I'd appreciate any opinions anyone might have.

I'm redoing my kitchen myself, first big renovation I've done myself (but I used to do them with my dad a lot). I've been trying to get an engineer out to look a wall between my kitchen and dining room, but I went through at least 5 companies to all get a "we are too busy." Finally got a guy to come through and he was really nice, didn't even charge me because he said the wall wasn't load bearing.

But he didn't give me any papers or anything, I offered to pay him, but he said I'm fine. This is kinda my first big renovation and tearing down a wall scares the hell out of me. I've done my research and watched and read articles, but I still feel very nervous doing this because I can't find an exact situation like mine.

So here is the situation:

I live in a tight railway like house, very skinny and long (maybe 16ft wide). The second floor stops before my kitchen, so the kitchen has no second floor above it. The wall I'm trying to remove lives right in between. I pulled all the permits, it looks like the house was built this way (built in 1951) as the basement runs under the kitchen and all the main pipes are under the kitchen, I see no signs that the basement was expanded.

I have pictures, above the wall, and under the wall (basement). What gives me the most hesitation is that it looks like the wall is built right under the second floor exterior wall in the back, and below the wall is very odd to me -- it has to two joist with a 4 inch gap, and the wall posts sit in the gap.

The wall I'm trying to remove does not sit on the floor joist for the second floor and run parallel to the joists :

If you see the air vent, a joist in the basement sits in front of it, and behind it, their is a 4 inch gap between the two floor joist, those wall post sit in between the gap, so I'm not sure what it means.

That is the floor joist for the second floor, the wall goes above it.

I appreciate any advice or opinions on the matter, thanks in advance!