Rip down that wall. It's not needed. The backs of the cabinets have enough space behind the drawers for any electrical (run in conduit) with shallow work boxes if need be. This is a hack, and a real electrician would know how to handle this in a more aesthetically pleasing manner. Same with the plumbing. All of the plumbing should come through the floor of the cabinet and the DW drain and supply should come from the sink cabinet via a small drilled hole in the side of the cabinet. The island loop vent or studor vent will occupy a large space in the sink cabinet, but the plumbing still doesn't have to be in a pony wall. Yes, it's harder on the contractor to cut the sink base cabinet just right for the holes for the supply and drain, but that's why you pay him instead of DIYing.

And, he should be using licensed and insured plumbers and electricians on the job, not doing those jobs himself. He clearly doesn't have the attention to detail and knowledge to do this correctly, and in many jurisdictions, even a contractor cannot do plumbing or electrical. He must use licensed subs. This is definately a case where a good pro will make a difference.

What LWO said. We're DIYing and still used licensed plumbers and electricians for work we are not comfortable doing. We are on a slab and trenched through the slab to move plumbing, through the attic for electrical, and took the longer/harder/more expensive road to make sure it's done right. Still a work in progress...

We did have electricians and plumbers here. The wall is here to stay. Doesn't anyone have suggestions for making lemoade out of this?

I don't think the wall is the end of the world. If you are okay with it, then so be it.

I like the idea of using thick chunky legs to hide it, but you may want to run a sheet of veneer over the whole run, unless the wall is recessed the width of the veneer (which I kind of doubt, it looks flush).

You could also consider a little set of display shelves if you have the aisle space.

A thick frame around as if the existing veneer were an inset panel might work if you could match the cabinetry.

Also just so it's clear, it's a 2x4 wall, but it measures around 3.5", so don't get too cozy with calling it 4" eventually that .5" is going to matter.

Bricketon, it's true that .5" is going to matter on that wall. It will matter the moment they fill it with a half inch of drywall.

I did want to ask, just in a casual and helpful way, if the 4" wall throws anything else off. For instance, what about your countertops? Have you budgeted for an extra wide piece there? Or lighting depth. Does it take the wall into account? Or the original backing material on the island. Did you pay for something that is now not being used? What will you be backing with now?

Not because I'm against the wall at all, just normally these things interconnect.

Do you have any kind of overhang that you could pretend to be supporting with legs???

There is a 9" overhang on that side. We have a veneer panel for the entire overhang side. There are no plans that I'm aware of for drywall. Our previous cabs were 3" deeper than the new ones, so the wall fills in the hole in the floor tiles and gives us a whole extra cabinet due to pipes being brought down into the basement. Our granite slab is definitely large enough and it doesn't affect anything that we can see. The small l-shaped kitchen and island sit in a fairly large room. All the passageways to other rooms have the same width.

I have an extra 4' x 8' piece of veneer panel that can be cut to cover both ends fully. But I thought something chunky would be good.

I have frame and panel very plain shaker doors. I could order door end panels in this size. I could even bring a woodworker in here to bling up the whole thing with moldings and trim.

DH wanted everything super-plain. This 'feature' is my chance to get something nicer. What would look the best? Budget isn't a problem.

Did you ever see pharaoh's backlit onyx return on his island? Now THAT's a statement! Only mentioning since you said budget wasn't a problem.... :-)

jem, you mentioned that you are going to have a 9" overhang, is there going to be seating on that side? If so something consider is that the wall may not need to span the entire length of the island. You could possible cut out a section to allow for deeper counter / more knee room. The 4" floor would barely be visible and you could toss in a marble thresholder or slate mosaic that would hardly even show. Again this would be only if you wanted seating here, and if it was only two chairs in the center.

Do you have any modeling software? If you could mock-up some fake legs, adding frames, etc. then I think you could get a better feel for what appeals to you.

If you want to, post your dimensions, your intended countertops and a layout and I could do up some mockups if you like.

We have inset shaker cabinetry and went for a custom end panel that matched our doors, using a bullnose to separate it from the painted side which is a bookshelf. I'd personally eschew anything too blingy (carved legs etc) if it doesn't match the simplicity of your cabinets.

Is it just me, or does circuspeanut's kitchen (beautifully) answer nearly every question posed on this site? ;-)

If you have a little extra length, depth, you can get legs that have a quarter cut out to fit around the corner. You can also get half-legs. Two places I know that have legs are Osborne wood products and tablelegs.com.

Both will customize cutouts or height.

I can't tell your cabinet style from your photos (duh, right? I'm looking at cabinet backs and 2xs) but for modern, you might consider "fake legs" - using lumber with rounded-over edges to create some depth. You could also use shaped fillers. Or cover some pine in very thin metal sheeting. Or use contrasting wood. Or use painted materials.

So the overhang AFTER the wall is nine inches? So you had originally planned on 13" overhang?

circuspeanut - your end panels look great. I'm going to show this to my KD and order these to match. Thank you, thank you!

The new cabinets cabs are less depth than the previous ones. The entire island now is only 1" wider than what we expected. We planned 9" before and are still going with that.