Our "aisle" has the island end with a 36" 3 drawer base across from the sink, dw, another drawer base. When one person is at the sink another can be at the island working and even opening drawers easily. No one has to scooch in or adjust body movements. If the dw door is open I can open both the top and middle drawers fully, the bottom drawer can open but not fully. The bottom drawer is not an issue though. The over lap is about an inch. I can still put things in and out with no issue. Typically I open the dw, unload onto the island, then put away from there. The drawer has never hit the dw door. If you have 47" you should be fine in my opinion. The extra 5 inches should take care of any possible overlap. Keep in mind that I can't read all of your post, as the right side is covered in ads for me. I did not understand ripleys post to you but I may be missing something. If it would help and can take some photos and post them. Let me know.

I love it so far, the few extra inches of drawer space enabled me to fit all my dishes perfectly. I also enjoy the extra counter space, but since our granite was just installed on Thursday I haven't done much with it yet! We have a broken L, meaning the fridge and range is on one wall, then there's a doorway, and the sink / dishwasher / dish storage cabs are on a separate run. We only increased depth on the sink / dishwasher run, so I can't speak to the range and over range area. That said, I did consider it. I was going to have a few inches of granite behind the range, which I was really looking forward to. I didn't go that route because of concerns with walkway width between island seating and adjacent family room...the extra depth would've eaten into it. As long as you have the space and the budget (ours did cost extra), really no downside as far as I can tell. I have full extension rails with soft close, so that is available for the deeper size.

