For a while, the answer seemed obvious. Walls came down across the country as the open floor plan became the dominant language of modern home design — airy, connected, flooded with light. Kitchen, dining room, and living room flowed into one another, and the result felt undeniably fresh.

Most bathroom remodels start with a feeling. The space feels cramped. The tile feels wrong. The layout has never quite matched the way you use the room. And somewhere between a saved Instagram photo and a call to a contractor, a decision that involves significant time, money, and disruption to your daily life gets underway.

Your kitchen doesn’t usually announce its problems all at once. It’s more gradual than that — a drawer that sticks, a morning rush that feels more chaotic than it should, a layout that has never quite worked for the way your family lives. And then one day, standing there with a pot on the stove and nowhere to set down the groceries, you think: something has to change.