Imagine wiping down the island daily. How will you do that? I have a hard time with my 42" x 70" island. Just something to think about.

Me too - mine is 119" x 38", and I still sometimes walk around to the "other side" to wipe it down. I can't imagine trying to clean the middle of 6' wide island.

I have a large island as well that I keep mulling over, so not much help there. The previous posters have a good point about the access. One thing I would recommend though, is to have a larger counter depth for seating. 12 inches is pretty shallow and may be uncomfortable for people sitting there.

I read at one point while doing kitchen research that a good rule of thumb for islands is: maximum length 10' and maximum width 4'.

You guys crack me up with this 'wiping down the island everyday' banter.

Ours is just shy of 6' x 7' and I'm 5'3". Your layout is a little similar to ours and we love the flow.

With the square island it was important to find a single large overhead light vs. 2 or 3 pendants.

Regarding usable space, there is none in the front (nice deep overhang for comfortable seating), but on left side there is a deep cabinet for giant objects rarely used (and we also vent the sink in this cabinet).

On the working side, there's an open cabinet for cutting boards, then triple recycling (36") cabinet for the sink, then a 3 drawer stack .

On the right side, a large 3 drawer stack, for saran wraps, napkins on top, every day plates in middle, then tupperware on bottom. Lots of usable space!

oldbat2be, how do your reach the middle of your island easily?

To clean our island (hopefully at least once a day), I first have to go all the way around with a water wet microfiber, then one trip around spraying with pledge multi-surface. Then a trip around with a microfiber, then one final trip around for final drying and checking for missed spots. I can't easily reach from one side of the island to the other. Mine is 42" wide. I have to not only be able to reach all the areas but be able to rub/scrub with the cloth.

Thank you everyone for the insight. I think I need to speak to the countertop place too and see if shrinking the width will save any money. I tend to be fine with the whole reaching to clean as both my husband and I are tall (which comes with those lovely long arms and being teased all throughout elementary).

Oldbat2be, I am so glad to see you flow is similar and you love it so much. It definitely puts me at ease.

Right now as it is designed, we have 36" of cabinet under the island (24" depth facing the stove and 12" depth facing the living room). Then about 20" "overhang" which is supported by side-walls. I had forgotten that we DID shorten the width so we could only use one slab on it, instead of needing two! So, it might be a good compromise after all at 54" deep.

debrak2008 - I use microcloths and go around it. It's a stretch but not a problem. I don't find I ever need to scrub in the middle (this just isn't used).

tipetty - hope you're able to make it with one slab!

I love my 66" by 91" island and never wish it were either bigger or smaller. I clean mine with paper or dish towels, after scrubbies when necessary. Love oldbat2be's light fixture and probably should've copied it, but I'm happy enough with my 2 pendants.