Kitchen island clearance. Room to use it.

Begin with three separate measurements: the working aisle, the distance behind the seating and the gaps around the ends. Measure between the nearest fixed edges, including projecting worktops, handles and appliances. Do not assume that one distance works equally well on all four sides.

As a reference, the NKBA planning guide linked below recommends 1,067 mm for a one-cook work aisle and 1,219 mm for multiple cooks. It distinguishes that working space from a 914 mm walkway. These are US planning recommendations, not UK regulatory requirements or automatic approval of a layout. Your designer still needs to account for the people, appliances and circulation in your kitchen.

The visualiser starts with a 1,200 mm working gap and a 1,200 mm seating-side gap. Those are comparison settings, not a promise that a kitchen with those dimensions will work. Change the openings to see why the closed gap is only the beginning of the decision.

Test what the aisle has to do. At 900 mm, the example dishwasher projecting 600 mm leaves 300 mm before the island edge. At 1,000 mm, it leaves 400 mm. Neither number includes a person bending to load the machine. Opening the opposite 500 mm drawer at the same time creates an overlap at both settings.

Try 900, 1,000 and 1,200 mm in Plan view, first with everything closed and then with Unloading selected. A wider aisle can reduce a conflict, but relocating the dishwasher or the drawer may be the better design move. This study deliberately aligns the openings so that the conflict is easy to see.

Use the installation drawing for your chosen dishwasher to find its open-door depth. Convert that dimension to the part projecting beyond the closed worktop edge. The model starts with a 600 mm projection; it is an assumption, not the specification of a particular appliance. The lower rack, handles and the space needed by the person loading it also deserve attention.

The working gap is calculated as the closed gap minus the open dishwasher projection minus the opposite open drawer projection. With 1,200 mm between worktops, a 600 mm dishwasher projection and a 500 mm drawer projection leave 100 mm between their plan footprints. A negative result is shown as an overlap, not as usable space. Openings at different heights still need a physical interference check.

Measure from the island edge to the wall or obstruction behind the stool. Then allow for the occupied stool before considering any route behind it. In the model, the tucked stool projects 100 mm; the occupied envelope starts at 600 mm and can be changed to suit the person and furniture you are considering.

The NKBA guide distinguishes no passing traffic, edging past and walking past seating. Its walking-past recommendation is 1,118 mm from the counter edge to the obstruction behind the diner. That is an overall distance, not an extra 1,118 mm behind the chair. Treat this as a reference for discussion and check your own furniture and access needs.

A taped outline on the floor and the actual stool can be more revealing than a distant photograph. Sit down, stand up and let someone use the route behind you. Include children, guests or mobility equipment where relevant to the household.

This example uses a 2,400 × 1,000 mm island, a 600 mm deep wall run and 900 mm at each island end. The model room is therefore 4,200 mm wide. Its depth is 600 mm plus the working gap, plus 1,000 mm for the island, plus the seating-side gap. At the starting settings, that is 4,000 mm.

The sliders resize this example room to explore clearances. They do not move an island inside a surveyed room or prove that your existing room can accommodate it. A real layout also includes walls out of square, door swings, radiators, tall appliances, services and the route into adjacent rooms. Keep the island footprint and all of those features on the same measured plan.