“Our home dates back to the early 1850s. It survived the Halifax Explosion of 1917 and housed many families and tenants after the Second World War — I didn’t want to be the one to ruin it. But when I moved in with my husband, James, and our three sons — Luke, now 15, Charlie, 13, and Rex, 9 — in 2015, the kitchen was in a tiny room tacked on to the back of the house. There was no dishwasher. James kept walking through our big, beautiful dining room that was often empty, wondering out loud why we didn’t just move the kitchen into this room?
It was my sister Lee Cameron Surrette, who studied architecture, who convinced me to make the change. The flavor of my home is different with this new kitchen. It’s full of history and energy, and I can’t tell you how much I love having a dishwasher.”