What is the style/age of your house? We bought a house 120 year old house a couple years ago and our contractor explained that old houses are often much easier to 'figure out' in terms of structural makeup (unless there have been half-assed renovations since it was built). What are the exterior walls made of? What is the layout? Have there been alterations to the original floor plan that you know of? Have you removed a part of the drywall or plaster on the ceiling of the rooms you are hoping to join? If you haven't, this would be your step in trying to figure it out. If the joists in the ceiling of the two rooms are running towards each other, chances are the wall is load bearing and you will find the joists are not continuous all the way across the house but actually end slightly past the wall you are looking to remove and the joist that continues across the other room begins a little before the wall and continues across the other room.

Remembering your roof pictures on bath remodel that wall would have been load bearing. The gable end usually is not unless you have a hip roof. Then all four outer walls are load bearing. You still need proper brace/supports when tearing out walls. In our house being manufactured I know a couple of walls certainly could come down all the way as they are just partition walls. Still there are headers over the doors. Just thinking your bath remodel showed the rafter placement. and the outer edges of the rafters sit on load bearing walls as Marti said. You might be able to tell from your old pictures. Also some center walls can be load bearing because the center of the truss or rafter needs support. Not on a scissor truss the center is a point.Doubt you have those in your house. On the run last sunny day before big storm hits and I have yard work to do.

katie- I am mostly responding to the concerns in your other thread here. First of all, I certainly emphasize with the strain of not being able to figure out how to make the layout work, or how to hire the people you need when budget is a concern. We have been *thinking of* doing our kitchen for seven years while we try to figure it out! In terms of your stress level, I would encourage you to think about whether it is the actual kitchen condition that is causing you stress, or it is the project that is causing you stress...in which case it might be best to sit back and try to make your kitchen workable so that you have a little breathing room. Trying to just get it done may end up costing more to get less of what you want. I assume you are waiting to replace your microwave because you want to buy a new one with the built in look...but we were able to pick up a used microwave for $25 on craigslist (which we have now used for 6 years...it is good we picked it up). A garbage disposal replacement is usual a DIY install...and the new disposal should be able to be installed in your new kitchen...my hubby (who is a chemistry professor but likes DIY) also has installed dishwashers if you know that appliances you want. That does not solve the open sofits and cealing, but it does make the kitchen more functional. I think pictures would help me visualize the spaces more, but I am going to be the odd man out and say that I think trying to recess your fridge into the dining room is going to eat up a lot of your budget, and I am not completely sure what you are going to gain. I think your concern is that your fridge is sticking too far into the highly trafficked space. Do you have any built in pieces that make the "living room" the living room, the dining room the dining room and the family room the family room? I think I would try to turn the dining room in the "living room" (or the family room kids hangout space with the door that closes!). Then you could put in a large island with sink running the long direction of the house (or leave your sink) , put your fridge between the french door and the low window with a pantry (or counterspace next to it) and leave the stove where it is. You could then put your dining table in the living room (but have bar seating on the island) and even set up a small seating area in your new dining room...our house is probably a very different style than yours, but our little couch at the end of our dining room is quite popular! (It's in an alcove, but you see our chandelier and built in china closet...it is very much part of the dining room...you might even be able to put in a built in bench under your low window). I have certainly found the staring over phenomenon quite difficult...especially because everyone does things differently. Our first quote came back "no structural engineer required," the second contractor wanted us to hire a structural engineer before he wrote the quote (although he did say he would most likely correctly guess what needed to be done), the architect we talked to would bring a structural engineer and start boring in the walls. The third contractor said he would open up the walls, and then have the engineer come make drawings if we wanted...he said that we could go either way but the permitting would be much easier with a stamped engineers drawing. Each contractor uses a different cabinet sales person that sells a different line of cabinets! Have you tried home depot or cliqstudios or something similar? I went to home depot and met with the designer...they gave me a ballpark figure but said I would have to pay $100 for a measure to get an actual design/quote, but the kitchen designer I met with was very helpful and gave me some good ideas. The $100 would be applied to the install...we need a gut to update knob and tube wire etc so we are not doing home depot install. I talked to cliqstudioes today and I am curious with what they come up with. I have also found it really helpful to look at real estate photos of similar houses to mine to see how they updated the kitchen...they are more consistent with the style, budget and layout constraints of my project than the Houzz photos are.

You would need structural engineer to inspect to firmly answer your questions but based on my experience these are load bearing. Why is the refrigerator sticking out so much? And why aren’t door for refrigerator opening with hinge on left. Very awkward to use in such a tight kitchen. Looks like some updating has been done. Make sure to carefully review the Seller’s Disclosure form. They must list issues and how they were resolved. Ask for documentation for any big ticket items. The light fixtures are very dated. Those would need to be replaced in my world. That is expensive endeavor. Document any issues you see and ask your agent to get info from seller in writing. N verbal agreements. Document in emails not text messages wherever possible. Easier to retain and search in future. Changing walls usually means changing floors too so it can get expensive fast. Hope those thoughts help you out.