More pictures for reference

A measured floor plan with doors, windows, stairs, etc. marked would be helpful.

A floor plan of the whole house would be helpful, too. If you don't use a drawing program, and don't have a copy of the floor plan, draw it with pencil on graph paper. If you are doing an extensive remodel, which includes moving a bathroom, I think you should consider moving the laundry to the first floor.

Do a search for vintage kitchens, on this and other sites, and read the info in the following links:

NKBA guidelines

New to Kitchens? Read me first.

Houzz--Farmhouse kitchen transformation. (One of my favorites.)

In my world, moving stairs would not be under consideration. Back stairs are a nice touch and I would prefer to keep them if possible. The back stairs probably don't meet modern stair codes and thus would need a complete rebuild if altered. So, keep or remove but don't bother trying to move them to another location.

You have an interesting project ahead of you with lots of choices to make. Spend some time considering all your options carefully to avoid altering the basic characteristics that make it a clasic vintage home.

Before anything I’d find out which walls can be easily removed . Which will be harder. Which will need beams and soffits... that will be the most important factor in this space. Really opening it up and highlighting and preserving the absolutely beautiful bones of this older farmhouse!! I’m obsessed! Lol. After we know which walls can be removed I’d do the rest of the space planning. I don’t think a lot of rooms need to be swapped. The layout seems decent once walls are out. Possibly bring the kitchen extended into part of the dining room. And move the eat in part of the kitchen ... love love this space

Thank you very much everyone! I’ve done a very rough layout on live home 3D (some of the measurements are a bit off, but gives you a general idea). I did not include the rooms adjacent, the living room and formal dining, but the doorways are there at the top of the drawing. The very best view of the sunset/ backyard is currently from the bathroom window and small window in the hallway leading to the back stairs. We’d love to open this up to enjoy that view, but can’t seem to figure out how we can keep the stairway and get the benefit of this view. Any insights are appreciated!

I will also add, the small room to the left is currently a sun porch area, which we hope to turn half into a laundry room, and other half into a mud room that will have an entrance onto a a garage addition. Picture below of potential garage plan drawings.

Talking to an architect who has performed respectful work on historic homes would be key. Are there houses in your area that appear to have been altered in an appropriate fashion? I would talk to those homeowners and get names of professionals.

Layout with more dimensions

I'm not sure of the floor levels at the entries--if a step or two would be required, but here's a quick and messy general idea. Bath becomes a powder room, which is moved to the existing sunroom space inside the side entry. The mudroom is shared by the side and garage entries--when entering from the garage one has a choice to go through mudroom, or if bringing in groceries, to go through the laundry/pantry area. There is other storage in the kitchen, with the current kitchen space kept m/l the same. If you need more storage, the snacks/coffee area could be switched with the pantry with ROTS, without the sink, which shares the wet wall with the PR. Mudroom and laundry could also switch, if that's more convenient. Keep in mind this might not be exactly to scale.