60 by 120 is a HUGE island. That can be great, but I do think it might overwhelm your space/house. I would leave the aisle space you show between it and the range, but maybe make the side aisles wider, especially the one on the fridge/oven side, as it seems to be a traffic path through your house.

I would end the island even with one side of the kitchen, either the pantry or the run on the sink side...So it doesn't protrude into the next room and intrude on a straight path to and from the hallway and deck door.

Lastly, I would want to extend the wall behind the stove so that it's even with the new island width. It will look better and give you more counter and storage by the stove, which is all good! Also, is there a reason you can't extend the wall behind the fridge so that it lines up with the one behind the stove, creating a straight, rather than angled, entry into the dining room?

My best guess, with all these suggestions implemented, that you would still have an island of 4 ft wide by approx 7 ft long, which is still large.

OK...Now I've gone back and re-read your post. I'm a little confused, because you stated you have 48" aisles, but 42" are drawn on the plan. I also don't know exactly where you plan the seating. I am concerned about seating and the aisle widths, and even knowing you want to use the island for meal seating, I wouldn't want the island going into the visual path between hallway and deck door.

I've sketched out my suggestions.

I haven't addressed the fridge/oven wall...yet. One thing I would do in the plan as I've drawn it, is to make sure the fridge is either in line with the stove wall aisle or centered across from it. This would alter the locations of the things on the fridge wall by a few inches....and may not end up to be worth it, functionally.

Since you'd gain what could be a pantry space by the dining room doorway, you might reconsider an open counter at the end, or how else you might want to utilize that whole wall. Have you considered an island prep sink? It would make using the microwave easier, and also, using the island for baking space. Others could access it, too, for snacks, handwashing, etc. without getting in your way. It's a great location for prep, too, and dumping boiling water off noodles, if your main sink is partly full of dirty dishes, like mine always is!

Sorry for so many posts! I should've caught this before...I would actually seriously consider decreasing the island length to match the sink run (so it's 81" or so?), so that the seating didn't protrude into the walkway from the hallway. It'd seem more spacious and more intentionally designed, I think, but it also tightens the seating, so I think it could be OK either way.

I am also planning a kitchen island... there are so many things to consider, and most of it is just about how you think your family will use it. I would try to squeeze out as much extra storage space as you can as rhome410 suggested to add space next to the fridge. I love the suggestions from rhome410, who has covered it all!

Maybe you could find come cardboard boxes and create a fake island 60x120 just to get a real feel for what it will look and feel like in your space. We are building an 1800sf ish home and my kitchen seems grossly large compared to the rest of the house, but I think it will be where we spend the bulk of our day, and I am more concerned about how we will use it than if it is too big. Also, if you have bar height seating - it may help to keep it from being one long enormous slab..

I once had a house that had I think it was about a 5/6 foot x 8/9ft island and I loved it. older home, 8 foot ceilings, I had 2 support columns in it that I couldn' remove that helped break up the huge slab. It looked great. And I had about a 5 foot "hallway" on the sink side and 4 feet on the 2 shorter sides of the island.

Prep sink: I opted to not have a prep sink, but my island is not as long as yours and I wanted the space. I also didn't want to have a sink and then be annoyed when I took stuff out of the fridge and had no place to put it. So consider where you will make sandwiches and put groceries away. they do make a long narrow sink (somthing like 4ft by 8 inches) not so much for washing hands but it would be a cool solution for a prep area or to dump out drinks or to fill with ice and serve bottled drinks in it. If you want a washing up sink, maybe you could put it next to the fridge???

best of luck

Thank you both for your comments! Now I have a few clarifications and questions back to you...

1. Obviously, I share the concern that the island might be too big for the space. But if I make the aisles wider to narrow the island, at what point (if any) are the aisles "too wide"? I certainly don't want it to look (or be) cramped, but I don't want it to seem out of proportion if the aisles are too wide.

2. RHome, I see your point about the island not extending past the end of the sink run, but we purposely did that because then it will extend into the eating nook area. The end of the island then becomes the nook table. I know it may seem odd to have it extend into there when you come in the front door, or into the room, but mightn't it also look strange to just have an open runway when you walk into the house? We thought the island extending into there could break things up a little, while giving us a lot more space than a table and chairs does. It seems like if we shorten the island AND use a table/chairs, we're back to things being cramped.

3. I realize I attached the wrong layout the first time. The correct one is a attached below, with two small changes: This one shows the way we are picturing the seating at the island. Since this will be our primary eating table, we wanted to avoid sitting in a line. This version also shows the wall that currently exists at the end of the counter to the left of the range. DH drew it with that gone, because he likes the idea of opening that corner up into the dining room.

I don't think we'll be able to move that counter/cabinet bank over to the left (or extend the run on the side of the fridge, as you have in your drawing), because that will take space from our dining room, which is already tight. I think the best we could do there is leave the range wall as it is or open it up, bringing the cabinets to where the wall ends now. I'm torn on that, because I think, from the dining room, it might look better to keep the wall (so that the DR stays its own room), but from the kitchen, I'm all about any extra inches.

