First, CONGRATULATIONS! You have a layout!! And the good news is... It looks WONDERFUL! I'm so excited for you! As to the narrow depth drawers... when I proposed them for one of my many many layouts, the feedback was they're very useful. I've never had them so I can't speak from experience. The end stool?... I can see myself now, sitting on my laptop there... paying the bills I store in that 12" drawer next to it...

Great job erika!

I have a 6 inch deep by 36 inch long cab on the back side of my island for spices. I love it!

15 inches deep could be used for lots of things. Take advantage of all the space you can. Another idea would be to use the space as a book or display shelves, with or w/o doors.

Even if you keep the overhang on one end, you should consider having the 15" drawer on the butcher block side open on the narrow end. That way it could be a standard depth cabinet which will save you a pretty good chunk of change over a custom depth one.

Elyse, thank you so much for your kind words and even more for all the help you gave me with my layout.

lsandler, thanks so much for posting that pic. Amazing how much use you're getting from a mere 6 inches!

tbugera, you gave me some great ideas. I'd like to use one side to hide all the stuff we usually dump on the island: keys, mail, etc. I'm wondering if I could put a power strip in one of the drawers for phone chargers ...

alku, you don't think it will look strange if the 2 ends don't match? I'm using a custom cabinet line, but now that you mention it, I'm going to ask if there's an upcharge for other than standard depths.

If you did as Alku suggested, you'd have a great place to store your cutting boards...cookie sheet/cooling rack/tray storage above the DOs & cutting boards in the island where they will be used the most.

Will it look strange if they don't match (the two ends of the island)? If you just used a plain finished end panel, yes, I think it would look strange. But, if you have a decorative door panel on the side of the cutting board cabinet, I think it would look just fine.

Lone seat...I don't think the overhang on the MW end looks strange, it actually adds a place for someone to sit and help prep while others just visit in the larger seating area.

HTH!

you don't think it will look strange if the 2 ends don't match?

Since that side of the island doesn't face an open space, I think you'll seldom see the whole side at once. Therefore, not matching is irrelevant. The countertop already won't match, and I think that will be far more visible, so I wouldn't worry at all about the underneath part not matching.

I would suggest making the shallow drawer a little wider (same as the butcher block) and lose the other drawer completely. That way, you would scoot the stools down a bit and have some more roominess created by the overhang continuing around the corner. We have three stools in a 7.5' opening, and with elbows and legs, I can't imagine being truly comfortable with four stools and only six more inches.

We have 18" deep drawers on our pantry wall, and we find them tremendously useful. I think 15" could be quite useful, too.

I wanted to speak to the side overhang. When I saw it, I immediately thought how much my small children would enjoy that space as a prep area (or an adult helper too). Nice space to put your laptop too for accessing on-line recipes, checking email etc.

None of the sides of my island match :) One end looks like a panel of two doors, but is actually a hidden chalk board. The other has two stacked drawers, just 12" deep (actually about 9" because they have the glass front to put grain or whatever in) and a panel. Then another side has a panel, a cabinet for the sink, and a 9" deep book shelf, and the other has a 12" deep two door cabinet which will be for canned goods used near the stove, and the trash compactor is in there as well.

Islands aren't seen from all sides at any one time, so symetry isn't terribly important, but function is!

15" is deeper than most people's uppers, so I can't imagine you won't find them useful.

I have a 15-inch drawer and I love it! I keep our forks, knives, and spoons in it. We've had the new cabinets about one month, and my family still isn't used to its reduced depth (I hear them open it as if it should be a 24-inch depth). That's just cause for laughter, though. I say that a 15-inch drawer is definitely very useful.

From blum, the maker of the most popular undermount slide

"Full extension for 1/2" & 5/8" drawer side. 15" Drawer requires 15-3/4" Minimum Interior Depth"

-or- in English about a 16"-17" exterior depth cabinet.

So if you don't re-orient the drawers, you're actually going to have 12" deep drawers. Depending on how your drawers are made, the net usable depth might be 1.5 inches less for non-inset and 2.25 less for inset. In reality, its a 9.75 to 10.5 inch deep drawer. Sorry.

The math is different for a side mount glide and some other undermounts, but the max is a 14" drawer with a net usable of 11.75 to 12.5 inches.

If its any consolation, I have some of these and they are nice for baking pans (but not trays) on edge or stacked. Also tall pots, table linens, spices, snack storage, etc.