You don’t need an island but you do need to keep somewhere to eat at. You can mark out furniture and kitchen layout on the floor with masking tape. You don’t have a lot of room to work with. Think about where you’d actually place furniture in any reconfiguration, I’m not sure an L shape kitchen would give you any extra usable space.

What’s the space under the stairs used for? .the current bench and cabinet colours are making it feel heavy.

I assume the floors are concrete. The sink is in the island. You could put a row of cabinets and sink along the right hand wall, and delete island and replace with a bar height dining table. BUT, have you considered the cost of removing and reinstalling plumbing. Have you considered where the fridge would be repositioned. A more cost effective option would be to lighten everything up with lighter cabinets and bench top. You can’t make the area bigger, so try and do it visually with colour.

I would remove the study area from the wall and put an appropriate size dining setting in front of the doors next to lounge. That area in front of glass doors is not being utilised. A lovely four seater round table may look good.

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IF shifting the plumbing isn't too much of an impediment, I think an L-shaped kitchen would work. You would gain some storage with overhead cupboards, and could put in a corner pantry to efficiently use what is often an awkward space. I had a holiday unit with a small L-shaped kitchen. We had a square table in the centre (ordinary table height) and it was fine. If the plumbing makes this a no go, you could think about expanding the kitchen into what appears to be dead space under the stairs. But that makes the kitchen bigger - not the living/dining. Where is the entry door? There don't appear to be any stairs up to the balcony.