I'm an ameteur, but I think your aisle with seating is too narrow. 54" is recommended. On the other hand, you aisle between the sink and island is quite wide at 62", you really only need 42" for that aisle. With the extra 20" your could make your island wider and put the seating on the DR side, with 3-4 stools (24" of counter recommended for each stool, so the island ends you choose, open vs. end panel, and stool size will be a factor).

What is the space allocated for your DR table area? How many inches from the island to far wall of DR? It seems the space for you DR area is narrow? Consider that in your reallocation of the 62" inch kitchen aisle.

On a separate note, do you have garage or mud room access in the hall that leads to the pantry? If not, I would close the hall entrance to the pantry and have the pantry only accessible from the kitchen. This way, you gain over two feet of pantry space to maximize storage (one of your goals). Good luck!

I'd place the DO next to the RF. This will create easy access from all points in the work zone.

5'2" is the max usually in galley kitchens but I find much too wide for convenience. The easiest way to get the additional seating you want and shorten the width of that aisle would be to extend the island depth. One option would be to add a cookbook shelf on RF side bridging the planned cabinets and on the barstool side add a small cabinet between the two planned storage units.

The 38" aisle width on the ends is the minimum I'd go with as I have that in my current kitchen, but I would reverse the planned aisle widths with more space on the working RF/DO side (if you go with that idea) and less on the far end with the seating.

Totally agree about range vs cooktop/DO. My parents did that in the early 50's when they renovated their kitchen before I was born. Though I thought my aunt's Chambers was nice, I never wanted a range. I much prefer standing in front of the pots and pans drawers to ovens. Many don't think downdrafts are effective, but that has not been my experience. Just really check specs and motor location options. Good luck!

I'm an ameteur, but I think your aisle with seating is too narrow. 54" is recommended. On the other hand, you aisle between the sink and island is quite wide at 62", you really only need 42" for that aisle. With the extra 20" your could make your island wider and put the seating on the DR side, with 3-4 stools (24" of counter recommended for each stool, so the island ends you choose, open vs. end panel, and stool size will be a factor).

What is the space allocated for your DR table area? How many inches from the island to far wall of DR? It seems the space for you DR area is narrow? Consider that in your reallocation of the 62" inch kitchen aisle.

On a separate note, do you have garage or mud room access in the hall that leads to the pantry? If not, I would close the hall entrance to the pantry and have the pantry only accessible from the kitchen. This way, you gain over two feet of pantry space to maximize storage (one of your goals). Good luck!

Yes, move your island toward your permiter counters so that you have 42-48" between them and then widen your island to 4' or 5' with adequate overhang for comfortable seating on the DR side. You can still have cabinets opening to the DR side on the island, just store stuff there that you don't use everyday.

Will you have a counter depth fridge? 38 1/2" of aisle space where you have a fridge opening is not enough, especially if it's not counter depth and even then it's still tight. Shorten the island to get adequate aisleways. I agree with the PP who said to put your ovens next to your fridge and keep your cooktop where it is. I wouldn't put a cooktop in an island, although I know it works for some people.

Here's another thought... do you need 2 ovens? What about putting an oven in your island? I would do that if you don't really need 2 ovens and then slide your fridge all the way to the end of your counter run closest to the dining room.

Another potential issue I see is that your DW is in your prep space. I would put a trash pull out where your DW is and then move your DW to the other side of the sink, or even to the adjacent wall where it opens toward the sink, or I've even seen DWs in an island just behind the sink. Think of where your dish storage will be and put your DW closest to those cabinets/drawers while still being within easy reach of your sink.

Here is the layout:

since you say multiple cooks, I can see a corner sink working for you here and setting things up for the island to be used as a prep space...uninteruptted. I would scoot the island in some, move the frig over the end with the DW between it and the corner sink. Move the cooktop over to next to the window and the ovens at the end of that run. I hope that makes sense.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Keep it coming!

I like the idea of reducing the space between the island and counter. We are also going to move the seating area to the back of the island (dining room side). We'll just put things in those cupboards that we don't access often. We're also going to raise the counter side of the island. When we meet with our designer, I'm going to pay special attention to the aisle space; thanks for that feedback.

We're now thinking of adding a prep sink to the island. So many ideas...

You may want to carefully consider whether you really want hanging cabinets over your island. I'm afraid it will make your kitchen look really dated and defeat one of the main purposes of having an island--i.e., comfortable access from all sides. If they're high enough to be out of head-bumping range, they're too high to be useful. Most people with hanging cabs over an island or peninsula can't wait to remove them in their remodel. If a visual barrier is important to you, it seems like keeping your wall (or moving it to a better location, if necessary) would be a better choice. Perhaps a pass-through of some sort could work instead.