Hi Bianca, I have just seen your post. I personally think the best answer to your question will depend on a few other considerations because it really depends on the kitchen layout as a whole. Considerations may include; how will this affect the work flow in your Kitchen and what are the alternative positions available to you? Importantly; how big is your island going to be; an Island can be a great space for food preparation, meal plating, as well as the island being a social space for family as well as when entertaining. When placing the Sink in an island you may consider a sink also needs adequate additional space each side of it for the various functions it is used for; whereby placing a sink in a small Island can sometimes take away from the other benefits it provides. There is actually no clear yes or no answer, but to consider your Kitchen layout, appliance placements and its work flow as a whole. With the other things you have already mentioned here, I hope this extra helps in your decision process.

Planned Island (in the design photos) is square 1.2mx1.2m. From the back part of the kitchen, there is sufficient space to move it even 1.2m away. If we make the island smaller, there would be more room on each side for passage (current 0.72m), but even if we make it just 1m, that would only add only 0.1m on each side (bringing it up to 0.82m - enough to pass, but a bit tight in terms of looks, how it makes nice big open space appear crowded). And the island would be rather small so not really worth it.

my very basic suggestions include losing the external front steps and have a front porch with front door and entry foyer downstairs and access to under the house from the garage and have a simpler staircase (NB there's a lot of furniture and groceries and rubbish that have to go up and down stairs so all the stairs should be more comfortable and direct) with square landings and no angled steps original upstairs entry area could now be used as an office but you need to add furniture to the family dining area and alfresco to find the best use of floor space and doors, the powder room needs to be more private so i would lose the extra ensuite upstairs and make the rumpus room into a multi purpose space with sliding doors and ens upstairs has more than enough space for generous hallways, bigger bedrooms, more storage, a shared family bathroom, a living area and/or office and grouping the ens and wiw (with twice as much storage and dressing area) on the south west allows better access to the views from the toilet shower and master bedroom

Thank you everyone for your valuable feedback! Gary - great ideas, I agree with the stairs, its got that bottom landing that looks good but is it practical? The space in (4) is the master shower. And I love your easy switch with the fridge and pantry as the fridge has extra room to open out to - shouldn't cost much for this change. Will chat to the builder about swapping the pantry around and the costings for the change of stairs. Oklouise - the new upstairs arrangement you have created works so much better! Does the first floor change require a change to the stairs like Gary has suggested? Your upstairs main bathroom placement works better as it sits above the guest bathroom downstairs. I also like your idea about the guest bathroom. RE: Kitchen, I'm concerned with having both cook/sink stations facing away from the pool area. If I keep the sink in the island, would our existing 2.8 sink bench space surrounding be sufficient space to hang around? Kate - You have made invaluable points around the garage and the simple change in the guest vanity without the added cost. Min garage dimensions in NSW is 5.4x5.4. With our 17.4m frontage, this garage dimension is the max we can go to. I'm torn between the house with a more open foyer space, or reducing it to a smaller one to allow for bigger garage... we haven't lived in a house with a double garage, so for us this seems huge. We will also have an outdoor shed to store our lawnmower etc. Thank you again, really appreciate the responses so far!