How important is your home to your quality of life? We all want to live in a lovely house of course, but this goes beyond our essential need for just a warm, dry, and secure space in which to live.

Psychologically speaking, your surroundings are hugely important to your emotional wellbeing and mental health. The results of a survey carried out by kitchen accessory and tool manufacturer Häfele revealed that 86% of people say their environment has an impact on their emotional wellbeing and mental health. We all have an emotional connection with our living space, so ideally, we want something that makes us feel good in addition to it being a comfortable space.

Scientists have been studying the relationship between environment and quality of life for a long time. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, if you are not happy with your environmental conditions, you are more likely to become stressed and sleep badly.

What people think of their kitchens

The same report also found that 65% of those surveyed thought that having a well-designed living space would improve their quality of life. 20% of respondents said they didn’t like their current kitchen, and 31% said their kitchen needed an upgrade. However, they were also worried about getting the design wrong, which is understandable given the disruption and expense of a new kitchen – you really do want to get it right the first time.

Kitchen design flaws that will adversely affect your enjoyment of cooking

If your kitchen isn’t well designed, then cooking will become a chore. If the lighting isn’t right, it could cause eye strain and headaches.

The amount of natural light in your kitchen could also transform your enjoyment of cooking. If the room only has a small window and a low ceiling, it could feel unwelcoming. Yet natural light is extremely important to your quality of life – it helps you see better, will help you be more productive, improves your mood and helps you sleep better. All of which are beneficial to your quality of life.

Clutter is bad

If you have too many kitchen appliances and accessories, but not enough cabinets to put them in, your dream kitchen will have turned into a nightmare. When your kitchen is cluttered or disorganised, it will take you more time to find what you need which can be frustrating, increasing your stress levels and making it more difficult to focus on what you’re doing. Having too little storage or not having enough worktops can make you feel closed in.

Colour is important, but subjective

Even the colours in your kitchen will affect your mood. Colour psychology has shown different moods that are associated with different colours – for example, yellow is a fun, creative and energetic colour; red is passionate and angry; and green is about nourishment and growth. However, the effects of colours are cultural and personal, so whatever the psychologists say, if you really don’t like the colour scheme of your kitchen, it will affect your mood when you’re in it.

Not enjoying your kitchen is bad for your diet

The consequence of getting less enjoyment out of your kitchen means you’ll be less motivated to cook, which in turn means you’ll be more likely to give up trying to eat healthily and eat more highly processed ready meals, many of which are high in fats and salt. Too many ready meals or takeaways will have an adverse effect on your health – you’ll feel sluggish, lack motivation and are more likely to have trouble sleeping.

Kitchen design done right

If you don’t enjoy being in your kitchen, or there are design flaws that affect the amount of time you spend in cooking, the answer is a better designed kitchen. Our experienced kitchen designers are brimming with ideas and will design a modern kitchen that’s stylish and has all the important elements you need to ensure it is specifically for your taste and your needs, including the colour scheme. They will create an environment that will be great to work in and beautiful to look at, making it more likely that you have a better quality of life.

Book an appointment to visit our Cheshunt showroom for inspiration and to speak to one of our professional kitchen designers.

How your kitchen affects your quality of life