Hi benjesbride - I haven't been active lately but couldn't help but respond to your inquiry as I too love galley kitchens! I redid my galley and placed the sink and range on the same side because it made sense for how I work. Fast-forward almost 2 years and I stand by the decision 100% as I love the long counter space on my refrigerator side while also preferring the ease of movement between my sink and range! Here is a link. Here is a link that might be useful: My galley with sink and range on one side

IF you decide to go with a movable island, you might also check your cabinet line. Some of them have movable islands that you can get to match or complement your perimeter cabinets. I know, for instance, that KraftMaid does as my KD showed one to me when she was trying to talk me out of my mini-peninsula...she thought it would be more useful. [I love my mini-peninsula, btw! It protects my cooktop and has become my Baking Center.] I'm someone who went from a small "L" shaped eat-in kitchen to a 2-peninsula kitchen and I definitely do NOT regret it...as a matter of fact I think I gained an amazing amount of counter space, in particular...and I then had room for a Prep Sink...all pluses! There is a lot of anti-peninsula sentiment on this Forum, so you will probably not get much support for it. Most people (not everyone growlery!) prefer islands...stationary or movable. If you go w/a stationary island, I don't think 36" is a big enough clearance on the sides...I think 42" minimum, preferably 48". There will be a lot of laundry basket carrying through there as well as, I think, the traffic from the back yard (I can't tell for certain on this point). I'm guessing there's no garage so groceries will be coming in from the front door (is that correct?). You also need to have enough room to carry those groceries into the kitchen.

Not sure this will be helpful but I will share what happened when we took the wall out between our kitchen and dining room. Instead of puting a post to support we reduced the length of the opening between the two spaces and dropped the ceiling a bit to put in a thick engineered beam to support the ceiling. So there is a transition space between the rooms where the space is narrower than the rooms, therefore the length of the load the ceiling beam had to carry was shorter not requiring an additional support. I don't know if it makes sense and unfortunately I don't have a good photo. Just imagine a small "transition space" between the rooms, much larger than a doorway (9 feet in this case) but smaller than the full width of each space. Just another option.

Not commentary about any of the above - just additional ideas in the drawing. The commentary is about the half-table and trying to seat 3 people in half of a 42"ish table. The first bit is I know they are kids now, but kids become bigger quickly, then start having friends over. I'd have to have you build something that had a life span of less than 5 years because your kids grew up. A child starts to use adult sized furniture at ages between 9 and 13. The next bits are about how big people are and how they fit and how chairs fit and legs! Ask me how I know and I'd show you my halfish 48" round table hung on the wall and supported by two legs. Halfish because it's more like 3/4. We bough an unfinished undercarriage and legs for a round table base from tablelegs.com. We assembled the "ring" with two leg positions showing and chopped off the back of the ring and substituted with a straight board. A french cleat is attached to the wall and the table. In our case, a "lock" was fashioned from a piece of molding that finishes off the joint to the wall. It slides in from the side and keeps the table from rising up off the cleat but yet I can easily remove the entire table for deep cleaning of the floor or when I want a new rug. The legs are because it's too large of a thing to cantilever and its subject to a fair amount of weight. Lots of people use the table edge to push themselves up or let themselves down. The younger crowd might decide it makes a nice stage or place to fine groom your 75 pound dog or bang together some school project on top of it. If you're lucky, they'll forget about the air nailer in the garage. Rule 1: The chairs need to be able to fit within the legs. We decided on the size of the base by the distance between the needed legs plus how far the legs would be from the wall. I went out and measured a bunch of dining chairs to get a feel for the amount of area that was needed. We ended up with Madeleine Side Chair from RH - it's a pretty small chair. It's about 18" wide. Ikea has some small ones too. I used the average of maybe 12 small chairs to set my widths so that I could change my mind or buy new ones without a lot of concern over whether they would fit. A person needs about 30" of table edge before invading another person's space or hitting an obstacle. That's all on top. Underneath, allow for the greater of the chair width or 24". In your case, the island will function as a wall. People and chairs need a little extra distance from the base (not be crowded by moldings or supports). I didn't want a lot of shoe prints on the wall. The higher section can cause a lot of elbow knocks. People who are left or right handed (we have one of each) need a little extra distance between the higher thing and the favored arm. So think about how this gets supported and how big the top needs to be. Things like legs are always partly decoration driven and that's ok. Truly feel free to make something that works as a baking area but can be pressed into service as a seating area occasionally if you want - or break any other ergonomic rule. As long as you know the pitfalls, I'm happy. I'm not dissing the purple photo above, but as you look at that, notice some things. The stools can't be tucked in. An adult couldn't sit there comfortably without putting their feet on the lower shelf - possibly not even then because its high to use as a foot rest and an adult leg might not fit. Rule 2 - pick your chairs/stools first. Tables are 29-30" tall, counters are 36" or 42" for the most part. Chairs and stools are widely available for those heights. Back to the purple picture, they used some other height cause it looks like about 33" tall to me. Odd heights = custom made chairs/stools or adjustable height stools. If you don't, everyone will be uncomfortable every time the chairs are used. So, if you are tall people and want to raise your counters, budget for those custom stools to match your custom chairs before doing the same on the island. Rule three - the shorter the height, the deeper the area should be. These allowances are for knees for average height people. Taller people may need extra depth allowance. Tables and 36" high counters both need about 15" of depth. 42" high counters need about 12" of depth. Rule 4 - Chairs and a lot of stool designs will stick out from the table/counter. As a planning allowance, upholstered or large chairs will stick out about 15" from the table or counter edge when empty. Chairs with upholstered seats only and stools with splayed legs or splayed backs will stick out about 12" - even when tucked all the way in. Backless chairs or stools may run into each other under the table and end up sticking out some unknown amount. Chairs and stools with arms may stick out further depending on where the arm height intersects with the top. Last observation, people here have all kinds of opinions about aisle width and they are all strongly felt. These are mine: If you move cleanup to the sidewall - because of the refrigerator and the ovens, I would figure out how narrow I could make it and still be comfortable doing everything. For me, it depends on how far the front of the ref doors stick out cause that can vary quite a bit. It could be 24" to 36" depending on the make and model. I would set the aisle at no less than 42" from the front of the ref with closed doors. If you are a family of refrigerator cruisers, I might increase that distance to 48". I might increase the aisle between the sidewall cleanup and the island to 5 feet to make SURE everyone could easily get by the dishwasher and open opposing drawers. Leaving cleanup in the island, I'd allow for 5 feet between the island and the run containing the ref and ovens. I had that in the prior kitchen between a range and cleanup - it worked well. Even when we both were in the same aisle doing two different tasks, we never worried about getting through or whether we could open a drawer. Good luck with your build.