Hi there, I am so sorry that you've hit this dilemma at this stage in the process. I have the same u-shaped kitchen with almost the same configuration, except we have double ovens where your fridge is, and our fridge is on the opposite side, at the end of the counter left of the sink. I spent many, many hours designing our kitchen and thinking through the walkways with appliances, door swings, stools, etc. Our original blueprint called for our kitchen to be 12' deep, with a 24" island with no overhang for bar stools. In a prior kitchen that we remodeled, which was 12', we added an island with stools and had about 33" walkways, one of which had an over door opening. It was very tight, especially when we had guests around the island, which was basically whenever we had guests! So for our new build, I already knew 12' would never work, so one necessity was that we bumped our kitchen 3', making it 15' deep. Our current island is 24" with 10" overhang, making it 34". With 2' of counters/appliances on the sides of the "u." that leaves just over 3 1/2' (about 43") on either side of the island. Our walkways are "comfortable" but not spacious. If someone is sitting at the island on a stool and I need to open one of the ovens, I just tell them to hold still, and I can open the door and have about 6-8" between the door and the back of the stool, which is fine. Honestly, I think 15' is the minimum comfortable depth you can have in a u-shaped kitchen with bar stools. If I built this same design again, I would make it more like 17' deep. I am guessing yours is more like 12-13' deep? Imagine how much space you would have if you had an extra 3' feet of depth and you will see what I mean. If I were you, I would either: 1) go without bar-stools at the island and just have the regular 1 1/2" overhang all around; 2) if there is room, make the overhang on the end of the counter and maybe round the counter on the end so you could try to get 2 stools in; or 3) if you're really set on having the overhang where you have it, perhaps in addition to moving the island closer to the dishwasher side, you could get a new counter top with less overhang, such as 10" overhang instead of 12" if that is what you have. As I discovered in my last kitchen, when you're dealing with walkways, every inch counts! Good luck!

From the photos and what you've described I don't think the overhang should be a big issue. It would be extending out three inches into the family room, about the size of the palm of your hand (w/o fingers even). You would probably want a foot or two of clearance for chairs/stools or 2.5-3 feet for walking between the bar and any furniture anyway, you could probably eat into that for laying out furniture without too much difficulty. As far as the look of it goes, it is a very slight difference well away from your doorway so it should be difficult for someone to notice. You might want to go over with some cardboard and position a fake bar along the edge so you can see how it would look. If you decide to go with the overhang and then don't like the intrusion you could probably obscure the protrusion further by putting tall potted plants (or something else tall) near the door edges to make their position fuzzier and have them look even with the bar.

Oh, I think the new ones so much better. Quite frankly, I think the sky's the limit on the chair you use for your computer. I would use a constracting color and possibly the same color wood, don't make it to matchy matchy, though. I personally don't like the old bankers chair with your stools. I think you need a more tradional type chair to go with your pretty kitchen. Something that screams "I got style". Look around, even on CL, you are in no hurry are you? You'll know it when you see it. .....Jane Note: I normally like old with new, but not in this case, but this is only my opinion. I could be wrong and often am, but not now. (lol)

Missy- have you thought about having him stain the wood to get the exact color you want. I stained our walnut darker before putting on the waterlox. Can't wait to see it! Lakegirl- our island is 84"x36"... I just went down and looked at them and it's hard to say if they would be too big for a 66" length...they could definitely be moved closer together... I'm just not sure if they would have to be too close together for the size. Could you order them and hold them up to see and then return them if they turn out to be too big. I did that with the hundi lanterns from Pottery Barn. After seeing them in person I realized they were too big. I have another idea. Ballard design has the carriage house lantern that is the same style, but a little smaller. The capital pendants are 10" square and the Ballard Design ones are 8" square. I have the larger (12") Carriage House lantern in my foyer. Here's a pic I just looked at BD website and they have a new pendant I think would look great over an island. Check out the Calisse Pendants. I might have done two of those of the island. They are a little bigger (11"). I don't know why my pictures are so big. I resized it but it still huge!