Removing non-bearing walls can really help to open up a space.
When you walked up to the top of the stairs before, you were greeted by a closet, an open space for the washer dryer and a wet bar......not very welcoming for a new family.
This was the closet view from the top of the stairs- it blocked the view intot he small kitchen following......
I went to the SF Building department and looked up the "Microfiche" of the floor framing, and found that the floor joists were running the right direction in order to remove the wall between the entry hall and kitchen- they were bearing on the one wall between the kitchen and living room- so we could not remove that wall without adding a huge steel beam to support the load above.
Unfortunately, we discovered the sprinkler supply line was in the wall we wanted to remove, so that had to be re-routed into the wall we were keeping.
There were also electrical runs that had to be removed.
This was the kitchen before- it was cramped and tight with a counter- note the location of all the fixtures. We kept them all in the same location, as the basic configuration worked.
Here is the new kitchen that opens up to the entry with new wood flooring throughout.
The view from the stairs coming down.
The view from the same location as the shot of the "before" kitchen- now an island takes the place of the return peninsula.