No. Minimum recommended distance is 48". Your KD should know this.

hmm.. i asked her several times and she's telling me 42" is standard. we're meeting tomorrow. will discuss again - think we need to increase the aisle space

thank you

My modern kitchen has an island and I just checked the dimensions: one long side is 40" away from a pantry on one side; the other long side is 42" from the the sink on the other side; one short end is 48" from the refrigerator (though that seems more than necessary); and the remaining short end doesn't have anything very close to it. If you have room for 48" all around, fine; but if you end up with 42", I don't think it will be a problem. We're never felt cramped, and I don't like kitchens where there is so much space it becomes inefficient to move around in it. At Xmas, we often have 4 people in the family cooking at the same time and it is still fine. Your layout looks fairly similar to mine and I would be totally happy with the amount of aisle space it affords.

This post was edited by kudzu9 on Tue, Oct 28, 14 at 21:08

Yes. 42" is considered the minimum distance and should be fine.

I had between 39" and 42" in my previous kitchen and it was fine. I have 48" now and it's better but if you can't squeeze out more inches, it will be fine. Be sure the 42" is counter edge to counter edge though, and not cabinet to cabinet (in which case it will be 2-3 inches LESS than 42").

42" is probably OK unless you plan to have multiple people working on the aisle - then at least 48" would be better.

About that island, is there a 15" clear overhang? Is there at least 24" of linear space per seat plus the space for the island "legs"?

With only one set of cabinets, the island should be at least 41.5" deep. With 4 seats, it should be 8' + the distance b/w the counter edge and the inside of the island leg. So, for example:

Depth:
1.5" counter overhang + 24" deep cabinets + 1" decorative door/end panel + 15" overhang = 41.5"

Length/width with 3" wide legs:
1.5" counter overhang + 3" leg + 96" for 4 seats + 3" leg + 1.5" counter overhang = 105" (8'9")

I have roughly 42" aisles, counter edge to counter edge, around my island in my U shaped kitchen. (They each vary a bit.) Personally, I prefer that distance between the prep sink/zone on island and my fire source for quick and easy pivoting. Much more aisle space and it takes a couple of steps to get across. I find my aisles to be sufficient 97% of the time. On a busy holiday or large party when there can be several of us working In the kitchen at a time, it can sometimes feel a teensy tight deepening on the people working.

Buehl already discussed the issues I see with your layout: too much garbage space, DW on the wrong side of the cleanup sink, and moving the prep sink. I also echo the concerns about the island seating dimensions.

I suggest you do the inventory exercise. Take a written inventory of every single time you store, or plan to store, in your new kitchen. Organize those items into zones, i.e. prep, cooking, cleanup, baking, storage, etc. Then see if you have enough of the right kind of storage in your zones. I mention this because as it stands now, I'm not sure you have enough prep zone storage for knives, measuring spoons and cups, prep bowls both large and small, mixing bowls, veggie peelers, whisks, citrus juicer, microplane, can opener, colanders for draining washed fruits and veggies, cheese grater, scale, cutting boards, etc.

I went from 36" between sink and DW and island to 42" and it is so much better for us, we can open DW and still get by, still open drawers in island with DW open (but cant get by when both are open). I did get 48" between range and island, and even more between fridge and island. Sometimes the 48" seems a bit too large when its just me...I definitely noticed the extra steps at first, but I am used to it now and appreciate the space when others are in my kitchen at the same time. But do make sure it is counter to counter, not cabinet to cabinet!

I have 42" and like it. We can have two people back to back and it is still fine. We mocked it up first and pretended to be working in the kitchen. You should do that.

Your layout is somewhat similar to ours and I echo what has been said about moving the prep sink to the left a bit. There are a lot of upper cabinets in the plan - have you thought about decreasing the amount of upper cabinets in favor of another/larger window? it opens the space up visually if you can. It depends on the amount of storage space required in the kitchen which you may have given the wall of narrow built ins behind the island and the cabinets in the dining room.

@breezygirl
Why is the DW on wrong side of sink? The sink should not be next to the cooktop, right?

I got rid of my island because It had only 36" from perimeter counters. I do have a new peninsula 42" from fridge and the short end has drawer and shelf facing the 42" to the fridge. It is also a path into kitchen and I haven't had any trouble with the 42".