Short answer: leave 105 cm between an island and anything else — cabinets, walls, the dog's water bowl zone. That is one cook opening a dishwasher and stepping around it. Two cooks working at once need 120 cm, and 90 cm is the emergency minimum that works only if one person uses the kitchen and appliances take turns. Clearance is the first thing kitchen planners fix and the first thing showroom visits hide, because a display floor has no dishwasher door down.
Shop the pieces in this guide
Here is the full accounting, including the appliances that quietly claim more floor than their footprint suggests.
The clearance table
| Gap | Works for | Does not work for |
|---|---|---|
| 90 cm | One cook, walking, closed appliances | Open oven + person; two cooks; anything with a tray |
| 105 cm | One cook + open dishwasher or oven door | Two people passing with hot pans |
| 120 cm | Two cooks, open appliances, island seating in use | Nothing — this is the comfortable answer |
Appliances add hidden depth
Measure clearances with every appliance door down, because each one borrows floor:
- Dishwasher: the dropped door plus the rack adds 60 cm — and you stand in front of it loading, so the aisle behind you still needs to work.
- Oven: drop-down doors claim 45–60 cm; side-hinge models claim less, which is a real reason to pick one in a tight plan.
- Drawers: a deep pot drawer extends 45–55 cm; a bank of them open at once is a drawer-based floor game.
- Fridge: a 90° open door swings 60 cm+ into the aisle, plus you stand there for ten seconds at a time.
The practical test: from the island edge, can a second person walk behind someone standing at an open dishwasher? That needs 120 cm. If the plan says 100 cm, the dishwasher and the cook negotiate every evening, and the cook loses.
Islands with seating need extra
If stools live on the island, two clearances stack: the seated person needs 60 cm of space from counter edge to the wall behind the stool (their own knees plus elbow room), and anyone walking behind a seated person adds 75–90 cm. So a seating side of an island wants 135–150 cm to the nearest wall — not the 105 cm a plain aisle needs. This is the single most common plan-drawing mistake in small-kitchen renders: beautiful island, stools, and a 90 cm gap that strands whoever sat down first.
Corner-adjacent islands
If an island sits near an L-corner, add 15 cm to every clearance figure — people cut corners short, and tray-carrying bodies need the slack. Peninsula shapes (island joined to a wall run) turn two aisles into one; count the joint as the busiest spot and give it the full 120 cm.
Measure your kitchen like a planner
Mark the island footprint on the floor with masking tape, including the overhang. Then perform the three trials: open the dishwasher and walk around it; carry a laundry basket (tray proxy) from fridge to island; have someone else stand at the hob while you pass. If all three pass inside the tape, the plan works — better to find out with tape than with a 300 kg island that has to come back on a lorry.
The stool-side floor fee
One more number for seating islands: the stools themselves are floor furniture even when nobody sits. A 65 cm stool is 35–40 cm across, and it sticks out from the counter whether in use or parked sideways. If the stools must tuck fully under a 30 cm overhang, spec counter-height stools with footrings and no arms — armed chairs at an island are like umbrellas indoors, technically possible and constantly in someone's way. Budget 50 cm of width per stool, which is why the comfortable four-seat island is 180 cm long even before you talk about counter space.
Keep reading
More dimension guides are in the collection, and the full index is on the furnolio journal.
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