Perhaps make it into something like a butler's pantry and a space to house a beverage bar. Glass uppers to display nice glasses or serving pieces.

I agree with Remodelfa. A reach in pantry would be ideal"

I agree with remodelfla - a butler's pantry, beverage bar with an under counter refrigerator for drinks and snacks or a coffee bar...and maybe make the door from the laundry a pocket door so that it does not get involved with the traffic flow.

I'd switch the swing of the door, so it opened into the laundry area. What is your kitchen plan going to be? Will you have any seating/stools, in the kitchen itself? If not, I'd think about a small bistro table and a couple of chairs or stools. It's always nice to have a place for company to sit in the kitchen...and you won't feel so cut off, during parties. Hope that helps :)

I think the kitchen feels closed off because the laundry door swinging into the space and the partial wall by the DR create a blockage.

As others have said, see about installing a pocket door, or change the swing of the LR door, or if you have room on the other side a sliding 'barn' style door.

Then how about removing that little stub wall by the DR and making that area into a butler's pantry. You could have a beverage fridge and a small sink (if you can get the plumbing over there) and it would be a nice transition area into the DR.

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Is there a basement, and if not is there usable space under the stairs toward the DR end of the space? If that's unused space, maybe you could use it for a small reach-in pantry, or create a small alcove for a small fridge or cabinet and shelves. And if you'd rather have seating than a butler pantry area, a small alcove would still give you some storage there (IF that's usable space.)

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I'm hoping others chime in because it seems like the space has some potential.

Maybe you can incorporate something like this in part of the space: (More photos in the link below)

Here is a link that might be useful: [Houzz's Readers' Choice: The Top 20 Home Offices of 2011[(https://www.houzz.com/magazine/readers-choice-the-top-20-home-offices-of-2011-stsetivw-vs~1049580?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=updates&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery9&d=1&w=17352)

mudroom, laundry and bath seem curious..Is the mudroom back away from any entrance for a reason...usually, one enters a back door and the mudroom is there...is the size of laundry room a given?-it's big...and the half bath off dining room? is that staying? those spaces could be compacted and grouped off to the left and you could get a great room concept from kitchen/dining and more there if you juggled those other rooms.

Thanks for the ideas! I think the traffic pattern through the room is what makes it difficult to use. The previous owners used it as their dining room, but I don't like it there because it's an entirely interior space.

The reason the house seems oddly arranged is because it's an old farmhouse. The laundry room is an enclosed back porch, the bathroom was an addition by the previous owners, the mudroom encloses the old well-pit, etc. We'd like to move the bath off of the dining room at some point, but that will have to wait until a bath in another part of the house is completed.

Right now we're planning to keep the kitchen in the same footprint (although it will be rearranged), and I will surely be asking for help with that down the road.

I accidentally omitted the door from the mudroom to the back deck -- the door should be on the top left.

Thank you for your help!

You could have a fabulous pantry which is always welcome in a house. Or you could do a cozy nook-like den. Nice place to sit with a cup of coffee in the morning or read or you could put a little tv in there if that's what you like to do in your spare time. You'd probably find yourself in there more than you think. Fill some shelves with cookbooks and it can be your meal prep area... : )

How do you get into the "mud room" - aren't they usually where you drop muddy stuff before you reach the house?

I would put a banquette or other seating with its back to the stairs and use it as a sitting and noshing area.

"mudroom, laundry and bath seem curious..Is the mudroom back away from any entrance for a reason...usually, one enters a back door and the mudroom is there...is the size of laundry room a given?-it's big...and the half bath off dining room? is that staying? those spaces could be compacted and grouped off to the left"

my thinking also - tho, it wasn't asked about...

the area under the stairway could be storage/pantry or built in computer area. for now a comfy chair and small table left of the door to laundry would be nice for a friend to sit and visit with the cook.