4. I'm sorry about the miscommunication on the island seating. I meant that I had allowed 48" on the island itself for seating, not in the aisles on either side. I think this will make sense in the drawing below.

5. I very much like the idea of a prep sink in the island, and we had talked about putting it right where you drew it in. We were concerned, though, that that might turn out to be the landing spot for the refrigerator/wall oven/mw and the sink would be in the way. Do you think it would work to move the sink down the island toward the seating? Or is that pointless? I think that's why the KD suggested moving the pantry to between the oven and fridge, then putting the open counter at the end, with a bar sink in it. That counter is only 30" though, so, with a sink, it doesn't become much of a counter at all. And the sink doesn't work for prep in that location. Although it would work for getting water, washing hands, etc. If we were to make that switch, we'd lose the 30" landing space we had next to the fridge and oven/mw. Maybe that doesn't matter with the island right there.

I just realized I have an "inspiration" picture that might be helpful. This is an island we really like, minus the legs. In fact, this kitchen is similar in shape to ours, so it helps us get an idea of what we could do. I think our island got to 60x120 simply because we have that much room.

Whew. This is a big process for me. I truly appreciate your vision and help.

I like the idea of a prep sink in the lower corner on the frig side. Reason being, you want a sink that you can use from frig, to prep, to range. That will give you good flow. Also, in that location it can be used for baking needs or if a family member wants to quick wash hands or get a drink without coming into the work space of the kitchen.

Island vs table: Traffic can move around the table in 2 directions, but will just be blocked by the island. That's why in my kitchen I am glad to have decided on a shorter island and the separate kitchen table, rather than the long island I initially designed. But I like your inspiration photo and can see why you're drawn to it.

I have 4 ft aisles in my kitchen...along the sides of my island, but 3 ft between the island and the range. That is the spot where there is a lot of back and forth, and the part of the perimeter with which the island has the most direct relationship, because of prep and cooking. There really is no relationship between the island and our cleanup area, except for accessing the trash that pulls out of the island toward the sink area...so no reason for them to be close, and lots of reason for people to be able to pass through if the dishwasher is open. So the 48" works well for us there.

On the oven/fridge side of your island, more room would be nice, too, and even more crucial, where you have the ovens opening and the seating at the end. Our 48" between the island, which we use for baking, and the baking center and oven on the perimeter, does not seem 'too big.' I wouldn't want larger for that purpose, but that aisle isn't the main path between 2 rooms in our case. It's a useful distance with room for working while others may need to get through. I also found it not too large when my oven had to be replaced (again and again) and the guys had to get a cart in there to pull the heavy oven fully out onto, and I had to worry about them dinging up my cabinets.

42", and even 36", in some cases, can be 'workable' for aisles if that's all the room you have, but the 5 ft island is wider than necessary with the aisle width suffering, in my opinion..and seems it may look out of scale/proportion. Key phrase is that is an opinion...and of someone who doesn't live in the space. But... Have you allowed for cabinet doors and counter overhang, or is the 42" you have figured from cabinet box to cabinet box? If you haven't figured in those other measurements, you'll have aisles that end up to be only 39" from counter to counter.

I do think the prep sink will lose benefit if moved off the corner and toward the seating. I'm always a little surprised about the priority of 'landing space,' which is not a constant necessity, and can be more flexible. There is lots of landing area around the sink, even if it's on the corner. The sink location can be crucial for most convenient access, especially if you want it to be multi-purpose and used by multiple people... Whereas, as long as there is some landing space, somewhere pretty handy, it's exact location is less crucial. Again, my opinion. If anyone looks at my kitchen plan, there is really no handy landing space to my main fridge, and I only miss it on the rare occasions that I'm cleaning out the entire fridge and my hands get too full too fast, and it gets to be an annoyance to go back and forth to the island. Otherwise, I don't mind getting things out of the fridge and taking a couple of steps. I don't even use my island as oven landing space, usually, but take a longer route over to the rangetop run, where there is stainless counter.

Bar sinks placed 'out of the loop'...out of the work area... are a whole different thing and purpose than a prep sink. Those seem extra or possibly more frivolous to me, while prep sinks can be a constant and daily help...at least in my experience.

I was hoping I was only narrowing the existing opening/traffic area to the dining room, and not affecting the table area. But I realize I don't know your table layout with the overall room shape and size.

All in all, if you feel strongly enough about this island concept, and I wasn't trying to say it's a bad one at all (only offered other options or adjustments I saw for you to consider), I would still reduce the width by 6" or so to give that outside aisle more room. I would make sure you have the full 42" on the inside aisle, too. If that's a cooktop and not a range, you could gain 6" at the family room end, by scooting the island toward the stove a bit.