Oh come on macy...that's easy :oP 50 to 0 when they hit my windshield. Mindstore...I meant that if someone was at the sink and the DW was open it impeeds the use of the stove area (and I only mentioned that because the set up with it swapped is exactly what we removed when we remodeled, not to even mention access to the cabinets being blocked). Really Steve, IMO your question shouldn't be "is this an issue" because it's not (trust me...I can dance on top of the counters including the end panel area...and my DW is not attached in any way). But I do think you should think about doing a solid wood panel instead of MDF because of the steam and water associated with an open DW...and of course you did put an auto shut off valve in there right? :oP What size is your big toe...that might factor in here.... heh heh

We had "decorator doors" installed over the side panel - they mimic the lines of our doors but are just panels.

I'll play around the the diagonal idea this weekend. I just did some quick trigonometry and that solution might work (unless I have overlooked something). If someone wants to check my math: The two walls leading into the corner are 60" long each. I'm working with a 30" range (which is about 28" deep). As Pythagoras would have it, my stove and the triangular corners leading up to the stove (as well as the wasted space in the back) would take up 33.82" of the wall space on each side of the corner. I'll round that to 34" for good measure. This would leave me 26" on either side to work with. That sounds like alot! I was expecting less. Does anybody see any glaringly obvious errors?

We went flush with the doors. IIRC, we ordered a big 3' x 8' cover panel and cut it down to make the two island ends. That way we could make it the exact size we needed. We let it drop straight down without notching it back for the tokick area. We also went with a flush countertop, too, to keep the modern vibe.