And I looked at an old draft of our floor plan when I gave that measurement. Ay yi yi. Our actual island is 5'8" x 3'.

Where, within the island are you going to put the sink? I think that the issue would be how much prep space would you have on each side. I don't have this set-up but I think having an island with 18"counter, 16" sink and then 34" counter would give you a nice spot for putting your food for prep, washing space in the sink and then almost 3' for cutting, chopping etc. Just my thoughts. My prep sink is 16"x16" and it is a nice size but I wouldn't want to go any smaller.

{{!gwi}}

That is the layout. The sink would be placed in the top corner closest to the fridge.

our island is 138" x 54" and we went with the Blanco Precis Large which is about 20" x 16". the sink looks huge when I'm looking at it in the box, but I don't think it will be once installed. I am very excited to have a huge prep sink!

My prep sink is in a corner cabinet in the "U" that houses the Prep & Cooking Zones, so I can't discuss the island first-hand. However, I can say that our 15-3/4" square (interior dimensions) sink is as small as I would go - I sometimes wish it were bigger - more like 18" square would have been better. If you can fit a 21" sink base with an 18" to 19" wide sink in it, I think you will be happier.

With an island over 5' wide, I think you will have plenty of space for at least an 18" sink base with as big a sink as can fit (a 16" wide sink should definitely fit).

I would even consider a 6" or 9" cabinet b/w the end of the island and the sink to give you a little room on the side of the sink next to the end - less likely to knock something off onto the floor as well as a bit of landing space. (You could store cutting boards in a 6" cabinet.)

5'8" = 68"
1.5" overhang + 6" cabinet + 18" cabinet + 41" cabinet + 1.5" overhang

That gives you 42" to 45" of workspace on one side or the sink and 8" to 9" on the other side (assuming an undermount sink & counting the counter overhangs).

BTW...you say your island is 36" deep - is that at the shallowest ends or the deeper center (the curve)?

In general, a 36" deep island with standard 24" deep base cabinets + decorative door panel on the back of the cabinets leaves you with only a 9.5" overhang - far too shallow for real seating. If that's just the ends and the center is deeper at the top of the curve, I hope it goes to 41.5" deep in the center there is at least one seat with the minimum recommended overhang (15").

41.5" = 1.5" overhang + 24" deep cabinet + 1" decorative end panel + 15" overhang

Buehl, thanks for all of this info!

It's funny that you ask about the depth -- I was at our cabinet vendor's showroom today and sat at a 39" deep island with a 16x18 prep sink and decided to extend our island to 42" deep (edge of counter to edge of counter) because the seating area seemed way too shallow. I believe the cabinet base that the sink will rest on/in is 18w x 24d so with a 2" overhang I'd be looking at roughly 16" depth for seating across the back perimeter.

Thanks for this thread! The island I'm planning on will be roughly (see, still planning) 4'x5'. I'm planning on the same size sink, 15 or 16", also in the upper left corner. I want it to be accessable from either the short end or the long end of the island - fridge is opposite the short end, baking area and cooktop are opposite the long end. I'm hoping that arrangement will allow multiple cooks as well. FWIW, I'm thinking of a 16" diameter round sink rather than a square or rectangle. Does anyone have a round sink? Thoughts?

Burntfingers