Design Your Kitchen For a Healthier Lifestyle

Kitchen design = healthier lifestyle – sounds like a hard sell, doesn’t it! But this is what was revealed in a recent study by Houzz.

There is much more to a new kitchen than just a new set of cabinets of an appealing style to be placed in the area where food is prepared. Good kitchen design takes into account form and function, ensuring the end product is not just stylishly designed; making it easy on the eye, but ergonomically considered; making it easy on your body. 

When these two boxes are ticked, a kitchen can provide much more than a freshly renovated room. A recent survey by Houzz suggests that a new kitchen can be the catalyst for a healthier lifestyle.

I know what you are thinking…and I was dubious too! Let’s have a closer look at their findings.

Healthier Eating

A whopping 91% of homeowners who had renovated their kitchen in the last 12 months reported cooking meals at home at least five days a week post renovation. 52% reported that they spend more family time in the kitchen. 32% said they ordered less take away food. 28% reported having more sit down meals and 17% said they ate more fruit and vegetables as a result of the renovation.

A Less Troublesome Environment Means More Kitchen Use

Having completed my own kitchen renovation I know first hand that a drab kitchen with low, narrow benchtops is not only uninviting but also ergonomically challenging. A kitchen renovation allows you to change your kitchen to suit your lifestyle…and your stature!

I come from a tall family with a long history of back trouble. When I updated my kitchen, I was able to decide on the height of our benches (to save bending down too far), the height of over bench cabinets (to increase easily accessible storage, because I can reach up high) and the addition of under bench drawers instead of cupboards (to save awkward bending). All of these factors combine to make it a joy to be in the kitchen and back trouble rarely ails me these days!

While the layout or footprint of your kitchen may not change very much, the specifics of what you put within the kitchen changes the way your body needs to work to get it. It can also change how inviting it is for others to join you. 

Increased Communal Space

Australians are more aware than ever that the kitchen is the heart of the home, according to the Houzz survey.  58% of kitchen renovators opted to make it more open to the indoors. As a result of this change 52% said they spend more family time in the kitchen. 43% hosted more dinner parties and 37% find themselves (or their children) working or studying more in the kitchen.

Having an inviting kitchen environment that acts as the heart of the home enables this coming together. It harks back to past times when there was one living area where cooking, unwinding (and in many cases, sleeping) happened in the one area. We long for that communal feel and people are revealing that in their kitchen design choices.

Healthier Lifestyle?

While not a miracle modern family life improver, a new kitchen certainly has an impact on some areas of life and can provide a healthier lifestyle simply because homeowners want to be in the kitchen once it has been renovated. 

Next post, we will look at what the results of the Houzz survey reveal about new kitchen budgets and design choices.