Beech had good bones from the start. Limestone floors, a solid plan, a house worth keeping, so the brief was restraint. Change as little as possible and fix what was wrong. What was wrong was light. Big windows in the front, big windows in the back, nothing on the side, and the kitchen sat in shadow. One window, stretched from two feet to eight, and now the garden is right there over the sink.

The kitchen itself was dated and had to go. The old island was an octagon high top that broke up the room. The new one runs fourteen feet at counter height, long enough to show off the length of the kitchen and built for the way she lives, gathered around it. Oak cabinetry runs to the ceiling, fluted stone wraps the island, and the limestone underneath ties it all together.