As others have suggested, you have space to do a number of things...office area, food pantry, butler's pantry, seating area. Before deciding which way to go, I'd want to consider my long-term plans for the entire kitchen/mudroom/laundry area...even if, as you say, you plan to stick within the same footprint now. If, for example, you expect to be in this house for many years and eventually to overhaul the bath off the dining room and the other space, it would be worth coming up with some preliminary plans now. You may not be ready to do a wholesale reorganization of your space now. But if you know what you can and can't ultimately do and how you would like to use all that space, you can make your immediate kitchen remodel and use of that space Stage 1 of the ultimate plan. Otherwise, you might find down the road when you are ready for Stage 2 or stage 3, that choices you made for stage 1 preclude really good options (or you have to tear out and start again).

It sounds as if the mudroom and laundry room walls that adjoin the kitchen were originally exterior walls. Would that preclude removing all or part of them to ultimately open your space up? Would you like an eating area/breakfast nook/etc. in the kitchen ultimately or is your family likely to always use the dining room? What other considerations do you have in making the space work best for your family?

i love a nice butler's pantry, and that space is perfect for one. but you may need an office space more, so use it how you really need it.
and i would move that bathroom door out of the dining room and into the laundry room asap!

Thanks again for the feedback. I appreciate all of the time you take responding to questions.

First, there is a door from the mudroom to the backyard, that I accidentally omitted. It should be at the top left of the drawing.

Other info... we are into year 5 of a remodel, and have a Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3 plan. We are about done with Phase 1. Phase 2 is the kitchen, and Phase 3 is unaffected by anything under discussion. We can (and have) moved walls, redone plumbing, and have done small additions. Very little is off the table.

Without going into too much detail, the issue is less "we really want a pantry, can one fit here?" and more just about how best to use the space so that it is not wasted and is not just a pass-through. No matter how much I work on ideas, nothing feels quite right.

As I write this, I'm thinking that the problem is that I have a "form" and need a "function". Usually I'm a form-follows-function person, but I'm not sure that applies in this case. Right now it houses shallow-pantry cabs (inconvenient), dog food and water (slippery, thanks to the big dogs), a sofa and some toys. Some of the functions that don't fit will be off-loaded to the mudroom/laundry area as we complete those parts of the house. So, the issue is, what *does* fit here?

I will also add that our furnace and water heater are in the laundry room, so although we may expand the laundry room, it is unlikely that we will remove the wall between the laundry and the "???" room. We could, and we can even relocate the furnace fairly easily (and all of this has been considered), but life would be much easier without doing so. Plus, the way the mud and laundry rooms are setup work well with our lifestyle. So, the footprint of the "???" will likely remain unchanged unless there's an especially compelling reason to change it.

Ah, the quirks of old houses...

But I will contemplate your ideas, and greatly appreciate them!

Since the space is so close to the DR, it would be nice to have your good dishes, glasses etc in cabinets. Then there would be room for a comfy chair and maybe bookshelves on the stair side.

What does the staircase look like? Is it an open staircase with railings or is it a closed staircase (like I've seen in older houses, complete with door)? Does the kitchen feel closed in because of the construction of the stairway, where the stairway can be modified (i.e., lighter-weight railings)?

I second the idea of treating that space like the "eat-in" part of an "eat-in kitchen". I could see either a cafe set for a more casual light feel or a banquette for a more built-in feel.

But in answer to your original question (what would I do with that space)... I might be tempted to let it be a buffet setup. Something handy for buffet style serving when I have guests, and including things like a serious coffee maker, a refrigerator dedicated to beverages, etc.

Your drawing labels that space as 11'3" x 11'4" but I count less than 8 squares top to bottom for that space. Either the labeling is incorrect or the drawing is. Which is it? Do you have that extra 3'6" or so or not? I think you must if the previous owners used it as a dining room.

What does the staircase look like?

The first few steps are open (with a railing). The last 5' or so are enclosed by a solid wall.

Your drawing labels that space as 11'3" x 11'4" but I count less than 8 squares top to bottom for that space. Either the labeling is incorrect or the drawing is. Which is it? Do you have that extra 3'6" or so or not? I think you must if the previous owners used it as a dining room.

The room dimensions (automatically generated by the software) include the width of the stairs, which is about 42".

An inviting place to "plop down" and chat with the cook strikes me as a very fine use, and truly I don't understand why more don't haul in a nice easy chair. We have a loveseat in our own kitchen, which made our son decide every kitchen should have one. :) Is the chair on the wall next to the laundry room door? Whatever, I'd just decorate it to look as right for that use as it has been working for you. I disagree with making it anything else at all that you've never felt a need for.

