We're doing some remodelling (laundry in apartment, taking down partition wall between kitchen/living dining area) and I can't figure out new lighting. Currently we have a wall sconce, dining light and two recessed lights in the kitchen. Also a weird emergency looking light that never made sense and we never turn on.

We are moving in favor of ditching our dining room table and getting a 6ft height adjustable workbench for a kichen island with some stools. We never eat at the table and it just collects stuff. If we have dinner parties (not often), we'll drop the height of the table and bring out folding chairs.

This eliminates the need for the stationary kitchen light. I could go recessed the whole room, but we have a bulkhead for a staircase that runs through it that I'm thinking will create some weird shadows. Also is it better to go recessed all the way or give a central ceiling light to the living room area?

Attached is a pic of the actual room and some renderings I play around with. A rending of our condo as original and with the changes and lighting issues.