Hmmm interesting. First, I would highly recommend making your counter deeper on at least the wall with the sink. This will maximize your prep space. I grew up in a home with a VERY small kitchen, but the counters were 6" deeper than normal, so I never really felt cramped while cooking. You can simply have the contractor build a 1x4 or 1x6 frame against the wall, install the cabinets against that, and then run the counters over the whole thing. This will also help you feel like you have more headroom, since the upper cabinets won't be as close to your face. Hopefully the window placement will allow for this, although you can always step one narrow cabinet and the counters back to normal depth to allow for the window if necessary. I would also probably consider putting the range and fridge on the same wall, and the sink/DW on the other. I would not center the sink on its wall, and make sure to have the largest amount of empty opposite the range. This will also maximize the space you have for prep.

You’ve made charming choices! The island lighting is perfect. One of my favorite moments is the curve of ther counter stools repeated on the mat for the dog bowl. You must be thrilled with the outcome. I’m looking forward to seeing the custom cabinet doors and a light without glare over the sink. Nice!! I always like to see the before and after right next to each other.

By the way, for future passerbyers, it seems like there are a few schools of thought on ideal placement of recessed lights…from electricians vs light experts/kitchen designers… I had read advice about placing lights away from the wall at 18” (design forums, rationale is it is the halfway point between face of uppers, and edge of counter, maximizing unobstructed light on counters/prep area, supplementing with undercabinet lighting), 24” (kitchen design forum feedback, placing at the edge of countertop, to light more space on your counter, including reducing shadow cast by the uppers closer to backsplash, but accepting some shadow from your body) and 30” (electrician, aesthetic and aisle lighting….this is what confused me and brought me here, do not recommend, it will cast shadows on your counters). I guess the efforts are to optimize lighting content of uppers, counters, while minimizing shadow cast by uppers and by our heads and bodies, with lights to the right and left of where you’d work. The answer is probably somewhere between 18” to 24”. Since I am lazy and I hate turning on my undercabinet lighting, and am not a serious home cook anyway, I wanted my ceiling lights to be the main daily workhorse light… they ended up at the edge of my countertop - 25”, slightly in from 26” depth countertops… My uppers will come out to 15”. it was done this morning before I saw some of your comments based on the attached diagram of lighting tips from another houzz pro user: https://www.houzz.com/magazine/how-to-properly-light-your-kitchen-counters-stsetivw-vs~117403233 I only bought a box of six cans! But I think I could have gone with Hallett & Co.’s suggestion of putting six neatly along the edges but I hadn’t thought of that! Oh well. All in all, we probably have enough lighting - since our house is small and open, we are probably ok at ~7500 lumens for a 130 sqft kitchen. Another rule of thumb I saw was to multiply the square footage by 30 or 40 foot candles to get a lumen range. For example: 100 square feet x 30 to 40 foot candles = 3000 to 4000 lumens. We will have LED tape that is 300 lumens per linear ft. (~10ft under uppers, 3000 lumen) Above the sink, I wanted a pendant but with two lights to minimize shadows, and so will have a two-light track/spotlight pointing down, about 2 x 500 lumens (1000 lumens) For each recessed can, most GU10 LEDs I have seen cap out at about 500 lumens per bulb. (6 x 500 lumens, 3000 lumens) The linear LED pendant above the peninsula is 600 lumens

you have so much Beautiful natural light, YES! remove the uppers and open up that space. I would not paint the cabinets, but paint the whole kitchen and living room a dark color. a great Earthy Taupe for drama. Try some samples... SW Virtual Taupe and other colors that you can highlight with bright pops of color for accents.