My 2� and consider the value of a dollar these days. My kitchen is 11 1/2 by 12. I did a U and love it. I don't have an island and there really isn't room for my 42 inch round table either but it's on casters so I can move it around. Can you put some empty boxes in your island space and see what it's like to walk around them? I would also put some boxes against your empty wall to represent the new counters. I have done tape on the floor but real boxes that take up real space is a much better thing to do.

My table did fit on graph paper. Not so much in real life.

I see I need to take some finished pictures! Maybe this weekend.

I think there is easily room for the U, but not necessarily the island too.

If you have the fridge where it is in your proposed U shape, there will be a deep dark cave to the right of it.

Yep, this is a rough layout as I didn't put much effort into the layout of the fridge/stove. I just wanted to get the dimensions of the kitchen with the "would be" new cabinets on the right side of the kitchen.

How the kitchen would actually flow with the stand alone stove that I have now is an entirely different issue.

I see from above that this is a rough layout, which is good because I see some issues with the fridge placement as mentioned above. (Hard to open the right hand fridge door, and the drawers or cabinets facing it at 90 degrees wouldn't open well either.)

What is next to your kitchen in the space below where your layout ends? Is the wall with the arch there, and if so is it staying?

I'm asking because I'm wondering if your island can stretch 'down' farther. It seems like your space would be better suited to a narrower and longer island (shorter left to right and longer top to bottom in your 2nd layout.) You wouldn't have room for island seating, so that might be a no-go if that's important to you. But it might give you room for the fridge on that right hand wall, and with a prep sink in the island that could be a great prep area.

Thanks for the input all.

chicaoans - The pictures are not my kitchen, they are a reply to my OP. Below the space depicted is where the kitchen tables goes, and it's next to a half wall as well as entrance from family room, so I have no way of extending the island further unless I remove the table.

blfenton - Yes, the 42" is cabinet to cabinet, or 39" counter to counter. I have that on the left side now, and could live with it on the right (although the DW creates a tight spot when open as it is now).

It seems even with a 48" island, there is a significant trade off to going with the "U" layout, not to mention the appliance location complications. Chances are I'll stick with the "L" this time around.

If you want to try the U-shape, a couple of things I'd look at. One would be moving the fridge to where it looks like you have a semi-island. It would take up less room and be closer to your sink, but that would mean closing up the half wall. You gain a place to hang a nice piece of art and still have two doorway openings.

Another possibility would be to make whatever else goes on that wall smaller -- just a single depth of cabinets that serve as a buffet piece or maybe book shelves if you want a pace for cookbooks, a desk or a piece that serves more than one of these functions. You can step the cabinets in from the edges of the wall and cut the depth -- that would help your DW situation and make it easier to move the fridge to the wall om the right. I might even consider making that whole wall talls -- fridge, pantry, bookshelves, etc. Putting the fridge over on that side would give you better prep and work space -- most of what you have drawn now wouldn't be where it is most needed, but it would seem to call for a prep sink too.

Can you show us pic of the adjacent rooms/doorways etc? The U looks cramped to me. Can the island become a peninsula at the end of your l? or on the right wall? if you need the storage/counter space you'd be able to make it even wider.

Our G-shaped kitchen is 10 foot wall at bottom of G (+ 2.5 for peninsula and cab above) x 16 on outside wall (long side of G). We have 6.5 feet open space across center, which is about as wide as I think I could tolerate. We went round and round about an island and at one time had a plan something like yours.

The refrig hangs out beyond the 12.5 feet another 1.5 foot the top of the G. To me this is a big kitchen. The commute from range at bottom of G to refrig is at the max of the recommended length for this commute. Eating area and closet lie outside the G.

Ours has proved to be a good kitchen design and might work for you, but you will hear that a too-small opening into a G can trap people, so plan ahead.

In photo, range wall is at left, top of G at right, refrig area where paint stops.

Here is a link that might be useful: our kitchen....refrig now to right of photo

I agree that the fridge location shown isn't a good one. Can you flip it 90 degrees so it's facing the sink and located to the right of that corner cabinet?

Regardless of whether the fridge is where you show it or flipped 90 degrees, when you're cooking you're probably going to take food from the fridge and put it on that island. The fridge is too much deeper than the counter for you to get in the habit of putting food on the bit of counter between the fridge and the stove in your proposed layout. You would have to reach too far; it's much easier to just put food behind you on the island. In fact, flipping the fridge 90 degrees will give you more options when you're cooking: you can either put food on the island, or put it on the stretch of counter to the right of the stove.

It would also be more efficient. You'd have a larger workspace beside the stove, and meanwhile you could have the space to the right of the fridge be a "snack center" where the coffee maker, toaster etc. sit, so not only do you have better workspace, but you keep people who want to make toast or grab a drink from the fridge from having to walk into your workspace when you're cooking. Same goes for groceries; you could start cooking, DH could start putting groceries away, and you wouldn't get in each other's way nearly so much as you would with the fridge to the right of the stove.