A THOUSAND YEARS from now, archaeologists sifting through the rubble will be able to identify early 21st-century homes by their kitchens. The kitchen island will be as recognizable an artifact as the Doric column. But they won’t find one in my kitchen in Mill Valley, California.
When I remodeled recently, I wanted an airy kitchen with white-tiled walls, a big window over the sink and a human-scale table, the kind where my grandmother sat when she chopped onions and where families gathered convivially—before the whole world...