Here are some dimensions!

Oh, man. That is a very tricky space!

I'm no designer, but I've had my fair share of weird/old/tricky spaces. I think I would move the laundry to either the porch or the basement. I would center the range in the old laundry space, with a little counter space on either side. Would you be able to vent from that area? Or you could put the fridge there with one cabinet next to it. No counter, make it a pantry-style floor to ceiling cabinet.

Actually, I think that's the simplest solution. Laundry to porch/basement. Fridge to old laundry space, with pantry cabinet next to it. Now your range isn't quite so intimidating. Yes, it's still going to stick out. But, if you flank it with 12" lowers to get a little counter space and uppers across the same width, it will look intentional and not like someone tried shoving modern appliances in an old kitchen without thinking about it. No moving walls, but a little smaller footprint. Better flow.

Otherwise, I don't know how you're going to do what you want without moving a wall somewhere. I think you're going to have to lose at least the pantry. If you take the guest closet, too, you won't be able to call it a bedroom anymore.

Good luck! This is a serious puzzle!

Hire a pro. It's against code in most areas to put a range right up against a fridge, it's also bad design.

Would not have taken the bedroom closet for appliances.

Besides it likely being a code violation, your stove would heat your fridge and make it run more, likely wearing it out sooner.

You need at least a small countertop (16" wide) on each side of the stove and, preferably, a small countertop to the right of your fridge, too.

How many people live in your home and/or dine with you most meals?

Invest in a sofa bed. Use the guest bedroom space to create a laundry room at the back end of the house and the rest of the guest bedroom space to extend your kitchen.

Alternately, do you have room on your lot and/or is it within your budget to build an addition ... or two ... or three? Could you ...

Bump out the back wall of your kitchen by about 8'?

Build an addition that moves the exterior wall of the dining room to be even with the exterior wall of what appears to be the front porch in front of the living room?

Build an addition to move the back exterior wall of the guest room to be even with the exterior wall of the master bedroom?

Thanks all of you for your input! I just want to be clear— I definitely do not plan to put the oven/range by the fridge when we remodel! I agree that it’s not ideal to have these two appliances side by side, but alas, that’s the situation we’re stuck with for now.

To answer some other questions - it’s just me and my husband for now, but in the next few years we will likely need the guest bedroom for a nursery space. We have considered adding on, but that would be far down the road when we face a “move vs. add more space” dilemma.

Also, while we do have a basement, and laundry *could* move down there, the stairs are narrow and not conducive to carrying laundry up and down. That option really would seem to solve so many problems, but it would still present some logistical problems/safety concerns of its own.

Your ideas present some alternatives I haven’t thought of, which is what I am desperately hoping for! It feels like I have exhausted all options but seeing your solutions I know that isn’t true. So thank you for that!

Yes, my in-laws lived in a 1896 house for 30 years. Their laundry was in the basement, and it was very tricky to get down there! Somehow, they managed. I would definitely see if improving that area is a possibility down the road. Like, before a little one shows up and wants to "help." :) I don't know how that will compare to finishing out the porch, cost-wise. For me, I'd want to keep the porch as a porch, outside space is pretty important to me.

I like Lisa's design a lot, except that stackable washer/dryer would obstruct kitchen window.

lisa_a, excellent ideas, and you used my favorite space saving/gaining idea--between-the-studs storage. Would the existing window be lost if the patio is enclosed to house the laundry?

I wanted to draw out a variation of one of Anna's ideas, though, because I really like the configuration of having the fridge, range, and sink in an L with continuous counter space. I have that arrangement in my own kitchen, and I really like that I have a corner where everything is within a step, and there is no traffic passing through the work aisles.

The guest closet is pushed into the guest room and made longer, with the pantry narrowed to the width to accommodate the guest room door-swing. I used the smaller fridge, too, with the minimum landing space between it and the range, but there would be landing space to the right, with the oven opening into the long aisle. The base corner would be blocked, and the drawer base between it and the sink would need enough filler to accommodate the oven door handle. Maybe that base corner space could be used for drawers in the guest room closet?

At the very least (and least expensive) the existing guest closet and pantry could be switched, which would give you space to put a narrow cabinet between the range and fridge.

NKBA guidelines

These ideas are amazing!!! The kitchen really is such a puzzle and you all are giving me so many new ways to imagine the space. Thank you!

Mama Goose does bring up another point I should have mentioned. Yes, the kitchen window currently bisects the side porch. I’m including another picture for y’all to see. SO, using the side porch would mean moving the window, which would definitely add cost to our project. There is also a window in the pantry that could be saved by making the pantry into a bedroom closet, as several of you have suggested!

As you can see we aren’t really utilizing this space for more than recycling.... (Smaller window to the right is the pantry window)

Oh, shoot, I did address the window issue but the text and photo weirdly disappeared. I blame the user and not the computer. =)

I suggested replacing the window's clear glass with obscured glass or applying stained glass look film to it. Alternatively you can eliminate the window and add a window to the enclosed porch, straight ahead of the door and make the door at least half glass if not all glass. You won't have the window over the sink but you will have natural light coming in to the space.

You could also add skylights. Just be sure to coordinate skylight placement with can/ceiling light placement so that your kitchen is well lit at night, too.

The last thing you can do to add natural light is to install small windows between counter and upper cabinets.

