Rounding the corner so that it's a wide radius would give you more room for seating and walking. That would work best with a central steel pedestal with radiating steel supports connected together, similar to how restaurant pedestal tables are constructed. A local metal fabricator can create this for you if your hubby doesn't own a welder.

Thanks for responding GreenDesigns. Can I seat 4 people? I assume yes or you wouldn't have posted it. And yes Dh does own a welder!

Just bumping this up one more time to see if there are any other suggestions. I really like what greendesigns posted. DH thinks it might work (construction wise).

Just want to make sure that there is enough room for 4 adults for an occasional quick meal.

Anyone want to comment or offer any other suggestions?

Thanks.

I think the radius makes you lose a lot of space. My KD wanted to do a radius on the corner of my seating space (I have 2 seats on end, 2 seats on side). That lost a lot of elbow room and space for the 2 corner seats, so I left it 90 degrees. Looking at your original design, could you do 2 seats on the end (42") and 1 seat on each side? Otherwise, 2 seats on 42" end and 2 seats on the side which shoudl be a 44" space (70" less the 36" cabinet)? I think you usually want 24" per person, so it will be a bit tight. How big are the people? :)

Deb, its kind of a walkway at the end. To walk around the island, get to the stairs, the dog area (crate and food), and the back door (not on diagram and only used occasionally). While adding the radius makes the island technically smaller I read somewhere it gives those seated more elbow room.??

2 adults and 2 teenagers who are taller then the adults, so 4 adults I would say average sized.

I'm going to try to layout it out to get a feel for it.
I just want to get this right.

Can you mock it up with large boxes? That may be the easiest way to see if the space works for you.

I think this would be great for you but it would probably be best to mock it up and measure as laurajane said - even if just with paper.

If I figured it out right though (a circle with a 42" diameter would have a circumference of about 126", so if you half that you get 63", then I think you would add the extra 23" (from both sides) which is the leftover amount from halving the 42" circle, 21 + 23 = 44, which is what you have now) that should give you 109" for seating. That probably sounds crazy. Here's a scary thought, I homeschool!

Maybe I should have just left it at that it would be a great idea to mock up.

I didn't change the length of the island at all. I merely radiused the end. A radius gives you more room for seating because you don't have to deal with corners.

OK I'm convinced. Thanks for the numbers momo7. Just need to fully sell DH on the idea.

Last night while at HD we went into the kitchen area. What had our attention? The KDs work stations. Same shape as the island (with the radius) just smaller. We were looking underneath at how they supported it with steel brackets. Glad no one was around to see us, lol.

Thanks to all especially greendesigns. Hope within the year this will be done and can show you how it came out.

Yes curving an island is a well known "trick" to be able to seat more with less. It's the way to go.

Just one comment on the proposed support: I believe most work stations at HD are Corian, not stone. Corian can be supported by a plywood subtop, as it's bit flexible like the Corian is, and not nearly as heavy as stone. Stone is much heavier and not at all flexible. If supported with a central support like suggested, you will want to be sure to have a couple of the "arms" extend back to the cabinet and tie into to it as an anti tip measure. Also be sure the support comes close enough to the edges to keep the top from flexing and cracking if someone sits on it. For a radius like that, you want the stone supported within 6" of the edge, and no portion of it further than 15" from one of the "spokes" of the wheel. U channel or tubing stock is stronger than bar stock, but more visible. You can take bar stock and weld a small "T" to it from more bar stock to create some rigidity and it will beef it up without adding too much visible height. Spray paint the whole underside assembly a dark color and it will disappear. I'd also suggest possibly making the "spoke" assembly bolt onto the center support, and making it out of large tube stock that you have powder coated as it will take the most abuse from traffic and vacuums, etc. Or look at a piece of stainless tubing.

Thanks hollysprings for the tech info. DH will appreciate the details you provided.

Yes the counter material on the workstations on HD was corian. DH was thinking of laying a base of plywood or sheet metal over the support.

There is another issue with the island that I didn't mention. The island granite will be heated. So there has to be a base material over the support to lay the heating mat on. I didn't mention it as previous threads have shown that many have strong opinions on this. I didn't want it distract from the design of the island.

So the sheet metal could extend at least to 6" of edge or closer as we would want the heat to be as close to the edge as possible.

Hmmm... with that detail added, I would choose to do a sheet metal flat cutout the shape of the granite and then weld smaller T support ridges to it for rigidity. Then weld the whole thing to the central support pillar. The heating mat needs to be embedded in a layer of thinset to protect it. That will raise the height of the platform to at least 3/8" on top of the support, but with using sheet metal, the support will be as thin as possible.

You might investigate color matching the (wood? paint?) cabinet in order to make a decorative detail around the edge of the support to hide the thickness of it so the whole thing looks like it "belongs" to the cabinet. You can use the flexible polyurethane molding, paint it the color match, and then dry brush a little graining on if it's wood (look up faux bois finishing)

The pedestal could actually be covered with a wood "box" made of 6" fillers (possibly fluted?) to create a column look if your look is more traditional rather than transitional or contemporary. Add in a faux plinth block for it to sit on as another detail. Or you could find maybe those hollow fiberglass columns to also faux bois or paint.

Contemporary is easy. You don't need to disguise it at all. just paint it "iron oxide red" or that wonderful orange that those 60's Malm fireplaces came in.

Thanks again for the details, very helpful. Using beadboard painted black on the back and sides of the cabinet. So all the "stuff" under the island will be black.