Maybe I am just getting old, and I don't know where you are in your stage of life, but I would re-think your island plan.
My kids are 12 and 14, I am an older mom, who works more than full time. I like to be able to pour a glass of wine and enjoy it with my DH while dinner is prepping. My kids enjoy being able to pop a burrito that we have made and frozen in the MW and then sittting and eating it either after school or for breakfast.
I would move the MW drawer much closer to the nook. I would arrange island seating in an L instead of like crows on a telephone line. One seat across from the stove, so I can stand and prep or sit and simmer, the other seats at an angle for effective parental cross-interrogation.

ya. Optimal seating for interrogations is good. Hard to give someone the hairy eyeball when you are sitting side x side. Course, there is always the standing and looming over whilst children are seated. My last just moved out 2 weeks ago to her own place so I'm all done with that stuff now. :(

Now to the island... I agree with moving that microwave drawer to the other end and also to have seating on 2 sides. If you are going with 36" betwixt the sink and island, maybe you want the mw drawer to slide out towards the nook, too? In the interest of keeping traffic out of your work space.

I think that the 14' foot width makes it impossible to have a sit-at island running the long dimension of the kitchen with standard depth cabs along each wall.

Figure it this way:14 feet minus two times 2 feet 1.5 inches (counter runs w/standard overhang) equals 9 feet 9 inches; minus two aisles of at least 3 feet (worst case, and not recommended), or other acceptable minimum of 3.5 feet apiece leaving just 2 feet 9 inches for the island width including over hang. Even with non-standard cabs below to acquire knee room, you've got problems because chairs or stools with people in them stick out so far behind their surface. You have to figure that as additional clearance, and not include it in your aisle space calculations. In reality having people sit there will kill the aisle for circulation purposes, funneling all traffic onto the sink/prep side of the island which is a nightmare.

Add to that, you've got the fridge behind the seating positions, even if you had 5 feet, not less than 4 as shown, you'd be having to get people to scootch in just about every time you opened the fridge. Not to mention when you're moving a hot, not, hot pot from cooktop to oven or vice versa.

Maybe if you lived alone that would work, but not for a family with people actually slouched and sitting in those chairs..

I don't get why people have attached or in-room informal dining (breakfast nook, eat-in kitchen table, etc.) in addition to counter seating at an island in the same room. That's too much for all but the largest of kitchens.

My advice is to choose one or the other way to eat in the kitchen for quick or informal meals and for keeping the cook company.

I think what has happened is that the trend for eat-at counters (older) and the trend for breakfast nooks (slightly newer) have collided. Both are attracively featured in plenty of shelter mags but one hasn't eclipsed the other, yet. So people seem to pop up here with both of them in the same room.

Once you figure which seating you'd like the most in your kitchen, then there are a number of other issues: placement of fridge, distance of oven from stove, prepping far away from cooking surface, etc. that need to be worked through, but the eating thing is the first one to sort out.

HTH

L.

Removed duplicate post.

This post was edited by liriodendron on Tue, Jun 4, 13 at 1:39

localeater - I originally had the L shaped seating at the breakfast nookend, but got talked into this current configuration by the cabinet maker. I guess it wasn't such a great idea.

I cannot speak to how it will work since I'm in progress here, but I have a similar layout to you.

My frig is on the cooktop wall far left. The aisle behind the seating is not a high traffic area (meaning to get out the garage door or that type of thing) - there is a 2nd opening to a formal dining room in front of the frig. And the MW and second oven will be where your frig/freezer are, with pantries behind the other seating.

I will have 39" in the sink aisle (I have a friend who has this and have never noticed an issue there, nor has she).

I will have approx 42" behind the seating (I may go with a 43" aisle there when the granite is actually fabricated). I plan to just use those very narrow stools that tuck under the counter.

I will have 45" between the cooktop and island for people going to/from the frig/cooktop/sink - I have this now and I like that spacing there.

We shall see how it works in a matter of weeks!

Although stool aisle width is of course not optimum, it is a two-door fridge and, like seosmp's, traffic beyond it is minimal. My vote is also for sliding the stools down and around (while fully agreeing with Liriodendron about the unfortunate redundancy syndrome we seem to be caught in, maybe some time warp anomaly or something). Something might have to give in the process, but it really seems that not having a stool right opposite the refrigerator AND being able to conduct proper parental interrogation (love that, localeater) would be a win-win.

If I had room for a breakfast nook I would be doing the happy dance. I think the stools and nook have different functions. Stools are for somewhat quick meals and the nook is for those days or nights where you just want to spread out the newspaper with a cup of coffee or chat with some friends.

Love localeaters discription of "crows on a telephone line. As I am mapping out my beginning kitchen plans I realize I do not have room for a nook and IF I can fit an island in there with seating for two,( five adults here subject to totally different schedules and max I might have space for) I know I want them perpendicular to each other. I just think it makes conversation easier, when we do have it!