the wall up? Say the width of the range + 9" to 12"? That would give you a wall to help your hood work better and to cut down on the FOGSS spreading. The hood size won't be as big an issue as well. Keep in mind that you spend far less time standing in front of your range cooking than you think -- only about 10% of your time. The rest of the time is spent prepping at counters & sink next to or across from the range (about 70%). (The other 20% is spent cleaning up -- at the cleanup sink, wiping down table & counter, loading/unloading the DW, etc.) Sizing of Hood: Width...The hood should be at least 6" wider than your cooking surface. So, for a 30" range, the hood should be at least 36" wide. This provides an extra 3" on each side. FOGGS do not just rise, they also expand as they rise. Since you don't have cabinets and a wall stopping the expansion, your hood definitely needs to be wider. (I might even consider 12" wider since it's going to be so open.) If your hood were against a wall with cabs flanking the hood, then 6" wider would be sufficient. Depth (front to back)...The hood should be 27" deep for the same reason as the width above. If your hood were against the wall, then it would only need to be 24" deep. Height...you want the hood to be able to corral the FOGSS for expelling to the outside, so the taller the hood body is, the better. Fan...I would go for at least 600cfms. Note: You might need makeup air (MUA). Some municipalities are starting to require MUA. I know you don't want something so big, but if you really want the range in the open, then one of the consequences is the need for better/bigger venting.

Oh I see your point. I don't like the counter hanging in space on the ends which is why I didn't set it up that way. I do really like the end panel look I have, IMO makes it more substantial and finished looking and allows the stools to be put away more neatly. You do need a little extra width to make this work, in my case 8.5' for 4 stools rather than 8' without the sides. I don't think 6" depth is really going to change the basic look all that much, but I'm sure you can make to scale (or even life size) mockup. You do generally need some support for a 15" overhang, you can use essentially invisible steel brackets underneath to accomplish this though. My fridge side is right around 48" the other side is like 42" at its narrowest point. The 48" is nice to have and gives space for 2 people at once, but in retrospect 42" would have been acceptable to me. If you are cutting it close at 42" I would be sure that my measurement is counter to counter, rather than cabinet to cabinet, as it may actually be 3" less than you think it is. Just be aware the smaller aisles would require a little more moving out of each others way when two people are there. With layout like mine, that's not that big a deal since the range and cleanup sink aren't in that main prep area.