I have the same question! Hope someone responds.

Architects are no kitchen designers. Get yourself a kitchen designer. You can also post your plan with measurements on here to get advice. There are many talented people on here that can help you out.

I posted my plan, but no comments—

Did your architect do all of the following: Review your final appliance selections? Review your specific storage requirements, like pots/pans, spices, tupperware, dog food, ziploc bags... Ask what you like about your current kitchen? What you dislike about your current kitchen? How many cooks are in a kitchen at one time? How your family likes to function in the space? How you wash your dishes? Where you like to prep? What you want to look at when you're washing dishes? Prepping? Cooking? What you like to keep on your countertops and what you like to be hidden? How you like to clean your countertops? What kind of maintenance you are comfortable with for your finishes? Draft your cabinet elevations with a recommended door style? Review options for drawer and cabinet accessories? Identify a line of cabinetry? Provide an estimate of the cost of your kitchen based on the plans? If the answer is no...get a kitchen designer.

Do more than hire them for a review. Start there though, if you want to be amazed at how badly an architect can design a kitchen. Most are great with large scale space planning, creating sight lines, and the big design picture. More than half probably couldn’t find a knife to make themselves a peanut butter sandwich. Much less cook coq au vin and charred broccolini.

I think you've answered my question! My architect asked very few questions about how we work and socialize in the kitchen, and those are my main concerns about the floor plan. (I'm nowhere near the stage of picking out counters, appliances, etc.) It sounds like it's time to talk to a kitchen designer!

The architect hasn't done the final plan, so it sounds like it makes sense to let him know that I'm going to take what he has to a kitchen designer *before* he does the final plan since he (and I) only want to do that *once*. Is that a somewhat standard process in this planning phase?

Thank you to everyone that responded - this has been very helpful!