This growing family had many goals for their new kitchen, but a large, linear island with extra storage and seating as well as kitchen island placement was the most important. It was so important in fact, that the entire kitchen plan was designed around the island countertop. Typically, kitchen designs start with space planning, and materials are specified once the design is finalized, but in this case, the finished size of the island was going to be determined by the size of the countertop. To eliminate the need for an undesirable seam in the island, our design team suggested a specific brand of quartz countertops whose slabs are significantly larger than other brands. By working backward and choosing the island slab first, it allowed us to determine the finished island size so we’d know how much space was left to work with.