The Fisher & Paykel Double Dish Drawers are 30.25 inches in height, so they need a cabinet that is roughly 30.5 inches from floor to base of countertop or roughly 32 inches for 3cm thick counters.
EneryStar rated, most of the Dish Drawers do the job with only about 2.4 gallons of water.
Selecting a single Dish Drawer (or two single dish drawers, one each flanking the sink), makes the unit only a shade over 16 inches tall, so with adequate protection from water leaks, storage space could sit underneath each and still fit a 32-33 inch tall counter height.
So what is the problem. My mother was 5'2" and my father was a carpenter. Like many carpenters he was a bit rigid so my father made cabinets regular height which my mother hated. Eventually he got smart and made (or fixed) cabinets a a height comfortable for my mother.
Standard cabinets can easily be cut down to any height you want, they just reduce the lower shelf height. Do it yourself, or have a cabinet shop do it, or have a cabinet shop make custom cabinets. Regardless of the cost, you will be much happier with low cabinets, so forget what others think about it.
My wife has had granite in our two last homes..total of nine years and although she spilt lemon juice on it and rolls dough, puts hot breads, banana loaf etc directly from the oven right onto the stone-no stains.
We seal it once a year with 511 Impregnator and use only Glass Plus (no ammonia) for wipe ups.
I have used daily both granite (a ruby/imperial red) and glacier white Corian. I'll take the Corian any day. But Corian doesn't impress anybody. Granite does. White Corian glows when your down spots and under cabinet lights are on. It doesn't stain. It doesn't chip, but can scratch. It is easy to keep clean. It has resiliency, so you can slam things down and something dropped may not break. And you always know where any dirt is, or where all those little bits of broccoli are.
Tables are 30. If you plan to sit at the island maybe even lower.
Island will be a food prep area. No seating areas will be provided in the kitchen except for a stool or too, no food service to be provided in the kitchen.
We'll have a seating area facing the kitchen from the breakfast area using a counter above the sink (keep folks out of the way while food prep is underway - but still able to watch and talk to us)
Yes Corian, Silestone and similar materials are VERY practical surfaces. However, Granite, SoapStone and similar are the IMPRESSIVE kitchens.
So I wonder if we cold mix materials in the kitchen, with impressive Granite in some areas, Corian or similar in other areas. Silestone for sink, stove and island areas, granite everywhere else. I've already decided that the front edge of the counters will be faced with wood, not granite, not Corian. The cabinet mfgs provide stained furniture grade hardwoods to match the cabinets with profiles similar to the Granite and Corian edge profiles. Its easier and cheaper to replace a damaged section of wood, than to replace a countertop.
I worry alot about banging into the edges of these expensive counter tops with things that are heavy and sharp that are dropped (or thrown) against the edge.
I can't imagine Corian chipping. And I think if it did it could be repaired. On the granite I have now there is a large chip above the dishwasher. When moving large pots from the sink to the dishwasher they often bang into the corner.
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