The windowless breakfast area is not an ideal setup.

What I always do when designing a new kitchen for someone is imagine myself travelling through the space doing the regular tasks one does. Where the fridge is located right now you will have to keep going around the island to get to the sink and the stove and you end up detesting your island. You will need to go across the room to get glassware. You will have to get things out of your fridge, put them on the island, close the fridge, then go to the other side to use them.

The space looks very awkward to use. Are the dimensions of the room and window location and sizes changeable?

We can't change the exterior walls. We are open to reducing the double doors to the deck to a single door but its not ideal. We are planning to put undercounter refrigeration in the island so that cooking supplies are close at hand (one drawer for produce; one drawer for meat/cheese). I have debated changing the entry to the dining room and putting the fridge over there but I would loose the only upper cabinets.

Where is your panty?

Is there a reason why you could not take out the window on the right side of the stove and place the fridge on that wall. Looks like more cabinets could also be added. It looks like you have a bay window and a large door leading to the deck. Would removing this window leave you with less light? I would then add a pantry in place of the fridge.

I really would not go with the plan given by your architect. Think about this space how you would actually use it. For instance, when removing heavy items from your refrigerator, where will you place the item? Also, for a proper work space within the kitchen you don't want the space between the sink, ref, or cook top to be more than 9' from item to item. This is a great rule of thumb to create kitchen efficiency. Last, I would be cautious of the placement of the ref. because the door could interfere with the french doors leading to the deck. I would place the ref. on the end of the "L" lining up with the island. The original ref. location can then become a pantry!

Good luck!

Do you have an as built plan giving a larger view of the surrounding rooms?

That plan does not flow well.

Thanks everyone! The reaction definitely is confirming my uneasiness with the plan. It sounds like we'll have to do a little more work than we want. It's a decent space but too many doors & windows are constricting options.

Here are the as built plans. We are removing that bedroom and hallways/closets to make the family room. The existing kitchen cabinets are in good shape. We don't have the money for a full kitchen renovation (it's going to the bedroom floor which needs it more).

I now notice that the island is very crooked but you get the idea lol. The dotted line is a raised bar top.

So you definitely have an issue with too many windows! This would be much easier without that bay :) The only thing that makes sense to me is bumping out the wall on the left into the dining area so you can recess the fridge (and add shelving on the dining side to fill the space beside the bump out area. If a fridge is placed there without doing that it would obstruct the sightline to the window and make it look cramped. With the fridge there you could nix one or both of the fridge drawers which are pricey and to factor in the cost of the work and invest in a bigger fridge (if necessary), but for a much easier layout. I also saw your note about the a sliding door and that's what we opted for, because although I like the idea of french doors better, they can be tricky in a space like this and have the opening away from the work side of the kitchen. Would you consider moving your sink to the other side of the stove?

I've attached a photo of our sliding door. No regrets because it functions so well and doesn't get in the way.

Drawn to scale, you should have plenty of room for Fridge to open and have a good traffic flow around the island, however if not maybe the suggestion should be Fridge on the left side of the L layout?