I like it on the end. People tend to put a prep sink in the middle for symmetry & to allow more than one person to work at the sink, but this breaks up the countertop run. If you can move the prep sink a bit closer to the end, then people could work from both sides (around the corner). As it is, the right side counter space is wasted. We chose a 5-sided prep sink, where the inside corner is removed to make room for the faucet to go there & be accessible to both sides. Here is a link that might be useful: Kohler 5-sided sink

Mrs. Smith, Thank you. This stone was just right for our tastes - simple lines enhanced by the patterns in natural materials. It is Azul do Mar, an accurate name because it looks very similar to a photo we took of the ocean off Point Lobos. Blues and greens mixed with the white of the wave tops and some little reddish brown spots like the bits of seaweed or an otter popping its head up. It is a quartzite and very similar in properties to Azul Macaubas. Both come from Brazil. Azul Macaubas usually has more white with streaks of aqua blue - more like the sky than the ocean. They are often sold as "granite" as are any other hard stones. It is very very hard - harder than granite because it is composed mainly of quartz, but the impurities give it its color. It is very low porosity - our fabricator insisted on sealing it because he seals everything, but in the tests we did on our sample before sealing, nothing stained it. We have been using it for 5 years and have not resealed. Our fabricator said it took longer on his machines because it is so hard. Nothing short of a diamond is going to scratch it. I've never had anything that is as easy to clean. A wipe with a damp towel usually does the job even if my family has allowed a spot of wine or tomato sauce to dry on. The downsides: Like most blue stones, it is more expensive - we paid about $54 a square foot for the slabs. It isn't very common - only two yards around us had it. Supposedly, it usually comes in smaller slabs but either that isn't accurate or we were extremely lucky. The first slabs we saw were 67 by 54 inches, then at Bedrosians we found ones large enough to do our island with one slab but our L would have needed 2 seams. Bedrosians checked their other stores and found 124 x 64 inch slabs which allowed us to do our L with one seam.

Your kitchen is almost exactly like ours but our sink and range are flipped! I mean exactly! Wow - Looking at your plan, it's kind of scary! We put our prep sink across from the range top and tend to prep to the left of it, but I didn't want to push back into the core of the island any more than I had to so, so the soap dispenser on the opposite corner of the sink. It works really well for us b/c I find it's easier to get the pot to the corner for the soap then back against the center but it's just a personal preference. We had a 21" cabinet but the sink was 19 1/2" so it's really pretty much using every bit of available space. I'll tell you one unplanned advantage of them spread out - being able to sweep anything into the sink. Now, we have a compact disposal in that sink (which i highly recommend!) But, looking at your plan, if you do any prep in the back of the island (back to the stovetop,) you won't do it right on the edge of the island countertop, you do it comfortably in front of you. When we do that on the back of our island, when we finish prep, we'll move the cutting board or whatever over and sweep it into the sink from the "opposite" side that the sink is oriented. If your soap dispenser is there in the middle, you'll need to pull that cutting board or whatever it is to the very edge of the counter. Is that making sense to you? We push things over into the back center of the sink all the time, so I can maximize it from the side and the back, and I'm glad that center space is available and not blocked by a soap disposer. Since your sink is even bigger than mine, and right across from your stovetop is an open area, you may want to consider that? Incidentally, we put the disposal push button on the side of the cabinet instead of cutting another hole - I love that - it's in the perfect spot for my hand (pic below.) As an aside, our kitchens are not laid out like most with a long horizontal island. I was really fretting about that for the longest time in the planning phase. I gotta say - I love our layout now! The island orientation perpendicular to the sides of the kitchen allows folks to be working on all sides of the island, working on the long countertops on the perimeter, plus sitting at the end of the island. It really gives you so much working space that's all focused in on each other so it's very social - I bake with my daughters and love how we're all facing in. Anyway, here are some pictures so you'll be able to see how your kitchen is going to turn out layout wise - just squint and imagine your rangetop where our sink is and vice versa. And, hold a mirror up to it for your prep sink location. Let me know if you have any questions since we're living in it! ;) I put my plan in (it was actually marked for lighting but you can see the cabinets) below so you can see how similar they are. For the sink accessories, go with your gut. You use it - you know best!

Rebunky - Thank you for that. Very kind of you to take the time. Your design is very good for where you placed everything. We tried variations of this design but could not fit a regular size fridge in that space. It covers the window, and a counter depth is not in the budget, unfortunately. Plus that jog is 48" wide and what do you do with the remaining space? There's too little to do much but too much to waste. The main thing that would bother me, however, is we would lose so much counter space by not not utilizing the north wall. One thing I've learned in living with a small kitchen is that counter space is the highest priority. It trumps everything. We will mitigate the closed in feeling you mentioned at the U end of the kitchen by use of shelves and wall hangers. This is why few of my plans include uppers. Both of us are non-traditional thinkers and will be fine with shelving replacing a lot of the uppers, and that will open up the kitchen a lot, although it is a trade-off with a more cluttered, or should I say "industrial" look? We have some shelving now and dust is not a problem (at least when I'm not remodeling :), plus we will have pretty good air filtering when the HVAC system is finished and no carpeting in the house (yet another reason to keep the kitchen closed off as it would be extremely noisy with no carpets). As bmorepanic said above, you have to pick your poison. I'm an amateur too. No need to apologize. This is the first kitchen I've ever designed with actual skin in the game. Plus, I'm a guy and that makes me extra ignorant when it comes to kitchens :) All the advice I get here is extremely helpful. I've learned so much by doing just what you did, jumping in and trying something.