Hi there, I am so sorry that you've hit this dilemma at this stage in the process. I have the same u-shaped kitchen with almost the same configuration, except we have double ovens where your fridge is, and our fridge is on the opposite side, at the end of the counter left of the sink. I spent many, many hours designing our kitchen and thinking through the walkways with appliances, door swings, stools, etc. Our original blueprint called for our kitchen to be 12' deep, with a 24" island with no overhang for bar stools. In a prior kitchen that we remodeled, which was 12', we added an island with stools and had about 33" walkways, one of which had an over door opening. It was very tight, especially when we had guests around the island, which was basically whenever we had guests! So for our new build, I already knew 12' would never work, so one necessity was that we bumped our kitchen 3', making it 15' deep. Our current island is 24" with 10" overhang, making it 34". With 2' of counters/appliances on the sides of the "u." that leaves just over 3 1/2' (about 43") on either side of the island. Our walkways are "comfortable" but not spacious. If someone is sitting at the island on a stool and I need to open one of the ovens, I just tell them to hold still, and I can open the door and have about 6-8" between the door and the back of the stool, which is fine. Honestly, I think 15' is the minimum comfortable depth you can have in a u-shaped kitchen with bar stools. If I built this same design again, I would make it more like 17' deep. I am guessing yours is more like 12-13' deep? Imagine how much space you would have if you had an extra 3' feet of depth and you will see what I mean. If I were you, I would either: 1) go without bar-stools at the island and just have the regular 1 1/2" overhang all around; 2) if there is room, make the overhang on the end of the counter and maybe round the counter on the end so you could try to get 2 stools in; or 3) if you're really set on having the overhang where you have it, perhaps in addition to moving the island closer to the dishwasher side, you could get a new counter top with less overhang, such as 10" overhang instead of 12" if that is what you have. As I discovered in my last kitchen, when you're dealing with walkways, every inch counts! Good luck!

My first criterion for choosing stools was comfort, sturdiness, and good back support as I sit on them while doing my major prep. Then they had to "make a statement" and work with the rest of the kitchen visually. I believe they were about $290 each online; they list at about $500. (I don't know if I ever told DH what I paid, but my machinist BIL was very impressed with their quality, so he may actually have a clue!) Stainless barstools: Stainless barstools, side view

Oh - I have been asking the same questions for years and not found a good solution. When we redid out kitchen last year we decided to go for laminate (Formica) cabinets that we had custom made for us because we wanted the durability and ability to stand up to dampness. I planned to use large bar-type pulls on the drawers and cabinets and could hang towels wherever I wanted without fear of damaging the cabinets. Unfortunately, the cabinets didn't meet with out approval (a real problem with sight-unseen custom cabinetry) so I'm now using the DW handle (located next to the prep sink). This is fine for wiping clean hands and an wet apple or tomato after washing, but not good for drying dishes over at the clean-up sink - that DW doesn't have a handle. So I leave a towel draped over the dish rack next to the sink. I am mentally designing a towel holder that would sit on the counter or in the dish rack, similar to the ones you can get for hand towels in a bathroom. I don't want it to take up too much space on the counter and I don't want to drip on the counter so this is a challenge. We're redoing our kitchen, again, and will probably end up with wood cabinets. I am thinking about getting some sort of shield for the apron in front of the sink and the sink cabinet door to protect it from water from spills and a towel hanging there. (Now there's an idea for an enterprising inventor!) I might even choose a completely different door for that location, maybe thermafoil or such, and incorporate it into the "design." It's probably going to be my last kitchen and as for my body, I'm too old to worry about appearances. I'm more concerned about function than form!

jellytoast: I did read about that; is there any way at all to eliminate that gap? I can't change the location of the outlets now. Nan57 and ilene-84: I like the beveled look more and more as I keep comparing it to my flat sample, so it's nice to hear from both of you that you love this tile! firsthouse_mp: My thoughts, exactly! Do white beveled tiles differ a great deal in both the nature of the gloss and the beveling, in different stores? I've noticed in pictures online, that some tiles look more 'classy' than others, if that makes any sense :-).