Can you add windows on the wall with the microwave, or is the only source of natural light the courtyard?

Will straightening the walls to the courtyard affect the roof and drainage? I am assuming you are located somewhere warm and dry given the courtyard.

Can you replace the upper left window to the courtyard with another door? Then people could cut through the courtyard when going from the dining room to the bedrooms.

Thanks Isaac!

The only source of natural light would be the courtyard. Our house is almost connected to the house next door so no windows possible. We would be enlarging the window when we remove the counterspace that's by the courtyard, it would be floor to ceiling glass. Thought about adding a skylight but it felt like overkill because the kitchen already gets a decent amount of natural light.

Straightening the walls shouldn't affect the roof (although it'll also be replaced with the renovation) or drainage. Located in San Francisco so it's generally dry (aside from this week).

I don't think cutting through the courtyard would work unfortunately, we have furniture out there under the window and technically there is a hallway on the other side of the courtyard, it just happens that going through the kitchen is the most convenient way to the living areas. Even if we did add a door, I don't think people would want to have to open and close two sets of doors.

I was thinking maybe this house was in SF! We visited there often when we used to live on the Mendocino coast.

I must warn you that I am definitely NOT one of the fabulous gurus here that do great kitchen layouts. Hopefully others will chime in on this fun project. I just thought I’d play around with some ideas.

This is not to scale as my mind no longer can handle math. :-(

But I figured if the kitchen is about 12 x 12 and counters are a little passed 2’ wide with overhangs, the isles should be okay. I hope I don’t totally embarrass myself! Haha!

In this idea, I made the sitting room a little bigger by squaring it off even with the French door. I thought it allowed a little more of a walkway between kitchen and dining while still allowing space for comfy chairs with ottomans.

The peninsula in the center would be nicer if it had the isle width for some bar stools, but unfortunately I am sure it’s too tight. You could copy the arches on the entryways if it make sense to the style of the house.

And this was a crazy thought of a Butlar’s pantry where the sitting room is. I know it’s a total no go as it has no seating anywhere in or near the kitchen! I will post it anyways just for fun.

Oh and I deleted the toliet closet to allow that little window to shine it’s light!

Adding... OMG I totally forgot to figure out the DW and a bigger sink in the kitchen once I deleted the butlars pantry! In that plan the sink on the peninsula was just a prep sink and no DW. Umm, Duh! Ok nix that one! 🤣

An old post about a gorgeous Spanish style kitchen popped up recently - they used white cabinets and soapstone counters, in contrast to the materials you mentioned, but some of the stylistic touches might be of interest:

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2502972/finished-1930-spanish-kitchen-photos#n=46

Hopefully one of our resident layout geniuses will chime in - @Buehl or @mama goose_gw zn6OH

I removed hallway to bedrooms since it was originally there to separate the multiple doors into the original bathroom, which is no longer and issue. Adding perhaps a slider if you don’t want clear view thru courtyard into bedrooms.

Ads for the kitchen,
I’d put the sink in the island facing towards courtyard & living spaces, with the range & shelf on wall behind (not drawn) and fridge along R wall which would be the fl to clg full depth wall.
And I’d also be inclined to extend a serving counter or additional storage towards dining room, in different but complimentary style and/or materials from kitchen just so that doesn’t become too heavy.

Add me to the list of people who immediately knew this house was in SF. Just looked at one for sale almost identical to this one!

Thanks everyone for the thoughtful suggestions! I also love how distinct SF design is. It's funny because most people think of candy-colored Victorians when they think of SF, but we have a long history of Mediterranean style homes as well. I didn't even realize how many there were in SF, because in our neighborhood on the East side of the city, there are a few, but they're scattered around. Whereas on the west side of the city there are blocks and blocks of gorgeous Spanish-style homes. It's such a trip driving through those neighborhoods.

I spoke with a kitchen designer from Reform (our top choice for cabinets) yesterday who got some wheels spinning on the design angle. Aside from your suggestions to remove the wall between the kitchen and hallway, we are now also exploring removing the wall between the stairs and the kitchen and converting it to a pony wall/divider, then opening up the area with the pantry now. This would solve two of our problems of figuring out how to get more light to the stairwell and also adding headspace for the stairs. We would then extend the wall by the bathroom/bedroom doors slightly for privacy, and maybe adding a pocket door. We also are playing with where to add arches and curves to reflect some of the lovely details elsewhere in the house.

The kitchen now has two options, one where we keep the seating area and one without.

In the first option, the lower cabinets are along the pony wall and the tall cabinets run until the patio. The seating area is really lovely, giving us a view of the courtyard (we have it now and love sitting there), but it also somewhat restricts the island size as the island can't be more than 4' deep w/ chairs, and about 6' long. We also run into questions of if and how to have a backsplash and exhaust vent if there's no wall.

Rough Floorplanner shots (placement of appliances is not accurate)

In 3D (pretend cabinets are light wood):

Using IKEA builder w/ appliances/sinks.

In the second option, the cabinets run the length of the right wall, from kitchen to dining room. In the "kitchen" they're bottom cabinets only, and opposite the patio they're full-length cabinets. We get a nice chunky island with this layout because there are no cabinets, so it can be 6' long and almost 7' deep w/ chairs.

In 3D and playing with adding a curved wall:

IKEA version w/ appliance location. Island is not to scale, not sure how to make it bigger, but pretend it's deeper w/ chairs.

Thoughts?

I might not be much help because I am in love with your cabinets. I bought similar vintage cabinets to use in my bungalow kitchen remodel, 10 years ago. I'd preserve the shallow cabinets with the counter to use in the hallway (left)--a perfect place for a butler's pantry. If they aren't structurally sound, or they aren't what you really want, I still like rebunky's butler pantry idea, with new cabs. (right).

The island I drew has seating, but if 12" cabs are used to provide the NKBA minimum recommended overhang (15"), they will need to re reinforced to carry the weight of the counter. I drew side panels which span the depth of the cabinets plus the overhang. You should have space for a 6' island, to seat three. If you don't need seating, then standard base cabinets could be used for the island. In that case I'd suggest drawer bases.

That is a huge kitchen and you can convert it to german style kitchen with detached island. The stove and sink can be in a single row with the island in the middle.