IMO a cooking appliance in an island is always bad design and how would the drawers on the end of the island make this even functional so maybe post a plan and IMO an island 2' wide is not even a good idea so i need to see the plan.

The dimensions are a big issue. It isn’t nearly large enough to support safety, cooking and prep functions, all in an island situation. You need it to be at least 2’ longer, with 48” aisles all around. And at least 48” in width.

If you can create that 4’x8’ island, and create the overhead ducting to the exterior for the required expensive island ventilation hood, then there is nothing at all difficult about having cabinets face multiple directions. You will need to be using at least a mid level cabnet lne that offers toe kick alterations, side panel finishing alterations, and overall size adjustment alterations. And you will need a good kitchen designer and contractor team.

If you do not have the room for an 4x8 island, and all of it’s many expenses, then you are much better off with the cooking zone located on the wall, with a smaller island as a prep only island. Even locating a single cleanup sink on an island requires 84” minimum in length.

there is nothing in the island at all but drawers. the cooktop is facing the short end of the island and the sink is facing the long end. its purely a flat top island with nothing on top but space

That is a completely unworkable design. Horribly unsafe. You do not have the correct safety clearances, or enough room to use either a sink or a cookzone on an island end.

Start over, and post your actual room measurements for better suggestions.

The OP has stated twice that her island is only storage and prep space, and yet two replies have admonished her for putting a cooktop in the small island. I understand that she wants drawers to open facing her cooktop on the perimeter for ease of getting pots and pans. I do think 6 x2 island is not ideal (so narrow), but turning the drawers to open toward the cooktop shouldn't be a problem. In my much larger island, I have most opening along the long side, but also a bank of drawers on the shorter end (island base is 48" on the short side, with another 15" overhang on one side).

The OP has **EDITED** the original post that said that the cooktop was to be located in the island. It was only edited out after the pushback for the unsafe idea.

But to repeat, having cabinets facing multiple directions is certainly possible with a mid priced semi custom cabinet line like Kraftmaid (and up). It requires factory level alterations (before finishing) that are not available in a low priced stock cabinet line. It also requires the experts who know how to design that and then install it.

thanks patti. i know its totally personal preference but do you have any experience as to whether it's better to have 2 deep drawers for pots and pans and other ovenware or the slide out shelves? i currently have 2 slide outs under my cooktop and the reason for the island storage is that they are stacked so poorly that i cannot even slide out the sliders withour fear of disaster lol. i do think if i just added sliders it may be ok in the island but unsure. i think i could maybe squeeze in 3 sliding shelves? the 2 current sliders have a drawer above them, in which some of the cooktop is visble but i figure without a top drawer maybe i could even do 3 sliders. then again. maybe 2 sliders and a shallow drawer wouldnt be bad. so many decisions

Not to prolong this, but her original post did not say the cooktop was in the island; she said that where it is, it would make sense to have the pots and pans nearby, at the end of the island, not along the side. Yes, I realize she edited to clarify, but she did not claim to have a cooktop in her island.

As for drawers, I have several deep drawers for pots and pans, 2 24" ones on either side of my range, a few more 27" ones for dishes, bowls, etc. I love them, and find them much more useful than pullouts. When we redid our kitchen (13 years ago! wow, it doesn't seem that long ago), I still put in a couple of cabinets with pullouts because the "drawer" thing still seemed like a new thing. These cabinets are fine, but I much prefer the drawers.

It’s very easy to get the details wrong, without the right designer. You have to be able to customize the dimensions and attributes of the cabinets. You do not ”just” turn a cabinet sideways.

I think you mean like this except yours will face the cooktop. You just need to get the side details of the bank of drawers detailed correctly so the blank sides of that part of the island look good.

If the island is 6x2, you'd have only about 21" width for drawers after accounting for overhangs and cabinet skins on both sides. That's not much width for large pots and pans, so 6x3 would be better, with 33" wide drawers.