WOW! Thank you all soooo much! You all have made me so much more zen about everything. And you're all 100% right--it's not as dire as I thought when I first got the photos. There IS room and I know I can make it work, with lots of help, of course! Desertsteph, yes, I understand about not being able to get down and get to stuff in the back of base cabinets! So much space is wasted because I never want to use anything beyond about the first foot or so. Apartment base cabs are the worst! You have to use them because usually you don't get enough uppers, depending on the apartment, of course. I like the two big windows too! One thing I will say about this little place is that it has a LOT of windows. The previous owners have replaced the LR window, the LR bay window, and both kitchen windows with the good double pane ones. I will need to do the bedroom and bathroom windows. Historian, thanks for the recommendations; I'll be sure to check them out! Omelet, thanks for the kind words. I'll get out there ASAP to take measurements, photos, video, the whole works. Scone911, so true! NYC is maybe the worst, but if you don't have a lot of money, renting in any large urban area can be challenging. There are still some good deals in the Seattle area if you know where to look or have connections. I'm lucky to have those big windows! I remember the first little apartment my husband and I had in 1980...full of huge jumping spiders, no natural light...but I guess when you're 20 and in love you make anything work. ;-) bpathome, smiling, practigal, I think an induction cook top is a good idea. Also, I saw an oven hood/microwave that also can be used as a convection oven. That might be worth considering. Dhygarden, indeed! People in much of the rest of the world work with much smaller kitchens than we do here in the U.S. Haha, that often seems to come up on "House Hunters International"--Americans can't fathom the tiny kitchen. And you're also right about not having an electric appliance for everything. I can't wait to tell my best friends in Zambia the phrase "appliance garage." (They both work for American diplomats, so they'll just shake their heads and laugh.) I recently bought this really cute Jamie Oliver knife set; it's just three knives, but really you can do everything with them. I've always sort of dreamt of the European way of walking to the market every day or every other day to buy everything fresh. Though there are reasons I like the location of my new house, one disadvantage is that the closest grocery store (or anything, really) is about 10 miles away. Believe me, I never pictured myself living in the tulies...I always thought I'd end up in some downtown flat in a big city, but life is funny. I really do want to get a freezer if I can figure out where to put it...we can get snowed, or iced, in out there and it would be good to be stocked up on a couple weeks' worth of meals. I'm still holding out hope of getting a year long visiting professor gig in either in France or the UK, because I'd love to live in Europe for a year. Writersblock, first of all, let me just say I loooooove that cat!! What breed? Is he (she?) named Batman? If not, why not? ;-) Thanks for the advice on staying away from the 20" ovens! I haven't purchased my own appliances in a couple of decades, and I'm really not familiar with what's what out there. I like your under cabinet lighting too, very nice! My daughter and I are long overdue for a trip to Seattle, so we'll have to head over the mountains this spring--I'm a wuss when it comes to driving over the pass in the winter, haha! I kind of thought the same thing about the IKEA cart; I'm glad you've seen it and could tell me about it. I can't shop at the Evil Empire (Walmart) for political reasons, but I do know there are options--I can check out Fred Meyer, Lowes, Home Depot, BB&B, etc. Also, thanks to you and everyone for tipping me off to the "Little Paris" show! YouTube is completely awesome. Crl, ah to be tall! :-) I'm barely 5'1", and can't stand up straight because of my arthritis, so although I really love the hanging pot racks, they probably aren't the best for me. I think a microwave with oven or convection oven would be OK, at least for now because it's pretty much just one quick move to put something in and then take it out. Crl, also thanks for the suggestion of the toe kick drawers, and thanks to Chicagoans for the illustrated version! Very, very clever! Amazing how much space we have in houses that we don't think to use, like whomever came up with the brilliant notion of recessing things back between the studs. Chicagoans, I'm assuming you're from or live in Chicago, I have enjoyed visiting Chicago twice in the past few years for an academic conference. It's a beautiful city. Although I must say I've never truly known what cold was until I walked around in Chicago! :-) lferg92, I was looking at a super susan the other day; I think it was on the KitchenAid site. They look really wonderful. I'm glad you're enjoying yours, and thanks for the recommendations! Funkycamper and everyone else who mentioned the dishwasher issue, thanks for your honest assessment! You're probably right. Our first dishwasher when I was a kid was a portable--we lived in a tiny little house and it was a tiny kitchen. When we finally moved to Seattle from California we thought our built in dishwasher was the coolest thing ever, lol! I will seriously reconsider a smaller built in. And cpartist, point well taken about the stackables. The w/d that are there now are about 7 years old, I think, still in perfect working condition. But they are monsters; I've never seen such big machines, and both top loaders, ugh. LOL when I was staying there with my friends I practically fell head first into the dryer one afternoon trying to get stuff out. I have to use my little grabber/reacher tool, but that's OK. But as soon as I can afford new ones, they'll definitely be front loaders! Cawaps, "truly awful clutter management," haha! If you knew the half of it, but I'm going to remember that phrase! I'm very anti-clutter and kind of a minimalist. I really like the clean counter look, nothing sitting out. And you're right. When everything is moved out of the house, a feat I still don't know how will be pulled off, except they're getting another storage unit (in addition to the two they have now), and when the extreme cleaners have worked their magic, and when the ghastly china cabinet is knocked out, I know the space will look much bigger. Thanks for the encouragement! There was recently a huge debate, but I can't remember if it was this forum or something else, about pull-out bread boards. I'm pro-bread board, for the record. :-) buehl, thanks for the link. I'll be sure to study the instructions! Desertsteph, that makes a lot of sense, sitting at the table to do prep work. I have a wooden stool that I have used in my last couple of kitchens and that has worked pretty well. Sounds like you got a great deal on the bisque appliances! Ilovered and practigal, you've pretty much talked me into an 18" dishwasher! :-) Thank you all again so much! I'll get a floor plan up as soon as I can! I hope I can overhaul the whole house, roof to subfloor. The yard is also a mess; it's not actually a yard, it's more dirt with weeds. Since I'd like to be a good neighbor, something's going to have to be done next summer on that too. Luckily, the bones of the house are good. No leaks, siding and skirting in excellent condition, etc. The eat-in kitchen and living room will be my biggest and most expensive projects, and I want to do them first because that's where life is lived. I'm very much looking forward to getting your community wisdom! :-)

I'm not opposed to cook tops in islands or peninsulas but your set-up is really poor. There isn't any venting, at least none that I can see, and there isn't even close to the recommended counter on each side of the cook top (min of 12" on one side, 15" on the other) or behind it (9" minimum). And you've got a tall thing - the wall ovens - splitting up a decent run of counter between your sink and your cook top. No wonder you want to add more counter! Someone must have been drinking when they came up with this lay-out! Even if you're only going to be in this home for another 5 years and you likely will be the last owners, it would be a more pleasant 5 years if you had a more functional kitchen for a minimal investment. Are your cabinets modular units? If so, it may be possible, without too big a ding to the budget, to rework the lay-out using the existing cabinets, gaining a much more functional lay-out and your desired goal of more counter space. For instance, I'd take advantage of the wall jog and move the fridge to the deeper section of blank wall with the wall ovens to its right. You'd have room to add pantry cabs between them. This would give you a "wall of tall" with lots of storage and a more open feel to the sink side of your kitchen with more continuous stretches of counter. It would also allow you to move the cook top off the peninsula to the wall where the ovens currently are, giving you more counter between sink and cook top and the ability to add venting over the cook top. Doing the above would eliminate all the odd angles, which would make it less costly to redo the counters. It would also make installing new counters DIY friendly. If this is a possibility, provide us with room dimensions and sizes of the existing cabinetry and we'll help you come up with a better lay-out than what you currently have.