Personally for me think they look beautiful either way. BUT, and it's a big but, I wouldn't want to have to worry about keeping a rug under a table clean. I may love to vacuum, but I it's just not so fun when dodging table can chairs under a dining table. It's so much easier to sweep a bare floor in this situation. But that's just me.

I have never had a problem with the rubber waffle type pads ruining my wood floors. Rubber on vinyl will discolor the flooring. You can buy fabric backed rugs and since it will not be in a traffic area you won't need to worry about it slipping but it will not scratch the floor. If you get one with a rough back I would still use something under it because it will slide when you move the table for your laptop use and then you will end up with scratching the floor eventually.

What are you putting on the island...cooktop or sink (please tell me sink........)? While it's less than ideal to put a sink or cooktop in an island, the lesser of two evils is the sink in the island. If you're putting the cooktop in the island & it's b/c you want to visit with people while cooking...remember this:70% of your time spent in a kitchen is Prepping 20% is spent cleaning up 10% is spent cookingSo, what does it make sense to do on the island if you want to spend most of your time visiting while working in the kitchen? Prep. The least sense? Cooking. Now, safety...cooking is the worst thing to do in an island (or peninsula) unless you have at least 24" of countertop behind & on each side of the cooktop. Yes, it's more than NKBA states for non-seating (NKBA is silent on seating...which might mean it's a "no-no"); but from experience and common sense, 24" is better. [Think about someone spreading homework or the newspaper out on the island while you're cooking. Think about the steam from boiling water drifting over to the people sitting there. Think about how far grease splatters. Think about someone walking by or even running by while you're cooking...carrying papers, backpack, etc....and not being careful where they are in relation to the cooking surface.] Hopefully, all this is moot & it's the sink in the island...(even then, if you have seating at the island strive for 18" b/w the faucet and edge of the seating overhang to minimize visitors being splashed; 15" will work, but 18" is better). **** As to prep.... Unlike others, my prep area is driven by where my sink & cooktop are, not where there's a view or social interaction. I find the easiest and most natural place to prep is b/w my prep sink & cooktop...and that faces a wall. That area has about 40" of workspace (not counting the peninsula). If I need more room, I find myself working on the other side of the cooktop where there's about 5' of workspace b/c of the corner, even though there's no sink there and, again, it's mostly facing a wall. I have a peninsula on the other side of the prep sink that's across from the refrigerator w/about 30" of space, so it could be a logical place for prep. I also have my cleanup sink in front of a big bay window and the refrigerator is on that same run with 51" b/w them. However, 9 times out of 10, I prep b/w my cooktop & prep sink...and I have no problems with it. It's not like I can't visit with others while working there. They can sit at the peninsula and I can glance over to the right at them while I work or I can glance over to the left to see what's going on in the FR. To be honest, when I'm prepping, I prefer to keep my eyes on what I'm doing since so much of my prep work involves knives... All of this leaves the peninsula free for the kids to do homework or work on projects, or for me to setup my laptop when I'm working from home. It leaves the cleanup sink run clear for cleaning up only. No more conflicts! Would I change the location of anything b/c of this? Except for adding a trash pullout in the prep are, I wouldn't change anything else. It works great for us! [Well, maybe I'd change the location of the TV to where I wanted it in the first place but my DH thought he knew better...that way my DH wouldn't keep moving the stool to the "U" so he can be really close to the TV while eating breakfast. I keep biting my tongue to keep from saying "I told you so!"]

Thank you, rjr220! Did you use two separate cabinet base units for this set up? I understand about the modifications to the drawer, but I'm wondering about the connection of the two cabinet areas. Is it open between the under sink area and the trash pull-out? Also were your cabinets totally custom or is this possible with a semi-custom line? The sink I want to use this set up on is much smaller, so I would like to use a 30 cabinet base (or perhaps two 15 inch bases) with a fake drawer under the sink and a real, but shallow, drawer under the ledge with a 15 inch pull-out under that. Would this only work with frameless cabinets? What if I went with inset cabinetry? I know that this would make my drawer and pull-out much narrower, but I believe they do make pull-outs sized to fit a 15 inch framed cabinet. This won't be our main sink, nor our main trash. Here is a link that might be useful: the sink I want to use