new home renovation island or peninsula

[islandpeninsula]

Hi everyone, we have just had our offer accepted on a property, it is a total renovation project, and we are very excited. It has planning permission for an.extension currently and we are going to change plans slightly to match our requirements. However the kitchen is going to be most of extension and will be 7.5m long by 5.5 metres. Choices are a kitchen with a big island and stools down one side for eating and socialising. Or a peninsula kitchen with breakfast bar and put formal table and chairs in there.
If we go with island we wouldn't put the table and chairs in there, we would have a lounge diner.
We have a 20month old who loves to watch and help in the kitchen.
So please could you offer me pros and cons of the island kitchen?
So as not to drip feed id prefer the island, dh the peninsular, however i am the house chef so ultimately he'll go with my decision.

Yay - go with island then !! It's your home too !!

My kitchen is about this size and I have a 3m plus x 1.4 m island. However I have a circular wood breakfast bar on the end of the island - off to one side. The cupboards under it are semi circular. This leaves all the cupboards easy to get to on both long sides. Mine hold a water softener and picnic/BBQ stuff and rubbish bags etc. Moving chairs away all the time is a faff and this island maximises storage. We also have two chairs so we can relax and enjoy the garden.
Cotteswood designed ours and Mark Wilkinson do similar. I found KBB magazine had useful ideas.

The kitchen is semi open plan and we have a large table in a lounge/dining area next to the kitchen. It works well in my view. We do also have other rooms but this is the heart of the house.

In your position, I'd consider an island only if there's a decent dining room elsewhere in the house. However, I do think that islands are more practical because they don't have awkward corner cabinets and you get a better flow and it's easier to have 2 people cooking together.

Thanks for advise every one, bojo i love the round edges idea and will be copying that.
We discussed last night and will be keeping the formal dining room, rather than knocking through to make a long lounge.

Previously i had a kitchen that was 12ft by 6ft, so am very much looking forward to this new one being the heart of the home

If you have a separate dining table then I'd go for a massive island.

Sounds fab :-)