We remodeled our kitchen 3 years ago before moving in (1925 Tudor cottage that needed tons of work) and knew NOTHING about remodeling. Silly us. Now our kitchen feels unfinished and is not cohesive - and we are ready to make some design decisions - but given the unique situation the post and beams I just don't know how to make it all work. Hoping to get some good advice here in hopes we don't have to use half our budget to hire a kitchen designer!

I'm attaching photos - I apologize for the terrible lighting - taking the photo in the day is no better due to backlight. For reference, our island is 9.5 feet long and 47.5 inches wide. Our ceiling is 98" high. The post and beams show where original walls were removed; the "attached room" is an add-on done probably in the 50's or so.

Our issues here are myriad and major ones include:

1. Lighting! This is my big question. There are tons of windows but it always feels dark. The black granite and dark floors, which we loved in concept, seem to suck up any light. We need task lighting over the island but the post and beam are throwing me off. I would love some pendant lights, but am not sure how to position them and want to be sure not to block visuals into the attached room too much. And would one go over the overhang on the far side of the island? Recessed lighting is an option but can I locate them such that they provide light to the island while avoiding the potential shadow created by the huge beam? I'm also considered can lights throughout to replace the flushmount lights in the kitchen and room (3 of those total).

2. The fan in the attached room. We are planning to remove this as it is quite looming (and broken). We do need air movement in this room in the summer so could replace with a fan on either side of the attached room, which would look more balanced, though that means we won't have lighting directly over our dining nook. Or should I be considered some other fan option?

3. The dining nook furniture needs to be resized - I am thinking of bench seats and a narrow-ish table in a lighter wood color or white so as not to compete with the other dark colors (and coordinate that wood with the open wood shelving, etc). We have enough pass-through room between the table and the bar. I'd love a light hanging over the table but we really do need air movement and a fan/light combo (offcenter from the table) might be what we have to do.

4. The weird configuration of the post and beam. It just looks sort of modern and not thought out to me (it wasn't, our contractor was just making sure the ceiling was held up and nothing else). I tried the temporary corbels to see if the edges could be softened...any ideas?

5. Yes, we need new window treatments. That will depend on the rest of the room changes. Yes, we also need new matching stools.

I am just thankful for whatever advice can be given here! If your advice is to hire a designer to put my ideas together - any advice on how to find one that can work with our style and in an older home would be appreciated too - no real experience with this! :)