In general, you need 24" of linear space for each person & a 15" overhang for counter-height seating. I would not go less than 15" since your island is replacing a table. If you have a corner w/seats on each side, remember to leave at least 12" (preferably 15") extra for shared leg room. (Yes, this applies to you b/c of the proposed diagonal sides) This should illustrate it... See how Lagrant does not have seating right up to the edge on the side closest to us...that's b/c that last seat on the left side needs that for leg room. With your setup, you could get one seat on the 39" side...but the 12" overhang will not really be enough. The 18" sides will be much too shallow for someone to sit at plus it would be tight anyway not only b/c of the lack of linear space but also b/c of the shared leg space. This is what you're trying to do... (1 square = 3" x 3") Do you have a DR? With our remodel, we also eliminated table seating in our bay window. But, we raised the window and put a counter along that wall w/a sink in the bay. We also took down the wall b/w the DR and Kitchen and now use our DR for all our family meals. We do have 2 seats at the peninsula b/w the Kitchen & DR for a quick snack or breakfast or even to setup a laptop. Our peninsula is 5'2" w/a 15" overhang. BTW...we tried to do the same thing with our kitchen...put in an island w/seating...we even tried to follow the contour of the bay like you're trying to do, but ultimately it did not work. So that's when we decided to make that wall a run of cabinets & counters...the best thing we did in our kitchen! To help you find a way to get 4 seats, it would help if we could see a layout of the kitchen w/dimensions...especially the bay window alcove's dimensions. Is your design finalized? If it is, you're going to be very limited in what you can do at this point...which means you may not get the 4 seats you want. If it isn't, then perhaps we can find a way to get you what you want.

Please help! We're in the process of building now and trying to determine whether we should include an island in our kitchen. On paper the kitchen is 14'x14' and we were planning on adding a 3'x3' centered. Drywall is up and the length of the kitchen that includes the main walkthru is actually 13'9". The fridge (37" deep installed) is on this length too. We are now thinking narrowing this side of the island to 2' which would give us 40" from the front of the fridge and 40" to the other cabinets on the opposite side. The other sides would still have 42" clearance each and the island would be 3' on this side. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

How low are the bay windows? If you could get your social seating there with a little table, it would be really nice. If you can get rid of the seating on the island, or at least on the end, I could sort of see it working (once you put some numbers on the paper of course!). I would perhaps make it deeper so that I could prep on the end if needed. So I guess to answer the square or rectangular question, I'd say square until you run out of reasonable space that direction and rectangular until you impose on walkways the other. Where will dishes go? I like them near the DW because it gets unloaded more often if they are. My inlaws have a sink in an island that's around 6 ft wide. Dishwasher, double sink, then 24" drawer base. It's all encapsulated by a ledge on 3 sides to block spills. they always have a dish rack on the side with the DW and prep on the other side. Drives me bonkers. Huge kitchen, tiny island. But they don't HAVE to prep there. I don't prep next to a sink. (My floor does get wet though!) So, what's surrounding the dining room? How nuts to try to put the kitchen in that area? A bay window is awkward in a small kitchen but perfect in any dining room... That sink and sink cab are unusual in that they are custom made for each other and take advantage of the space perfectly, so if that sink is good enough for you, then yup, 24" is going to be fine!

You have room for 1 island and a small almost bisto sized table and chairs, or 2 small islands. I can't see where a second island or even the breakfast table will go that won't interfere with some traffic pattern through to the sunroom or family room. You don't have enough walls to have a true "nook". Maybe make the openings to the sunroom and family room smaller (but maybe with window passthroughs) so you have some wall space to anchor a table that will keep it out of the traffic flow. Orienting the island parallel to the refrigerator wall/sink wall doesn't really leave you enough room to open the refrigerator or have passers by behind the seating. The long side should be parallel to the cooktop wall. Plus, your prep sink is in the wrong location/isn't shown on the smaller island. It should be closer to the cooktop where you'll need it most, and also close to the fridge side. What is the purpose of the butler's pantry? You have a wine cooler in the main kitchen, and you have a huge pantry wall, and the cleanup sink and dish storage is about as far from the dining room as you can get. So, what purpose does having a butler's pantry serve? If it is to be a true butler's pantry, it would be better to have the cleanup sink on the fridge wall with maybe a passthrough to the butler's pantry so that dishes could be stored there, and that's probably the better location for "adult beverage" storage and the glasses associated with it. Or, it could be a true pantry, and you could eliminate much of that very expensive "wall of tall" that you have going on. You need to define your wants/needs better, and you need to actually "walk the walk" in your mind and think about the paths you'd need to put away groceries, or clean up after a meal. What you have looks pretty, but it doesn't function well.