Thanks, everyone. I think I'm going to drag in a chair and some cabinets and try some of your ideas out. The ability to try-before-you-buy is a nice perk of remodeling!

Happy New Year!

After having a similar stairway near my kitchen THE BEST ADVISE I could give you is number one... use some of that under the stairway space for storage. IF, you have a straight stairway, (no landing) and its high enough that is, I would cut an opening/entrance in the wall and drywall it inside and trim up an opening. No door is necessary. I have utilized the area under a stairway as a walk in pantry. It was a custom build so easy to do from the start. No door was on the opening of it, the flooring continued into the space, the opening was at the highest point (as near your dining room) and shelving was on one side only. We used lots of nice trim around every doorway or opening so it was trimmed nicely. It was perfect use of wasted space. The open walk in area (the only really viewable area as you walked by) was attractive because of the way I merchandised it with copper pots and anything attractively packaged like glass containers with staples in it was positioned there, but it held cans, boxed items and bulk items deep into it. Regularly stocked put together chrome standup pantry shelves from Lowes lined one side perfectly and I had plenty of room to walk in. Every stairway needs one if its steep enough. If you have a landing youre probably out of luck with this idea so sorry to waste so much time on it.

If you moved your door of the laundry room closer to the dining room and it opened into the laundry you could utilize more of that wall up to it, from the kitchen to the door... solid cabinets and still have 3 feet walkway since your opening there is 5 feet wide. I had a butlers pantry pass through to the dining area as well and it was lovely. You could utilize more glass uppers in this area to get that butlers pantry feel if thats appealing to you. Coffee or cappuchino makers, wine refrigerators all would suit this area, displays of wine glasses, and serving pieces would add to the butlers pantry feel. I would consider more counter and cabs up into that space to the laundry door rather than a pantry /solid doors. I think counter tops are so useful. On the stair side theres still room for a work area like kitchen desk or some more cabs and counter or a pantry which is deeper if that is more useful to you. If you dont need all the storage you could use it as a breakfast nook, builtin seating along the stairs could provide more storage for bulky items underneath, just find a narrow table or have DH build one to size he sounds pretty capable. If you chose an eating area near the stairs, then on the laundry room wall you could have your husband do built ins not so deep as cabs but still have storage for nice serving pieces. If there was a situation where 2 comfy chairs would face the kitchen or a loveseat would fit and it faced the kitchen or it was more open I would suggest seating, I always admired those hearth rooms with seating and a fireplace in the kitchen. But it seems for this layout that storage would be more useful or a casual dining area. Theres so many ways to do this area, you must show us what you decided.

I saw and saved this picture a couple years ago because I am a big reader and thought this reading nook under stairs was wonderful.

You all were so helpful, so I wanted to post and let you know what we decided to do with the area. (Subject to change, naturally!)

We widened the doorway about 16" between this room and the dining, since that passageway gets heavy use.

The tallest part of the stairs will be a coat closet, accessed through the living room. The shorter part of the stairs will be accessed through this room. We plan to let it be a hidey-hole for our son because he loves to play in that area now, and it's just rough framing at this point. Kode's lovely pic above was the inspiration for this. When he outgrows this, it can be additional storage.

Then we are planning shallow cabs along the back, with glass uppers. In these cabs we'll probably store pretty dishes, infrequently used serving bowls, etc. I think it might be a good coffee station too.

This should still leave us room for two small chairs, so the area can function as a place to visit with the cook.

Here's a rendering. (Not perfect, but it gives an idea...) Thanks again for the help!

That sounds terrific, Chompskyd. A very personalized design to fit your needs, including hidey-hole, and how many kitchen companies offer that?

My one thought is--why build in the shallow cabs? A nice piece of tall, narrow furniture, or a lower chest with separate hutch or shelf unit, or nothing, above, would be much more decorative and *flexible.* If you shop for one of the really nice old pieces available for very little today, you could acquire a little treasure that could work in many rooms as your needs, or whims, change.