You will have to crawl up on it to clean the middle. About 4 ft. is the max to be able to reach at least to the middle from one side. It could be 30 feet long as long as it's only 4 feet wide, theoretically.

My island is probably about the same size youre thinking about, and unless you have a medical problem, you can certainly clean an island wider than 4 feet. Its called bending at the waist. The question is, do you have the room for a wider island. I have the extra storage on the back side and its really nice to have.

Okay, it can become markedly less convenient for an island to be greater than over than maybe at a stretch 5 feet. You can clean it, but not all from one side for sure, and most ergonomic design books recommend Not making them too deep.

I don't know that you will get a lot of bang for your buck putting cabinets underneath a 36" high counter that is 18" deep because of access unless you need a lot of dead storage. (You may need it and that's fine.)

Really though anything deeper than 48 or so which could be back to back base cabinets with no seating, or 24" cabinets with a full 24" for seating, or 24+12 inch cabinets with 12" seating which is tight...I feel like you are getting limited returns on that extra depth beyond that.

Huge islands (not that yours is) are a status symbol for some reason so since yours isn't ten feet square it may not seem that big. But in my opinion it's a little too deep.

i do agree wpalimpsest tho in that the island will look too blocky (imo) in your kitchen. I think a bit thinner will be more asthetically pleasing.

You don’t have sufficient aisles, and it will not provide enough seating as designed. The end seets need 24” of width and at least 15”-18” of depth. To seat that many, you basically need a table with a few cabinets added. Not cabinets with a few seats.

Plus the rest of the space is poorly designed and won’t work at all with that giant obstacle in the way to have to play ring around the rosy obstacle course with.

The larger island is a little in the way and you may tend to clip the edge of the island with your hip between stove and fridge. In the second picture I made it narrower and moved it. The triangle then functions with the island as something really secondary (but it doesn't have more than a countertop function even in the larger form.) It is a bit far from the sink.

Your dining room table is right nearby. I think I'd keep the island to a perch for a couple of kids -- snacks for the youngest, or homework for a couple -- and seat them at the dining room table when you need everybody at once. That will take a lot of design pressure off of the island, allowing you to work the spacing and storage issues more practically.

I understand wanting seating at the island. Our three kids sit at ours all the time. From breakfast to snacks to crafting etc. it’s a great spot. Your kitchen doesn’t appear big enough to support the island size though

I think an island that is less square looks better. My experience is that storage under the overhang is very inconvenient and it looks like you have a huge pantry so you probably don't need it. If I had five kids, I'd do a 6 x 4 island with five barstools (three on the long end and one on each short end...they'd be squeezed in but I'd do it anyway).

What about something like this? A section of the island that serves as a table of sorts. Could be the same height/materials or just a table shoved up against the island. Would allow the back section of island to be shorter to alow for seating on the ends without disruption to the traffic flow.

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Wouldn't it make more sense to flip the kitchen and dining room ... you could then have a whole wall of windows, or even sliders, giving the dining table a view and great place to eat or relax.

I have a 5x8 Island with seating for 5 like you show. You really need the 8' (if you have island legs) to have comfortable space. The depth of 5' is not a problem at all. My aisles are 48-50" and my overhang is 16"...my 2nd row of cabinets (hidden) is more shallow.

Verbo can you elaborate on what you mean about being poorly designed? I did plan on 24” for each seat and 15 overhang so on that count your were mistaken but what else about the kitchen design seems off to you?

Large island also keeps your countertop choices sometimes limited.

Remember that two pairs of kid legs can't occupy the same spot without kicking. Looks like the corners are a bit crowded. It might be too deep even so.

Nothing seriously wrong with your layout. I'd be tempted to get rid of the kink in the wall between pantry and kitchen to allow for a wider island, but there's probably a good reason it does that. :)

I had a 9’ x 56” island countertop with about 16” overhang. I am short. I walked around and cleaned it down to small strip in center. Hubby finished off. Generally was able to clean one long side and overhang and done. 4 kids! So I say go big. Just keep isles at least 42” and if kids are young, I would get very simple stools. Easier to use. Leather or faux leather seats. You know why!! This is where everyone congregates!! Party central and no one sits down! Looks good. Granite jumbo slabs work. If quartz a bit harder to get jumbo slabs. Enjoy.

Rachel-

Please post the entire layout of your first floor.

What is the scale of your drawing?

How many inches or feet is the square?

One thing I think I see (please correct me if I am mistaken) is that in the kitchen the refrigerator is on the far side of the cooktop, far from the sink.

The refrigerator should be closer to the sink.

Also, two of your island seats occupants' legs interfere with the legs of two of the others. Please look at your drawing.

