Mostly you just need to set the rest of the kitchen up so you aren't constantly having to walk around the island to get to stuff on the opposite side. Not having a barrier island is twice as important when the island is especially large so the walk around it is that much longer and more cumbersome.

I imagine if you get a stone counter that weight would be a consideration as well. You might need extra reinforcing under the island.

Mine is 13 feet long and 5 feet wide. I love it!

We have a seam but our granite is book matched and you can barely see the seam b/c we brought in experts.

If you have the kitchen space, go for it!

Mine is not just a big expanse of cabinets, it's broken up w/ other stuff. I don't think I'd like it if it was just a huge expanse of cabinets.

Can you spot the seam? It's a bit to the left of the flower vase.

beagles, I love your kitchen. I remembered seeing pics of it before. Thanks for the comments. I think your island looks great. How do you like having your sink on the island? I am considering doing that as well. The layout I am thinking about will have an L-shaped kitchen and the island. No cabinets on the other side of the island.

I like having it there a lot. It's very convenient. We don't really cook, but it is nice for washing veggies, washing hands, etc. There's a dishwasher right next to it, which is convenient too.

We have another sink along the side perimeter but it's all marble and pretty much exclusively decorative. I think we turned it on like 6 times in 3 years (mostly to wash our hands).

For me an island above 8' x 39" (base plus overhang) starts to be on the large size. Sure I've seen some very nice ones above that -- but you have to look at the situation closely. Above that and I'd wonder if there could be a pantry, china cabinets, or other features in the kitchen could make use of the square footage and whether the island has become an obstacle. Of course if you have a 5000 square foot house there's plenty of room to do everything. Some friends have an island that's about the size of a bedroom in my smallish house; it looks very elegant and is great for hosting parties with 8 people sitting at the counter and even more standing nearby -- but its not what I would want.

I originally thought I wanted a very wide island, but I found that IRL it was too big-- what I want is about 40" wide. I think it depends on whether you want to be able to reach across it ( like serving food or passing something) or whether you want it to feel like 2 separate spaces.

beaglesdoitbetter- Gorgeous island and countertop! What granite is the countertop?

Ours is around 9.5'x4.5' (or exactly 112"x54") using one slab of marble. LOVE it! We sit here constantly (most meals, coffee and the news in the AMs, working on our laptops, cleaning dishes, wrapping presents, you name it). We have seating for 4, but there is room to sit 5 comfortably.

Our island is just shy of 5'x9'. One slab of Super White. We have seating for 5, but normally it's just me and DH sitting kitty corner. I'm only 5'2", but have no problems with reaching the middle when cleaning. I like being able to have a large "something" in the center. For Christmas I have a runner and there is still plenty of room around it.

Minimum Depth...

"...For me an island above 8' x 39" (base plus overhang)..."

"...what I want is about 40" wide..."

If you have seating at an island, the minimum depth should be 40.5" if you have no decorative door/panel on the back of the cabinets or 41/5" if you do.

1.5" counter overhang in the front

+ 24" deep cabinets

+ 1" decorative door/panel on the back of the cabinets

+ 15" overhang (the minimum recommended)

=======

41.5"

The minimum recommended overhang is for people of average height (5'4"
to 5'10" or so). For taller people or people with longer legs, a deeper overhang should be considered.

Maximum Depth...

The maximum depends on how far you can reach - for most people, 5' (60") is probably the maximum. You need to be able to reach the middle of the island plus a little bit more for cleaning purposes (wiping down counters) and for reaching things in the middle.

I had an 8' deep island and would never recommend that deep. Cleaning was an issue. We had to use hockey sticks to move anything around the middle.

i had to climb onto the island to clean the middle. I was lucky the overhang never broke.

It looked great because our house then was huge and the kitchen open to a great room and formal dining room.

Living with it was a different matter. It was a dump zone for my husband and I constantly lost mail on it.

Width...

It depends on what you plan to put in the island and what you plan to use it for.

If you plan to prep in the island, you need a minimum of 36" of clear counterspace - 42" is much better.

If you have a prep sink in the island, then you should have at least 12" to 18" on one side (for landing space & to minimize the chances of knocking something off the counter) and a minimum of 36" to 42" on the other side. The minimum prep sink size recommended is 15" or so interior width - 18" to 21" is better. A 15" to 17" sink will fit in an 18" sink base; an 18" to 20" in a 21" sink base; 21" in a 24" sink base. A trash pullout, if you have one, would go in the island on either side of the sink.

If you have your cleanup sink in the island and plan to use the island for both prep and cleanup, then you need at least 36" on the cleanup side that includes the DW and 36" to 42" on the prep side that includes, if you have one, the trash pullout.

In all cases, don't forget the 1.5" counter overhangs on the front and sides of the island. If there's no seating on the back, then the same on the back.

My island is 48" x 108". I love it. I'm glad it's not wider as reaching across isn't fun. It's not just reaching the middle to wipe it but consider this... rolling cookies and your rolling pin starts rolling away and you can't catch it because it's too far and BANG onto the ground. Or a pencil, or a roll of tape, or a paper your kid is trying to hand you from the other side, or ...

I'm still unpacking but there have been many times where I've set something down on the chair side and then been on the working side (scissors, command strips, etc) and whoops, gotta walk around.

5' would be worse I think.

Ours is 4 ft by 14 ft. This is an old photo of the in progress kitchen.

gw · More Info

I think the best answer here is that the island must fit proportionally into the overall space. We've all seen floorplans in which the potential builder is trying desperately to squeeze an island into a space where an island just can't fit -- and then, on the other end of the spectrum -- we see massive islands that are perfect as part of a greatroom/kitchen combination. The island must be a part of the overall picture, not a line item discussed separately.

Having said that, I personally would not like an island any wider than 3 1/2' -- I'm very short and would be unable to reach the middle of anything wider.

And if price is a consideration, keep in mind that while you can successfully cobble together an island from standard cabinets, the counter top can't be "cheated". A larger counter top -- anything over, give or take, 8' or so -- is going to cost a fortune and require a seam.

Mine is 39" x 119" (just as long as I could get with one slab of Ceasarstone). I do almost all prep on the island and even for the simplest meal I seem to use at least 6 feet of length! I'm sure I could easily make do in less space, but it's nice to have the room to spread out.

I agree, and I'm concerned that my island is going to be massive, with a 15" overhang, and look monstrous in the space. It will be 47"x10...but it is angled, so that does help.