Can your kitchen make you unhealthy? “How?” you may ask. Most people spend a significant amount of time in their kitchen preparing and cooking meals while others take time to catch up with the rest of the family in there. If for one reason or another, the quality of air inside your kitchen is not good, it can pose problems for the people breathing that air. Problems can range from small allergic reactions to serious respiratory complications.
The cooking process involves production of harmful by-products such as heat, grease and smoke, which are likely to build up in improperly ventilated kitchens. Odours resulting from piled up dirty dishes can soak into your clothing, fabrics and carpets creating poor air quality.
Eventually, if these by-products have no way out of your kitchen, they will settle on your cabinets and countertops. Not only will they destroy the nice finishes on the surfaces where they settle, they also become the genesis of health problems such as asthma and allergies.
How can you avoid poor air quality in your kitchen?
You can avoid poor air quality in your kitchen by asking your interior to set up a kitchen design that will effectively works for you and have proper ventilation. A well designed kitchen should focus on being both beautiful and functional. Here are some tips you can use to come up with an elegant and practical kitchen design:
- Ensure the area with the greatest activity, the sink and your oven are easily accessible and are spacious enough for easy food preparation.
- Include enough storage space for all your kitchen stuff.
- Provide enough lighting in the kitchen more so because a lot of sharp kitchenware is used.
- Include a backlash in your plan so that cleaning off that grease out of your kitchen will be easy and quick.
- Have bins to efficiently deal with your kitchen trash.
- Engage an interior designer when designing your kitchen as they have the expertise to plan for safety, quality and the latest trends, which you may not be familiar with.
But what is a well designed kitchen without proper ventilation? Good ventilation is vital to having clean air in your kitchen, and without proper ventilation in your kitchen, a whole lot of problems including damage to your health are going to be abound.
What are the benefits of adequately ventilating your kitchen?
When your kitchen has good ventilation, below are the benefits that you will most certainly enjoy:
- Cooking by-products such as grease and odors have minimal chance of accumulating on your curtains.
- All cooking heat will get out of your kitchen immediately it forms.
- The finishes on your cabinets will remain preserved, as there are no acidic contaminants condensing on them.
- No moist air will remain in your kitchen and so there is little chance of your wallpaper getting discoloration.
- Proper ventilation discourages growth of molds and bacteria on your cooking areas and countertops.
- Also with proper ventilation, there is little circulation of spores and pollen from your kitchen/household plants which is associated with allergies.
Author Bio:
Louisa Johnson consults for Retreat Design as a kitchen and bathroom designer. Retreat Design is a boutique kitchen and bathroom company in Subiaco, WA. Louisa has a passion for kitchen renovating, home improvement strategies, interior decorating, and enjoys blogging on these topics. If you have any questions for Louisa, contact her at louisa@retreatdesign.com.au
