What is the red room? Dining room? Could the staircase doorway be in that room? …so that the kitchen staircase doorway could be filled in to make a longer wall?

Could the door to the outside be moved to where the refrigerator is now, utilizing that window opening?

Great idea Susan! It's the dining room. It could go that way to make more kitchen space. That room looks like this.

@palimpsest - that would be ideal, but there's a mudroom on the other side of that door that doesn't extend that far left. We go through that mudroom to get to the driveway. So we need the door to stay in that location, unless we're looking at a way bigger remodel ;)

I am assuming that the open corner doorway was originally two doorways, one into a separate room with the small window in it and one to the kitchen, and that that small room was combined with the kitchen at some time in the past.

It acutally looked like this:

That's awesome @mama goose_gw zn6OH! Do you think that first layout could work if we didn't extend the wall? Not sure we have that in our budget right now. I think we could fit the range there still.

What did you draw under the window by the door? A bench? Storage? Thanks!

I don't think there's space for the range on the stair wall unless the wall is extended. You need fillers in the corner to allow the oven door and perpendicular cabinet door to open, and that will leave only a few inches for counter to the right of the range. Also, the sink would need to be on the other side of the window, to allow prep space between it and the range.

I didn't specify the cabinet under the small window. It could be storage or a bench, but I was kind of considering a mobile cart which could be pulled into the middle of the room, or closer to the sink or range for extra prep space.

That cabinet under the window by the door--great opportunity for a rolling baking cart, with a lower top for rolling pastry.

Thoughts on a small island in the middle?

If it's a budget issue, could you change the stairwell wall and doorway, and leave the short wall by the door intact? It would be great to do both, but you get more function from the stairwell change. You can put in pretty much the same storage or bench whether that wall is there or not. Then remove the wall at a future date when you have more funds.

That's a great compromise @mcarroll16, thank you! We'll definitely talk with our contractor about that this week.

Moving the stove, whether electric or gas, is more money than moving/extending walls, especially if you're hiring the work out. So if moving the stove is an option, and the budget isn't endless, I'd put my money into extending the stairwell wall.
I'm also voting for the sink under the window. Which window has a better view? By the door is less convenient, and there may not be enough room, but you can't go wrong with a sink under a window.

You historic home is darling! I saw your post earlier and started thinking about this idea before I read about the door not moving. I will post it anyways just for fun.

I notice the way the opening between the dining room and kitchen has the headers just hanging out in the air after removing the wall underneath looks pretty odd. If possible I thought maybe a new header could go at an angle over to the new stair entry opening.

That nub of a wall by the door is there for a reason. I believe a bearing wall was removed at some time creating the header you see. Removing the wall and/or header may involve some $ to install a new (large) beam.

If the fridge is located in the shallow alcove, you'd need to be careful when moving a cart in or out--if the short stub wall is retained. The fridge could be switched with the cabinets to the left (as you face it), which would make it easier to remove a cart, but only if the stair wall is not extended.

I added another idea for the prep and clean-up zones, which would require no structural changes, but wouldn't follow the recommendations for good function. Since the sink would be so close to the range, you'd prep on the counter to the right, then move items to the range. Or, use a cutting board which fits over the sink--a 24" cutting board plus 12" between the sink and range would give the the minimum recommended prep space of 36". It would be more efficient storage-wise to move the DW toward the corner and have a wider cabinet to the right, but you need space to stand in the corner, to unload dishes to the upper cabinets.

This isn't a great layout, and would only be a last resort if no structural changes could be made. It would be a shame to put money and time into a new kitchen, and get a less than optimal work space.

Another less-than-optimal idea (and with less storage) would be to put the DW to the right of the sink, on the back wall, which means prep would still take place as described above. That would leave space for a small island--however, the island would be a barrier between the fridge and the work spaces. Exterior door swing would need to change, and there would be no space for a cabinet under the small window. If the wall to the left of the small window is interior, stud-bay storage might be an option, and is especially appropriate in an older home. You could also add stud-bay storage on the stair wall in the plan below:

To be clear, I'm not recommending either of these plans--I'm just posting to show options with less structural change.

NKBA guidelines

New to Kitchens? Read me first.

Discussions--Extra-deep counters

Discussions--all drawer bases

Houzz article--stud-bay storage

@Seabornman great point! It's definitely load bearing :)

My assumption was that with changing the doorway to the stairs you would do this, which would potentially be adding back structure that hand been previously removed, by putting an actual doorway back to the stairway.

I have a couple questions. Typically in these old houses porches were captured or additions were DIYed through the years. That leads to these little "rooms" (like where the refrigerator is, or the entire kitchen) and odd shaped footprints. The structural framing though (roof, ceiling, or 2nd floor) is based on these footprints. Also a porch floor and foundations were not up to par with the main house.

The big question is: was a remodel undertaken to blow out walls without a plan for a kitchen layout?

The bigger question is: was the blow out done in a structurally sound manner? All the walls that were blown out have a good chance to all be bearing walls. Your comment "Our contractor is amazing and is able to remove the small wall near the door if we like" tells me something may not have been done right. To remove that wing wall, you would have to replace the entire girder beam with a new longer continuous beam = huge, and you'd be tearing up all the trim and paint you just finished.

Here is what I am guessing was the original, and then your remodel. I am betting that no beams or headers were done, especially since the "girder beam" would be more substantial. Also, blowing out that corner wall is very strange, it just isn't a natural fit for this style of house, and takes full responsibility for the "awkward" you have titled the entire project as:

@3onthetree the original layout is the on one the left. When we bought it the kitchen already had the walls blown out. So we're trying to figure out how to best remedy the situation while keeping the larger kitchen layout. Previous owners didnt do a great job with the remodel, so we're needing to add some structural support in the basement below. And would need a thicker beam in the kitchen to redistribute the weight.

I was going off of this pic prior to remodel, which I thought was MLS listed or the day you moved in:

But it doesn't matter who did what or when, now it sure seems that the structural modifications should be verified. Along with that and going through so much new work, the back "refrigerator" area could have an opportunity to be worked into the design. It would seem futile to spend the human capital (time, money, heartache living through it) if you didn't do a full gut kitchen correctly from the beginning and make sure your house doesn't give you structural problems.

I’m not seeing any updated photos…

Photos added! Sorry they didn't save.

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

Lovely - thanks for the update!