A kitchen is the heart of the home and it is important to feel comfortable in your kitchen in order to be inspired to cook nourishing meals for the family. For healthy living practices, start to pay attention to a healthy and environmentally friendly kitchen. The kitchen is that part of the home where lighting plays a key role. It influences the energy of the entire home. Smart lighting and good quality air are therefore one of the basics for a healthy kitchen environment. Ensuring natural lighting and ventilation in the kitchen will not only bring in sunlight and fresh air, but good energy too.

The kitchen should have several levels of proper lighting, should be airy and spacious, clean, bright and welcoming. Keep the kitchen simple and do not overload it with gadgets. Keep the clutter away from the kitchen. Fresh flowers can uplift the energy of the entire kitchen.

Place a bowl with fruits, a vase of flowers or a plant on your kitchen table. Choose colours that blend well and feel good together. The colour yellow is considered a good choice for the kitchen. The colour is said to be symbolic of good digestion. You can choose this colour in its various shades, a light one such as butter yellow or a vibrant and strong one such as squash yellow. The kitchen is a symbol of  wealth and prosperity. If your kitchen is very small, ensure every little item is in its place. One element which usually works for a small kitchen is, strangely enough, to have some open display shelving. This trick opens up a small, confined space and creates a better flow. You can also consider repainting your wooden cupboards in a lighter colour such as white or pale butter yellow.

With a small kitchen, smart lighting becomes crucial, so be sure not to limit yourself to
one boring, energy-draining typical ceiling fixture. Experiment with different levels of lighting and sense the change in energy each one of them brings. Find a place for a mirror in your kitchen so that it brings more light and visually expands the space. Again in this small kitchen too, be sure to have some fresh energy like a small container garden with aromatic herbs or just some fresh fruits on display.

Our ancestors considered the kitchen to be the heart of the home and the keeper of the soul of the space. In many areas, images of spirit gods are placed in the kitchen and asked to look over the well-being of the family. In today’s lives, this concept of soulful kitchens are nowhere to be seen.

A lot of thought is given to ‘must-have’ latest gadgets, and a seamless look – a kitchen resembling one from décor magazines. We have lost the feeling of the soul of the home and magic that is created in the kitchen. Experiment with easy ways to shift the energy in your kitchen, be it better lighting, warmer colours or kitchen art. Explore the use of colours, shapes, scents, etc and play with them in a creative way. The kitchen is not a place to accumulate clutter. A cluttered or dirty kitchen will have a stagnant and negative energy which will interfere in your healthy well being.  

Keep a clean kitchen

Empty garbage regularly, keep the waste baskets clean and out of sight. Also keep the brooms out of sight as well.

Clean your food cupboards and refrigerator regularly, throwing away old, stale food. Give away gadgets and cookware which are not used. Unused and wrong purchases not only attract stagnant energy, but also takes up unnecessary space.

Keep your kitchen shiny, clean and smelling fresh. Because the kitchen has an important role in a home, make sure you don’t have an unhealthy kitchen which facilitates the growth of bacteria and viruses.

For that make sure you get enough sunlight in the kitchen. Natural lighting is very important for the kitchen; besides providing enough light, it also ensures there are no cockroaches or rats. The kitchen should have artificial lighting bright enough to replace natural light.

Make sure the kitchen area has ventilation. Smoke and steam from the cooking process must be steamed out and replaced with fresh air. Rotating air is intended to avoid unpleasant smells and the incidence of poisoning gases out of the smoke or gas stoves. The use of an exhaust fan can solve this problem.

If you are planning to remodel or choose to make changes in your kitchen, keep in mind green decorating suggestions. Kitchen paint, flooring and cabinets are all available as green products that are kind to your home and the environment.

Consider bamboo, reclaimed or sustainably harvested wood and wheat board for cabinet doors and draws. For counter tops, consider salvaged stone slabs or tiles.

The kitchen offers us as many opportunities to create a green healthy world for our future generations. Make the switch to green foods, beverages, appliances, cleanses and décor one step at a time, in this hub of the home. Realise that creating a designer kitchen is not enough for your home. Creating a healthy, clean and green soulful environment in the kitchen is most important for the positive growth of your family.

(The author is an interior       designer.)