Driving myself crazy here trying to decide whether we should get an island made for our kitchen!! We have a square kitchen 12.6ft x 15.75ft and were considering a 5ft x 4ft island. I just have a few concerns about whether this island will allow us enough space to move comfortably between rooms (hall to dining and hall to outside) and whether we will have enough space to move around kitchen comfortably. It is a closed kitchen so the island would take up the whole middle of the kitchen but we plan to add stools and then use the adjacent dining room for meals.

There may be an option to break the wall into the dining room at a later stage but since the rooms are staggered, it will only ever be alongside half a wall on both rooms.

We had initially planned a 4ftx4ft island but the furniture designer didn't think that the square look would look as well, and if we reduce the width e.g. 4ft x 3ft then we will lose the chance to put some cabinets on both sides (planned for wine rack and book shelves on shallow side underneath overhang). Also worry that a 4ft x 3ft island would look a little bitty.

Our primary reasons for wanting to put in an island are for a proper food preparation area and for casual dining/coffees. We are getting by on our cabinet space at present but it would always be useful to have more.

Any help or advice would be appreciated!