Hi Lil, I believe your original plan works much better than the revised version. While the notion of ideal working widths is great, the larger problem here is the post. I worked on a project very similar to this last year where a post could either be connect to, or separate from the island. What we found was that by separating the island the space between island and post became very awkward. It's not enough of a space to comfortably walk through or be seated at the island in front of. Instead of your room feeling open and generous in proportion, it is going to start to feel cramped and awkward. We have a kitchen in our showroom (Kitchen Studio Tauranga NZ) with a 6ft gap between bench and back wall and it works wonderfully. It allows someone to work at the sink and a second at the island with ease. Stick with the original plan. It will feel a lot more spacious, without compromising work flows.

there is also a difference between ceramic and porcelain tiles - often these issues come down to a combination of (a) tile batch size/consistency (b) tiler's skill/capacity (c) communication in that if the tiler opens the tile box and he can't practically achieve what he thought he might because of the general discrepancies in size then they should at least speak to you before they start. So often with many issues in this game, it's about managing people's expectations and having open/honest discussions at the right time. When this breaks down, problems and disappointment is more likely to occur......so coming back to it, if you have high quality porcelain tiles that are millimetre perfect, square and flat then the capacity to lay them with minimal spacing is higher. Also the substrate/prep plays a part as if it's all out of whack and not perfectly straight/plumb/square then you'll be in all sorts trying to achieve the minimal tolerance detail.

This is an Australian site, we work in centimetres. So 30" is 66cm,and 36" is 90cm. Assuming the oven is on the 18ft side, then I would definitely go 36". Do you get a 24" oven or 60cm oven where you are? You could install two 24" ovens. Then you only need to heat up a small oven for everyday use, and you have the option to run both ovens when cooking for a crowd. All the best.

My island is 3500mm x 950mm. With a 300mm overhang. I also do not have any stools at my island because our eight seater dining table is adjacent to island. I have my double sink with drainer, and plenty of bench space, because of bench length. So works for me. As oklouise has mentioned, measurements of your kitchen will dictate how big your island is. A 1200 deep island would require you to walk completely around it to clean, unless your 6 foot five. You have also said, in one of your initial posts, that you never eat at a dining table, so maybe you need a deeper bench. But, I would like to think that once you finally renovate your home, you will have family meals around an actual table.