A classic Hamilton home with good bones and a kitchen shut off from everything else. The owners cooked with their backs to the family, and the room felt half the size it should have been.

We took out the wall between the kitchen and the dining room and opened the lot into one big space. New island bench, new kitchen, the works, with the structure handled properly so nothing up top moved an inch.

One open, light-filled room where the family actually spends time together. The house lives twice as big without adding a single square metre.