Are your measurements from cabinet-to-cabinet or the narrower counter-to-counter/appliance handle?

43” (or less?) between the range and sink is tight especially with a hot open oven door.

39” is tight between the stools and wall because it’s a traffic path. 48” is more comfortable when the chairs and the traffic path are both in use.

Can you widen the traffic path behind tge island chairs by annexing space from the small rooms(?) all along that back wall?

Hi! not sure I understand your first question. sadly we cannot eat into those rooms behind the wall (one is our only downstairs bathroom and it’s already tight in there)

@Brett Fickenscher counter tops overhang the cabinets by 1.5 inches. Many times measurements for aisles are taken from the cabinet box to the other cabinet box giving you an inaccurate measurement to what your aisle width really is. So if you are saying your aisle is 43 inches but that 43 is measured cabinet to cabinet then you need to subtract 3 inches from that measurement. This also includes appliance handles that stick out further from the counters. Your range will stick out further than the counter tops. What measurement would you get measuring from the range handle to counter top edge of the island?

I don't see 43“ between the range and sink on your plan. To me, your plan looks like there is 42” (2’3” + 1’3”) cabinet-to-cabinet between the range wall and island. So <42” aisle after subtracting the depths of the range handle and island counter edge. That’s narrow especially if the oven is open or there are two people working in the kitchen at sink/range.

It's tight with the seating considering that seems to be a significant circulation path.

Your island looks to be 4’x10’. One option to increase the aisle widths is to shrink the island size.

It is recommend that a vent hood is 6” wider than the range, so 42” for you. I think this would be especially important for you since you have windows on each side. I think that will look dramatic and beautiful but might be a pain to keep clean.

Our kitchen has many similarities so I’m sharing some photos for reference.

Our island stools to dining table is:61’
Island to fridge: 48.5’
Island/sink to range: 51’

Here are real life pics of oven and dishwasher open as well as fridge. Oven and dishwasher are never both open. My husband and I can be in the kitchen together one at sink and the other at stove easily.

Excuse our microwave the correct one is being repaired!

Thanks WestCoast! thats helpful. What are the dimensions of your island?

50x108

It looks like your aisle measurements were done cabinet to cabinet which means your aisles are way too narrow to be comfortable.

It's hard to read but what is the length and width of the kitchen in total?

Can you shrink the depth of the island and as a result increase the aisles all around?

• For a commercial bar, my design book recommends an 18-24" deep bar top.
• For a bar, my design book recommends an 18-24" space behind the bar top for someone to hoist himself onto a bar stool and sit. It recommends 30" behind that for circulation. So the distance between the edge of the bar top and wall should be 48" to 54".
• For a residential kitchen, it recommends a minimum corridor width of 48"

When you reduce the island I’d suggest starting with just 3 stools. Then decide if you can fit a 4th. When you have side cabinets constraining the stool area people need some wiggle room to move/get in and out.

To the comment about keeping windows clean that flank the cooktop/range. It really is a non-problem. I've had windows on either side of my cooktop for almost 10 years, and I've never had cooking grease or splatters on the windows. But I'm a fairly neat cook.

Thanks Diana! Yeah we aren’t too concerned about that part :)

just a +1 to @thinkdesignlive - we stayed in an air bnb with this set up and i was surprised how much the end cabs constrained movement at the island - we don’t have this at home and can easily slip in and out of chairs - at the rental, I felt like we were constantly pulling out chairs and squeezing in, if the end pieces add a lot of value then def leave them but just something to consider

Your island plan shows either cabinets or open shelving on the island end. I went with open shelving for cookbooks (or decorative serving pieces). When I have guests over, I can increase my island seating by using two saddle stools on the shelving end. The shelf openings add a bit more leg room for the impromptu seating. This might be handy if you decide to reduce the island dimensions (for more aisle space) and can only fit three chairs on the island’s long end.

I think the walkway + counter seating is too narrow, and the island is probably a bit too big.

That said, most houses I have been in do not have "adequate" room for seating plus circulation behind the chairs around a full dining table or behind island seating. However, since most people in a household are either eating or not eating at the same time, how many people are really going to be walking back and forth behind the seated people?

I don't really count getting up to use the restroom or something intermittent like that. Surely people squeeze by each other for that sort of thing all the time.

Actually most restaurants I eat in do not have "adequate" circulation space. They are officially planned for it and then they squeeze more tables in after they get their certificate of occupancy or whatever it is called. I was in a small restaurant last night with maybe 20-24" of aisle space. I was in a huge restaurant in Manhattan the other week with a manspreader sitting behind me and his chair was practically touching mine sometimes and that was supposed to be an aisle. I am not suggesting you engineer things this way, but in a private house, I don't think you need to meet every clearance all the time.

I do have some questions about what will be going on behind that seating.

The worst functioning kitchen I have ever had to use had a similar design, with the fridge located on the same wall as the stove/oven. If you have more than one person in the work space it will be difficult. The most used spots are the stove and the sink, and you have them across from each other. You do not have room for anyone to open the oven if someone is at the sink. You can’t rinse a glass and put it in the dw if someone is cooking. You really can’t use the sink of someone is cooking. Your aisles are so narrow that if someone is preparing a meal, no one else can be in the kitchen.

Could you clarify? how could i not rinse a glass and put it in the dishwasher if someone was cooking?

Why would you need to rinse a glass before putting it in the dishwasher?

The sink and range should really not be directly across from each other in a plan like this.

I think it depends upon how you cook. I know people who don't open the DW once during the cooking phase and clean up afterward. If you clean up as you go along, this configuration could be problematic. We clean up as we go along, so in my much smaller kitchen the sink and the oven are as far apart from each other as they can get.

Just putting a glass in or something in the top rack should not be a huge deal because you don't need to open the door all the way to do that.

You absolutely can be at the sink tidying dishes and then popping them into the dishwasher beside you while someone is at the stove. We do it all the time.

I think the walkways are too small and BTW I never like a sink directly across from a range and with tto small walkway even worse. IMO you need a min 48" in that area so a smaller island . As for stools I like 60" from edge of counter to wall. And walkways are measured from edge of counter to edge of counter not face of cabinets

But they have at least 8" less than you do, @WestCoast Hopeful.

Agree it’s far tighter which is why I said to shrink the island too. But the reality working in a kitchen is there is a lot of movement. If one is washing up and another by the stove they are in communication and paying attention to one another.

I would say reducing the island depth and length and improving aisles would be well worth it. I also agree that having the island seating more accessible and not cabinets or whatever on ends would help too.

Both aisles are too narrow, especially if the sink is opposite the range as shown. A narrower island is fine (ours is about 34" deep), but only if the sink is not in the island. I would look at a layout which places both the sink and range on the window wall, with the sink between fridge and range. This would mean shifting the windows, maybe a double window over the sink with a blank wall behind the range. More money for the additional exterior work, I know, but the added expense will more than pay off for a more efficient layout. Plus the sink would have a better view...

I like what Rapp is suggesting - and the fact that you are showing new windows is great - you hopefully have time to get this layout improved.

Lastly, I’d think carefully about straightening out that pantry wall - will you actually get any better storage out of that move vs keeping the angled wall? The angled wall - while not as clean and architectural as the new straight wall - allows more freedom of movement at that tight corner. Just suggesting a hard think on it there and seeing what you are trading off for what you are actually getting.

Rapp…with the 34” deep island, do you have seating? with regular base cabinets, that would only be 10” of overhang

Yes, there is seating. The overhang is curved so more like 12" of knee space near the middle.