A Clean Slate

Three years ago, when she bought the place, Melissa Jun knew she’d have to do something about the galley kitchen of her one-bedroom apartment in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of New York. "I like to cook, and it was just such a pain," she says. A look at some old pictures explains why: A small child could reach from end to end without moving a step, the cabinets were a dreary off-white, the appliances didn’t fit properly, and there was practically no counter space. Cheap peach-colored tiles were tarred down onto the floor. "It was pretty shocking."