Congrats on your new house! I miss my suburban split-level, and with your kitchen/breakfast room, we may not have felt the need to move!

So, without doing a full remodel now, what really do you want to do? If you move the fridge, it's in the more-used walkway, is that a good thing? And what would you do with it's old space? Can you just switch the pantry door over there, probably not. Can you match the existing cabinetry?

What is it you DON'T like about the current kitchen?

BP, here's what I'm hoping for - I'd like to come up with the plan for what we want to do, and if the fridge ends up being on that wall, we will consider redoing that wall now. If it ends up that that isn't the best place for it, we'll keep it where it is until we redo the entire thing. Does that make sense? I realize that putting the fridge in the current pantry wall will put it in a higher traffic area, which isn't ideal, but it may be necessary to get the most useful overall layout. If I can come up with a solid master plan now, it will help me assess whether we can make some incremental changes to move towards it, or if we have to wait and do it all at once. It'll also help me figure out a budget for the eventual full renovation, which will help me know when we'll be able to do it.
With the old fridge space: I'd probably put a temporary tall pantry cabinet in there. I won't try to match the existing cabinetry - I'm okay with it not matching for a few years until we can redo the entire thing. We're going to use Ikea cabinets, so I'd probably get a white door and leave it at that. I know it won't be beautiful and show-room perfect, but that's okay! It'll just be short-term. We plan on living in this house for 30+ years, so a few years of a wonky, in-between kitchen are fine with me. :)
What I don't like about the current kitchen:
- the dishwasher location. When it is open, you can't stand in front of the cooktop, and it blocks off that entire corner, so you can't step around the open door. Cooking and cleanup are clumped up in a corner, and I don't think it needs to be that way!
- the fridge and pantry being separated. When I'm getting food out, I feel like I'm walking around a lot to get things together.
- base cabinets instead of drawers. My previous kitchen was an Ikea kitchen that we put in, and it was basically all drawer base cabinets, and I loved them.
- Narrow aisles around the island! I am not sure how to fix this. I feel like the aisles are too wide without it, but too narrow with one. Although a 24" wide island would help the aisle sizes.
- the counter between the wall ovens and fridge tends to be a dumping ground for clutter, as does the counter to the right of the sink. Real prep work tends to happen on the side of the island closer to the cooktop/fridge, and the rest of the counterspace seems to be out of a good work area.
We've been in the house for a little over a year, which has helped me get a good feel for how we use the space.

For starters, I would swap the fridge and ovens, and I would move the dishwasher to the right of the sink (maybe dishdrawers?).

Second, I would both narrow and shorten the island, but just a bit. We made do with 39" between the island and adjacent spaces on all sides in our old kitchen and it worked fine. I wouldn't go too overboard though, maybe just narrow it to 30" x 56".

If you can relocate the vacuum, I'd put the fridge where that closet is now...closer to the sink. Keep oven where it is and maybe add prep sink and coffee maker to that back, baking wall.

The fridge looks like it's in the doorway right now, but should be set back a bit, from the breakfast room entry...and easier to use. Also closer to the sink and island. Would this work for you?

Now I see what you have in mind. How about this: you do the prep on the island by the stove, right? So move the OVEN to the pantry wall or under the island, and make the fridge wall the food-storage wall. Maybe you'd want to put the fridge where the oven was. Then the wall from the door to the steps can have cabinets and counters for the dumping ground (doesn't every home have one?), maybe glass doors for storing your decorative things.

But moving anything major now, wouldn't that lead to a whole-kitchen-reno pricetag before you're ready to do the reno?

Yeah, I think I'm not being very clear - I'm sorry! What I'm hoping for is a master plan for the end result - I don't want to make an interim plan. I don't want to expend time/energy in moving things around for a temporary redo. I want to come up with a wonderful, functional floorplan. If it ends up that I can make incremental changes that will help resolve my temporary problems with the fridge not fitting perfectly in it's current spot, that's fine. But for all intents and purposes, let's forget I said anything about doing this piecemeal. The big question is this: what is the optimal floorplan for this kitchen, given my likes/dislikes/needs, etc.

Here's one version of what I have been kicking around in my head (just a rough idea of zones/general layout):

Thoughts? I'm also going to mockup the other options that have been suggested.

Sjhockeyfan, is this about what you're suggesting?

In your design it would be best to scoot the refrigerator over a bit such that it opens into the aisle between the island and sink wall. Then you will have extra space when you are opening the refrigerator, for the door swing and so that you do not have a blocked aisle. However, I do not think that is the ideal spot for it as that looks a major traffic pathway. I like it better where you had it in the second drawing with the addition of a prep sink in the island.

What you have now is called a barrier island as it is in the middle of your work triangle and so doesn't really serve much of a useful purpose since the majority of time is spent on food prep and for that you need a water source.

Another option would be to make the wall where you have the ovens and refrigerator into a focal point with a large range and decorative hood then locate the refrigerator on the wall where you have the cooktop and put the microwave elsewhere. With your high ceilings I think that would be my first choice.

Valinsv, I like the idea of a focal wall, with a nice range and hood. I feel like putting the fridge where the cooktop is now will make for a dark corner, and it still doesn't get the food storage (fridge plus pantry) close together.

Barrier island - you're completely right! Sometimes I feel like I've walked in circles going around the darn thing while I'm making dinner.

So, how do you avoid the barrier island problem? Add a function to it? Is it still a barrier island if it has a prep sink?