Definitely talk to a contractor about enclosing the porch, specifically heating it (maybe radiant floors under tile) and running plumbing to it.

btw, the plan I created can be done using Ikea cabinets. The island is made up of 15" cabinets (1 1/2" counter overhang). The pantry will be one a 24" wide, 24" deep and a 15" wide, 24" deep pantry cabinets. Put a small MW on a shelf inside the 24" wide pantry.

I'm going to edit my above post to include all of this.

What are the dimensions of the guest bedroom? I hesitated to steal space from it because I wanted to make sure that it would at least fit a double bed and a dresser and still have room to walk around the room.

If it's large enough that you can reduce it a little, then you can go with mamagoose's plan or a version of it without a problem.

Here's a small tweak to her plan:

Fridge and stacked W/D are next to each other. This gives more room around the range plus you can include a Super Susan for the corner storage. The trade-off is that the fridge and sink are blocked by the island.

You can leave the W/D visible or put the units behind doors.

There's room to include a narrow pull-out cabinet between fridge and W/D so you'd have a place to store a broom, dust pan, detergent, cleaning supplies, etc. Ask your contractor to install an emergency water shut off value where you can easily reach it. Maybe he/she can open up the back wall and you can get to it from the basement stairs.

I have windows between my upper cabinets and my counters. They are my only west-facing windows in the whole house. It's nice, since Texas gets really hot if you have lots of west-facing windows. And they're protected from most hail storms. BUT, I have the shined granite, and as the sun sets, it reflects off the counter tops and is absolutely blinding. I need to frost them, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Just an FYI, if your kitchen windows face west.

Do you have anything resembling an attic to which you might add a wide dormer to create a sleeping loft guest bedroom?

divingcardinal, they have these things made out of cloth called "curtains". You pull them closed when things get too shiny. Or this other weird thing called a "blind" that goes straight up and down. Also very effective at blocking the light sometimes while letting it stream in unimpeded at others.

To the OP - while the idea of enclosing the porch isn't horrible, it really doesn't look all that wide, enough to make it practical as a laundry room, unless you could put stacked units at the far end. Not sure where that is in relation to the window, which I absolutely WOULD NOT want to lose in the kitchen.

However a better solution seems to me to be to fix the basement stairs. If they are SO narrow and/or shallow that a young person such as yourself wouldn't feel safe going up and down them with a basket of laundry, they're too narrow/shallow to be safe in any case. I would rather invest the reno money in fixing those stairs, give them a landing and a turn if necessary. I don't know what kind of space you have down there but if the stairs are as bad as you seem to imply, you won't use that space much, if at all. Plus I would worry about little kids and steep/narrow stairs.

I'm 60 and if I had a basement that is where I would want the laundry area to be. Preferably with a built in floor drain. That would give me the space to have an actual laundry tub for the washer to drain into instead of those stupid little plastic bins they mount behind the drywall these days. Plus, laundry tubs are SOOOO useful for so many reasons. Even if they are in the basement.

Yes, and thanks for the snark. Since my windows flank my cook top, curtains would get disgusting in a very short time. And blinds are quite impractical because the windows themselves are less than 12" high, as they are between my upper cabinets and my counters. Frosting the glass is the far and away the simplest solution, but as you'll note, I haven't gotten around to it. I do love my windows, as they let in good light, just giving a warning about putting polished stone beneath west facing under-cabinet windows. It can catch you by surprise if you are putting in new windows where there were none, as someone above was suggesting.

I have had windows "flanking" the cooktop as well. See there is this OTHER wonderful invention most people don't know about called "washing".

Well, aren't you just a wealth of ideas. And so much joy and love to spread around!

Zensojourner - There’s this novel idea that if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all. Maybe you’re trying to compete with some of the Pros on here who sometimes can come off snarky, but they also usually impart good advice. Your remarks were really unfounded. Have a good night.

I have had a good night and will continue to have good nights. Silly anonymous people on the Internet or not.

My first response that was called "snarky" was not. I'll admit the second was. It was on target. I'm sorry, but it is ridiculous to think you can't put up curtains because they eventually get dirty. They can be washed. Why that doesn't seem to occur to some people is frankly baffling. Do you not wash your clothes when they get dirty?

It's a non-problem. Put up curtains and wash them when they get dirty, problem solved.

I don't recall ever having seen curtains or blinds on backsplash windows, so I googled it. Nope, no curtains or blinds.

Not in this Apartment Therapy article, either.

I love the look of windows flanking a range, so I googled those images, too, and found a few with blinds, but mostly uncovered windows.

Windows flanking a range.

divingcardinal, I like your solution of frosting the backsplash windows to reduce glare.

lisa_a, your last post is another good solution for keeping the laundry off the patio, and saving the expense of enclosing it and moving the window.

On Lisa_a's latest plan, what about swapping the fridge and pantry space? You'd have to add enough fillers to be able to open the fridge all the way, but it would eliminate the barrier island problem.

course411, I think that might be my favorite, so far, because as I mentioned above, I like that L work zone. Recessing the fridge in the pantry space would allow Anna to use a full-depth model, which has two advantages--more storage, for less cost. Anyone entering the kitchen might have a short wait if another person has the fridge door open, but moving the fridge and range over would leave space for a super susan, and reclaim the blocked corner.