Here is my floorplan and you can see the two dark squares on the island. Those are the support posts.

Here is a rendering of what is will look like.

This is from the living room, looking towards the kitchen. The bar is under the arch, and the island (with cooktop is on the kitchen side. The column on the right is a support column, and the one on the left is faux. I can try to get more pictures if you're interested. I also have a file of photos of kitchens with columns and will take some time tomorrow to upload them. Unfortunately, I don't have proper citations for most of them.

Thanks houseful & cate1337, I love what both of you have done to address the column issue. With my current layout, I can't put mine on either end of the island, but I really do see how it works, maybe I need to rethink the layout AGAIN.

Cate1337, I would LOVE to have any other pics or resources you have on the column issue. Thanks much for your help.

Here are some pictures of ours. We incorporated the columns into the island.

Here is a link that might be useful: More pictures here

On the FKB, look up:

Here is a link that might be useful: Sweeby's kitchen

Also on the FKB:

Here is a link that might be useful: Hmg58's kitchen

(don't want to post anyone's pictures without permission)

Here is a link that might be useful: Sue7972's kitchen

We planned to move the wall between the Kitchen and dining room out two feet. I brought out a Structural Engineer and did some forensic demolition and discovered that the wall was not loadbearing, but it contained a loadbearing glulam beam and a structural support post. To remove the post, the engineer calculated that we'd need to reinforce the beam with a 24' long 12" tall steel C-beam that would weigh about 900 lbs.

So based on that we decided to love the post and change the plans to work around it.

Heres an image of the original layout: (click on images to see larger version)
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Our initial plan was as follows:
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But after finding the post we eventaually changed the plan so that there was a tall oven cabinet right next to the post, making it seem less in-the-middle-of-everything.

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and here are a couple of images of how it turned out:
Although after these pictures were taken we covered the surface of the post with an oak veneer to match the cabinets.

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From FKB, may have missed some new ones, since I did this work a few months ago.

Here is a link that might be useful: Swissmiss' kitchen

with the FKB portion

Here is a link that might be useful: Tobler's kitchen

I believe most of these are from Kitchens.com:

That's all I have! I hope it helps, and my apologies for not having proper attributions.

On our bar, btw, we did a no-no. It's between the two columns but has a very slight inward curve rather than the beautiful, expansive outward curve that Houseful and that green traditional kitchen have. Some people on the forum have pointed out that bars should curve so that people face towards each other, to encourage conversation. We simply didn't have the space to make that work nicely. If you are considering redesigning your space, do think about bar conversation.

Not much different than the others posted here, but here's mine.

We have one pillar that we can't remove for structural purposes. We decided we weren't going to be confined to it, and decided to leave it standing on its own. It is the rectangle beside the "D3" on the drawing. We'll finish the top and bottom with the same crown moulding and baseboards as the rest of the kitchen so it has the same look and feel.

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Here's our current (outdated) kitchen. The reno happens in June. It shows you an option of "grounding" your island to the post so it feels integrated. We're moving away from this layout though as we can get a bigger island by moving it away from the post...
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Thanks to all of you who shared your advice, layouts & photos of supporting columns. I was nearly in tears by how beautiful they have turned out & frustration that my layout won't accommodate the columns on either side of the island approach- it looks so great with that symmetry.

Now I'm looking again at my layout to see if I can adjust it somehow.

Thanks for the input!

Elljays, Colleen and Cate, I love how all of yours turned out. I'm glad now that I decided to work with the posts on the island instead of going through the expense of a huge header.

Thanks for showing pictures. Coleen3201118, better late than never, because this is almsot how our island will look so your pic was very helpful. I posted a different thread and "remodelfla" sent me here. I am struggling with having to put one support column on the island and just couldn't figure out how it would look. The other post would be in the wall. So, if anyone else has that problem, please feel free to tell me how you solved it. But these pictures are helping, thanks.

Are you saying you will only have one column on the island? I have a couple of pics in some magazines just one column is coming down somewhere in the middle of the islands. I'll try to find those and post them.

Yes, only one post. We have a galley style kitchen and on one side, opposite the island, is the sink and some appliances and the other side (length; 8 ') opens up to the family room. Then opposite one end of the short side (4') of the island , probably where the post would be, will be the kitchen table. I am afraid the column will close in the space and since we are trying to open up the space it may negate what we are doing. If I could figure out how to scan and post the layout I would, as that would make it a lot easier for you to visualize. So, on one end of the island would be a support column (in the same area that the original load bearing wall was) and then the GC would hide the other one in the exterior wall of the kitchen.

So, if anyone has any pictures that show just one column on an island or another way to make it look architecturally pleasing, that would be great!

We connected ours with a little peninsula to have it blend in.

It actually gives a bit more definition to the room and we have liked having it there for the most part.