I have a rear center drain and I strongly prefer this over a drain off to one side. I tend to multitask in our sink, and the drain is central to the activities. I can have a pan of dishwater on one side, veggies draining in the colander on the other side, and the drain free in the middle for dumping pasta water or running water to rinse a knife or vegetables. A drain off to the side would be blocked more often than my back center drain. The only time the center drain is blocked is when I have really large things in the sink, like fridge shelves or drawers. But it's much better to have the drain placed well for 95% of my kitchen tasks than for the rarer 5%. I agree that a grid is helpful. Our sink is 30" wide and our cabinet is 36" wise. We don't have a gd. I like having the plumbing in the middle--it frees up the usable space so that it is either behind left door or right door. Our compost is behind the left door and other supplies are behind the right door.

Our whole island is at a lower height for baking and prep (33"), including where the prep sink is. It would've been my preference, when planning, to have the sink at standard height if I could have, but I don't have any problem using it at the lower height. If you decide to do the 2 different heights, I'd put it in the higher part for 2 reasons...1)You work down in the sink, so putting it lower risks back discomfort, and 2) I wouldn't want to crowd the rolling/kneading space. If you're doing a small section like Bluekitobsessed, it's limited enough and I wouldn't want a sink to make it smaller. (I rolled out dough for cinnamon rolls this morning that would've taken her whole lowered section...Which means it's about the perfect size, but wouldn't be if there was a sink in it.)

@funkycamper, I just tried a layout with the sink centered in front of the window again. It won't work. The sink is so long, there isn't enough space to include the stove along the same exterior wall, unless I want to live with just 12 inches of countertop space on either side of the stove (I don't - I need wider storage space underneath). And I think it would look strange to have the sink off center in front of the window, which is the only way it would work. The good news is, when I walk through the doorway from the dining room, the stove would be visible right away. I wouldn't be able to see it while SITTING in the dining room, though. But I intend for everything in my kitchen to be beautiful, so I'm not particularly concerned about which piece is visible in the doorway.

If the sink wall is 14'10", there should be plenty of space for the fridge, but the window might need to be adjusted to the right. Either way, I'd put the DW on the left side of the sink, to keep it out of the prep area between the sink and cooktop.. What kind of view do you have from the cooktop wall? Have you considered windows on each side of the hood, to allow more light in the kitchen? To answer the original question I don't think an off-center island would look strange. kelleg, yours is beautiful!