The Kitchen Has Center Stage
Turn Your Kitchen into a Room Your Family Loves

The kitchen has an irresistible pull for guests and family alike. It endlessly seems to be the hub of activity that vibrates in your home and your life. People are naturally drawn there. It nurtures others, and, stimulates you, the cook! Your creativity is sparked by how you decorate, organize, and embellish this room!

"Cooking is like love, it should be entered in with abandon or not at all." -Piet van Home

Utilizing Feng Shui, you can create a happy, active environment where you prepare appealing, nourishing meals! Keeping the ch'i, the natural vital life force, flowing in a kitchen, is a very good idea! With all that accumulates here each day from dishes to toys, from mail to school items, from shoes to gadgets, instead of being a creative hub, your kitchen can become a den of clutter!

A great place to start: Create order and systems that work for you as you unpack!

When you unpack your pots, pans, dishes, utensils, spices, and locate your junk drawer, be aware of the impact of your arrangement. Practically speaking, you want ease while cooking alone or with others. Literally, having an organized kitchen helps to inspire people to not only cook fabulous meals, but it also encourages them to restore it to cleanliness and order in preparation for the next meal. Terah Kathryn Collins, author of Feng Shui for Prosperity, says, "Use it every day, or put it away." This targets small appliances and tools that you like to keep out on your countertops.

In Feng Shui, food is associated with Wealth and Health.

When you feel prosperous, you buy foods that are healthy and nourishing. Without quality food, our health can suffer. Good health nurtures people to be productive and to produce more wealth. Key to keeping the kitchen healthy and vital for food preparation is to keep it safe and to keep everything in it working. Keep your new stove clean and use all the burners. This symbolizes the abundant circulation of wealth in your life! Speaking of stoves, give the cook a commanding view! If the cook is at the stove and cannot easily see who is entering the kitchen, place a mirror or a shiny, reflective surface behind the stove!

Difficulties on the Home Front Design your kitchen so that it has a relaxing, appealing atmosphere! It's as important as choosing where you live!

Ask yourself what inspires you! What would it be like to think, "I can't wait to be in my kitchen?" The pallet is yours in your new space. Maybe you like a Tuscan style kitchen or or a Cape Cod beachy style. Return to your scrapbook of pictures, memories and ideas and select a theme that you love! Your paint selections, window treatments, and accents will naturally come together as you choose what you love!

Aliveness, balance and harmony! Your décor influences how you feel!

If you want your kitchen to start your engines in the morning, inspire you to cook, encourage you to eat, and increase your motivation, then you will select décor that is more yang. This force referred to in Feng Shui speeds up the ch'i, expresses outward, and warms things up. Any décor that brings in more color, more light, more movement, large patterns, or other forms of stimuli, increases yang energy.

If you want your kitchen to embrace you with a restful, relaxing, and peaceful atmosphere, you will include Feng Shui's opposite force, yin. Yin design slows down the movement of ch'i, has you be more introspective, and can cool you down.

In nature yin and yang represent two ends of the spectrum of how energy (ch'i) moves. Weak ch'i can affect your well being; gathering and strengthening your ch'i can improve your life. Now, how do you create the perfect balance in your kitchen décor?

If your kitchen is mostly white or off white, is large with high ceilings and wide open spaces, and has a lot of light, it has yang energy. To help to balance and ground you try these ideas: Install a dimmer switch on your lights. Select a dark area rug for your floor. Fill open spaces with plants, fresh flowers, and colorful plates of fruits and vegetables. Add a pull shade, soft curtains or drapes. Use art that depicts nature.

Alternatively, if your kitchen is smaller, with a lower ceiling, has dark cabinets, counters and floors, and not as much light, it probably has yin energy. To enhance your vital energy try these ideas: Add more lighting. Use white or bright colors on your walls or cabinets. Use high gloss paint for your trim. Have art that Is colorful and full of activity. Use a brightly colored teapot and hand towels with no patterns. Keep things on your counters to a minimum. Keep your floors bare. Use blinds rather than drapes.

By balancing the various aspects of what already exists in your kitchen with your favorite style of décor, utilizing an awareness of yin and yang energy, you can create a kitchen that activates the immune system and raises the ch'i level of the entire house!

Indulge your passion for entertaining! Create a study of your good taste!

As you select the perfect, comfortable seating for your favorite guests, be assured that you are in the process of creating the perfect environment for intimate dinner parties, family reunions, and gala soirees!

More Key Feng Shui Pointers:

• Windows in kitchens: Make sure that the cook and the dish washer have a stunning view to look at while doing their work.

• Lighting in kitchens. Often kitchens have fluorescent lights. These can minimally be disturbing due to the noise and flickering. At worst they can impact peoples' health. If you can't change out the light fixture, change the tubes to full spectrum tubes. They are inexpensive at local hardware stores.

• EMFs in the kitchen. Radiation is present in our kichens; microwaves, refrigerators, cell phones, TV's, and radios. These can contribute to our imbalance, irritability, and fatigue. Use wood as an insulator. Keep wooden spoons and chopping blocks out and reduce the use of metal which increases radiation.