Rhome - my last set of plans were mistakenly taken by my GC so I have nothing to show you. He's gone until Tuesday, unfortunately. I don't even have 42" for aisle space. All I have is 3'6" on one side and 3'8" on the other.

Sorry I can't get pics to you but have tried my best to explain as well as possible.

Thanks anyway for your time.

If you're saying you have 3'6" of aisle space, that's 42" (36" + 6"). So, 3'8" of aisle space is 44"...

Can you draw a sketch? We're not picky about how fancy it is, as long as it's to scale. :-)

This is how things usually break down for questions about aisles...48" is great, 42" (3'6") is comfortable, but people do OK with less. You'll have to judge based on how many people you want working in the space, if it's a traffic path to anywhere else, and if anything that opens conflicts with a path or another thing that opens...For example, you want to avoid having an open dishwasher trying to take the same space as an open oven.

With seating, 60" (5') is the recommended aisle width. As little as 48" (4') might be workable in most cases, but with something as large and important as the fridge opening into the same space, most would hesitate to recommend you trying less...especially, if it's a walk through to and/or from another room, frequently used back door, etc.

I was only hoping to give you more specific advice based on your plan...I just do better with visuals than trying to keep track of every aspect in a written description, and I notice that others with drawn plans get more feedback, too. I think we're all so busy and need to see things quickly, so resort to wanting pictures, just like kids reading a book! ;-)

I hope some of this helps. Best wishes with your kitchen.

I have 39" on each side of my island (with the granite on, it's closer to 37") in a 14 x 10 kitchen. My island is 39 x 60 with an additional 12" overhang (39 x 72). So far -- cabinets went in about 3 weeks ago, granite 10 days ago, no running water or appliance hookups yet -- it's been good and doesn't feel crowded. My FD fridge door will open into the aisle used for storing cookbooks (east side of island), and the other narrow (west) aisle side is directly opposite the sink and trash pullouts (DW and pantry doors nowhere near island). The north side has more clearance, and the west side is wide open to an adjacent FR.

I'll post a link to my flickr account. None of them really show the scale at all, but maybe (I hope) you can see something that will help?

The question I had when I read your post was how you will be breaking up a very long, but skinny, island. I put a baking center at one end and I'm absolutely delighted with that, although of course it's a personal-to-me choice; prep sinks are popular, but I almost think you need to raise/lower the height in the middle so it looks more like an island with a mountain in the center and less like a sandbar. If you've already planned out that issue, please ignore me.

Disclaimer: Rhome and Buehl know what they're talking about, and I don't.

Here is a link that might be useful: Various flickr pix

I will have seating at my island and the aisle behind the seating is a major walkway. I am currently not planning anything on the wall behind the island which will give me 54" of aisle space. I am currently living with 37" of space and it is very tight. I can't imagine having a refrigerator, pantry and seating there and only having 41" of space. I'd be concerned about 44" of space. What kind of refriferator do you have. Even if it's a SXS, the frig door swing if probably close to 18". If that door is open I'm not sure how someone is going to pass by. And not sure with that door open, how someone could be sitting at the island. I hope this helps. Do you have to have the island seating?

I have 36" aisles on 3 sides of my island (which is 42" wide) - no issues whatsoever. We have a range opposite one side, sink and DW opposite another. No clearance problems when doors are open, etc.

Now you can't have a parade of people going thru each aisle at the same time but I don't want that nor do we have it.

I say make your island bigger (as long as you have ok - doesn't have to be perfect - clearance for the frig / pantry doors)- you will appreciate the extra counter space

berryberry - is your seating on either of the sides that have the sink/DW or range? To me, it's the seating that makes the difference. If the OP wasn't going to have seating in front of the frig/pantry, I'd say the space was "OK" even though I'd still be hesitant as OP does state it's a major traffic route.

If I really wanted the extra 6" for the island , I'd probably be more comfortable taking the entire 6" from the DW aisle.

Correction to my prior post -- the south side is the wide open side with an overhang (barstool or chair could be stored and person can sit). With my 37-39" wide aisles at east and west sides, there is no way barstools or chairs could be stored without me wanting to be a fire marshal (clear the aisle, folks!)

My DH pondered your responses and looked again at the space with the island taped out.

We have 3'7" on aisle walkway with two stools underneath island - we can increase that amount to 3'10" by moving 3" which gives us 3'3" on the other side where our shaw sink and DW are located. Remember on that wall we have to the right of shaw sink the DW a bit of counterspace then it jogs R to the east wall. To the left of the sink are 2-3 banks of drawers and then it opens up into DR. The only claustrophobic area if we minimize clearance on sink side would be only to the right of the sink. Remember, the island which is directly opposite & is decreasing in length by 6" so there is more clearance between range, aisle to sink,DW and garage door. Hope this articulates what this looks like.

To summarize, we will chop off the end of the island by 6" to create more space around the range, island, garage door. We will move the entire island towards sink side, AWAY from appliance & pantry by 3". DH will raise height of island from countertop height to an inch or two above that to create better visual interest between long island and long countertop on sink side.

This is the best we could come up with. We did not have this discussion regarding clearances with our KD and that was a huge oversight on our part and hers. We have to work with what we've got.

DH does not want to give up seating at island as that's what is driving the entire design from his standpoint. He envisions sitting there, drinking a cup of coffee and looking out our new thee bank of windows. It almost looks like living in a treehouse as we're up on the second floor and have many deciduous trees in the back yard with an open lot right next to us. Feels very private.

If I could figure out photobucket, I'd take a pic of the plans I just found and post them. I've opened up an account before and that's as far as I got.

Thank you so much, all of you, for your feedback.

Lisa

Sorry, I have to question raising the island height. This will affect the relationship with the stools you use (most are made for standard table, counter, or bar height), and I don't imagine it will really show in 'visual interest' as you won't be viewing it from an angle that will make 2" show that much. However, unless you're a tall family, 2" will make a difference in ergonomics and comfort for working at the island, which is why many people (like me) make their islands a couple inches shorter...Better for working down on things...Chopping, kneading, rolling, even making sandwiches. Anyway, my point is to make sure the island height, whether taller, shorter, or standard, works for your back, more than how it might look next to the other counter.