To clarify, these are my two options for the kitchen island. My layout doesn’t do a good job of showing the space for legs, etc. I could do a 6’6” x 5’3” island to get 5 seats, or a 6.5 x 4’3 island which can seat 4 (or in dotted lines 5 but I think that would be too close to the refrigerator and too much in the work zone.) I would like to seat 5 since I have 5 kids but I’m just not sure if it would feel too deep. I will post the full floor plan for everyone to tear up too. 😂

Here’s the full plan. I am not a huge fan of open kitchens into the living room so that’s why I have a partially open plan. I also hate islands with sinks-destroys all that work space (I bake and cook a LOT for 5 boys) and looks cluttered so that’s why I made the kitchen by the windows. We will have a large mirror and solar tube over the dining area. Open to any constructive comments as the draftsman hasn’t looked at it yet so changes can still easily be made!

The upper left corner is a screened in porch I forgot to label.

Rachel, look at this picture of my island...see how much actual free space is needed to have 3 sides of barstools. The distance between the island legs is 7', the actual countertop above is 93" wide (and 5' deep). Yes, my stools have a large foot print BUT you need elbow room, especially with young boys ;) If you are losing any of the planned 6'6" to island legs, (I would with that large overhang) then you will have hard time fitting 3 stools next to each other.

This mock up is just to suggest getting appliances out from that right side wall. its also hard to tell what you were planning next to the fridge? i would suggest though doing narrow depth tall pantries or narrow hutch-drinks area, flanked by tall narrow pantries. thus giving you the extra space on the seating side. also would rotate the island, doing two seats on dining side, three on pantry side - also will give better sightline to tv area. i really didnt examine the rest of appliance layout but its a big L to play with

What about this? I was trying to keep the fridge off the far wall so I could have a nice big window but it’s probably big enough this way. I don’t want to move the fridge over by the stove because that’s not as efficient (doesn’t follow the ice-water-stone fire rule.) This way I could stretch the island to 7 1/5 feet and have a little more space behind the seats. Thoughts?

Better!

Yep, great! i still would try to rotate the island and see if the aisle width are better - and again the sightline to the tv and main living area is better, especially when entertaining.

Also, here are pics of my previous house with an 87.5" x 66" island with seating for 5.

https://sites.google.com/site/kitchenpics2015/home/kitchen_after

We are going to be kitchen twins :) My fridge, dw, sink and range are in the same order, same parts of the L. It has been a very efficient layout for our family of 6. I know that you hate a prep sink, but in our case it definitely improved the flow even more. Good luck!!!

Better! Would make the door to pantry a pocket door though to allow room for the fridge doors.

Avoid sink in island.

You need to get that right before you worry about your island. Additionally you said draftsman. Most are poor designers. Have you considered working with a person of design talent, (architect)?

Below is my list I always post. Anything in bold is an issue that should be fixed.

The best houses orient the public rooms towards the south for the best passive solar heating and cooling

The best houses are L, U, T, H, or I shaped.

The best houses are only one to two rooms deep. And covered lanai, porches, garages, etc count as rooms in this case.

The best houses make sure kitchens have natural light, meaning windows so one doesn't have to have lighting 24/7 to use the kitchen. (And no, dining areas with windows 10' or more from the kitchen will not allow for natural light.) However in this case, I'd say you want the dining area to have windows too.

The best houses make sure all public rooms and bedrooms have windows on at least two walls.

The best houses do not if possible put mechanical rooms, pantries or closets on outside walls

The best houses keep public and private spaces separate.

The best houses do not have you walk through the work zone of the kitchen to bring laundry to the laundry room.

The best houses do not have the mudroom go through any of the work zones of the kitchen.

The best houses do not use the kitchen as a hallway to any other rooms.

The best houses do not put toilets or toilet rooms up against bedroom walls or dining areas.

The best houses do not have walk in closets too small to stand inside.

The best houses have an organizing “spine” so it’s easy to determine how to get from room to room in the house and what makes sense.

Additionally this house will be dark on the interior.

How much land are you on?

Sadly I don’t have an extra 60 grand to spend on an architect. The draftsman won’t really do any designing-that’s up to me 😩.

Is this a new house or kitchen redesign? I think you might be wrong on how much an architect costs.

How about an L shaped island? Something like this (see photos)

, which is basically a 6' x 6' square with a chunk cut out. The shape would likely work with your 6.5’ x 5’3” dimension as well. In my drawing the width of the thicker part is 3'6". The width of the 'table part' is 2'.

Have you checkedded out what an architect costs? I know one excellent one here who works remotely. His name is architectrunnerguy .

I spoke to a local architect and he quoted me a fee 15% of the total cost of the build. That would probably be $65-75,000. I don’t know how anyone can afford that.

Granted we used a designer not architect but our architectural drawings for the build were under $20,000 and the build was $1.2 million. The architect we considered his fee was going to be $45,000 but again that’s only 4% of build cost. Keep looking.

cpartist- didn't you build a custom house recently?

Did you use a local architect?

What percent of the build were your drawings?