I am not good at drawing on the computer, so I will try to explain my idea. I would put the banquette along the other side of the outer wall - where the pantry is. With a built-in bench under the window and chairs on the other side of a rectangular table. I would use the entire right side of the room with cabinetry in a U shape - no peninsula. Perhaps a small island if there is room. You could do the full height pantry where you currently have the sink and DW drawn. Or desk there with pantry beside it. Possibly put the fridge beside the pantry, so all of your full-height stuff is on the same wall. You could put the sink between the pair of windows and the range centered along the right wall. That would leave room for floating shelves flanking the range. There would likely still be room for a small island - not with seating, however, in the center of the "u". It may be useful for prep. If you are thinking of having kids, then pay close attention to the swing of the refrigerator and what is blocked when it is opened. My kids peruse the goods often thus blocking the only entrance in and out of our kitchen. Also stick with table or counter height seating, bar height doesn't work well for kids until they are almost adult sized... like 10 or 11. Best wishes! I look forward to seeing your plans.

I can`t tell much from your pics, but I can assure you that the small gaps between the counter and the wall are perfectly normal and to be expected. Walls, corners and bulkheads are never perfectly straight/square/perpendicular - but the people who do stone fabrication make the counters perfectly straight/square/perpendicular. So there will always be small gaps, which are rendered invisible with silicone caulk. Whether you think caulk is "unsightly" or not is immaterial - even if the counter fit absolutely perfectly you would still apply caulk to the counter-to-wall interface for waterproofing purposes anyway. All this being said, the cabinetry and tile work looks a bit substandard.

Thanks everyone. I have spent some time analyzing my current situation and the proposed layouts that all of you so kindly offered. It seems that there are pros and cons to all scenarios and no clear cut best answer. 1. Keeping my current layout would provide the maximum amount of storage but I would still have a compromised prep area between the sink and range. I would take away the bar height and have a single level countertop for the whole configuration. 2. Sena's layout includes a 52" x 90" rectangular island instead of the L-shape and proposed moving the range to the corner. The benefit here is that I gain prep area between the sink and stove. I do lose some of my original storage with the range in the corner and the island change. 3. cpartist proposed moving the refrigerator to the far left top wall with dishwasher next to the fridge, sink next to the dishwasher, widened window and moving the stove to where the refrigerator currently is. I would have to use a counter-depth refrigerator if I don't want it sticking out so far and I'm not sure of the exact island dimension proposal but it was 39" x ??". I would definitely gain more prep space between the sink and stove but I feel like I would be losing a lot of island. I would also lose some storage in the refrigerator over having a refrigerator in my recessed area and the pantry would not be as deep. 4. mamagoose proposed using cpartist's idea for the appliances but turning the island 90 degrees. The reason I resisted seating on the dining room side was because we have our dining room table for seating and it feels like island seating in that area would be redundant. The island in this configuration though is 42" x 72". I do love the look of rectangular islands and I think they are timeless. I'm not sure the L-shaped island is as appealing as it once was to me but it does seem like I can get more storage that way. I gather that most of you feel that my current L was too big to begin with? I'm worried that my kitchen is going to come off appearing smaller than it truly is if the island is small and a lot of the storage is gone. So that is my dilemma right now. It is a lot to process and I thank you for all the valuable info. Am I correct that there is just not one best answer?

Do you have enough space today for pantry stuff? I would consider what Herbflavor suggests, and when you turn the corner you could do another pantry (even a shallow one at 12" along the wall. Alternatively, could you consider a mini mud room there for coats & a drop-zone? A coat closet that is about 3' wide and 2' deep could be made to look like cabinets. That would give you space for some pull out shoe storage inside & a rod for coats to hang from. It may look like a hulking, bulking behemoth in the space, though. I'm not sure how much room you are looking at. But I like the idea of a mudroom type usage with spaces for people to drop book bags, brief cases, etc in cabinets & have a charging zone for phones & tablets & things.