Green Designs came up with a great plan, as usual. It's very similar to my new kitchen. The aisle between my 9' island with prep sink and the rangetop wall is about 42" counter to counter. Its perfect. I've had much larger aisles and hated them. In fact, that's one of the reasons I reno'd my old kitchen. I'm the sole cook in my kitchen 99% of the time, and I would never, ever, ever give up my prep sink. Ever. I love having a large prep zone with a dedicated water source that I don't have to share with the cleanup zone. I'm usually the one who does the dishes too, but when DH occasionally does that when I'm cooking, he can do it out of my way. This kitchen is my first experience with separate prep and cleanup sinks, but it has changed my cooking habits and way of looking at things in the kitchen. You will not use the sink on the perimeter to prep the way you laid out the space. It's not convenient for daily prep. It is a great place for a cleanup sink. Being over on the side like that, your dirty dishes won't show much. Mine don't. Between the giant single basin cleanup sink and the perimeter location, the few dirty dishes waiting on the counter for the DW don't both my OCDness very much. And as you can see, my kitchen is open or at least semi-open to all the other rooms in the house and to the front door. I much prefer an island being all one height rather than bi-level. Your first inspiration pic island is one height. At one level, you can spread out for large baking/cooking projects and for school, sewing or crafting projects. A large kitchen doesn't have to have wasted space. It just needs to be laid out correctly so you have the right amount of space in the right zones. I agree with everything Holly said. I think you could have a great kitchen here!

I have my Instant Hot really cranked up so it has a tendency to sputter when I'm not around. Yeah, I know I will lose in longevity what I've gained in temperature. I use the Instant Hot water to warm up the Chemex pot or Melitta and heat up the cups before I make coffee. (I rarely make tea.) You don't want a rolling boil for coffee or fine green teas, so the Instant Hot works fairly well. Admittedly, it is not 100% perfect, but since it is slightly cool it does not bring out the bitterness.

In this case, more is right and more is not regretting it later! Keep in mind, I don't have a prep sink (our kitchen isn't large enough), but in the Kitchen-That-Was (meaning, pre-reno), there was no disposal and honestly, kateskouros, would you believe that was the one thing to which we both were the most looking forward? Just to having a disposal. Your kitchen is going to be really, really pretty -- you are a thoughtful, detail-oriented person. I would imagine that it would bother you to have a tub of soap, no matter how decorative, out on the countertop around your prep sink. I also think the symmetry will be appreciated by you in the long run. Additionally, the insta-hot and filtered faucets are just plain smart at any sink which could be used for drinks or food prep -- how often do you need warm water for yeast, let alone (hot) for making tea? Often enough to justify having it right there. That's my twenty-two cents!

We have the water filter at the main sink. Not only is it closer to the glasses; it's closer to the espresso machine and tea things and to the baking center. That's convenient for making bread dough. We also find other advantages to having it at the main sink. Ours is instant hot water as well as cool. When cleaning just a pot or two, it is convenient to add some hot water from it to the tap water to get warm water for washing instead of waiting for the hot tap water to arrive (and it saves water). Someone who needs water doesn't have to disturb someone using the prep sink. For example, getting rice started while someone else preps for a stir fry.