When choosing new contemporary kitchens in London, there’s many practical things you may consider based on the room and its size. For example, in a smaller room, you may realise the need for more light, or in a cramped kitchen, you might lean more towards in-built storage, to make life easier. However, you may subconsciously choose more than you think. Interior design and psychology interlink heavily, and your preferences may be shaped before you even begin looking at fixtures and fittings – without you knowing it! Additionally, the choices you make can affect you psychologically after everything’s been implemented – so you want to make sure you’re making the best choices, not just for your space and lifestyle, but also for your mental wellbeing. Read on for more about colour psychology in interior design, and how it can affect you.
To an extent, you probably already know how colour can affect mood, and you’re probably aware that different colours can ‘open up’ or close off spaces. However, you might not know how to utilise this information to inform your interior design decisions.
When choosing a new kitchen, consider using colour psychology in interior design to decide on your colour scheme. The colour wheel helps you find ‘complementary’ colours, or, colours that have undertones that ‘work’ together cohesively. Choose three colours that you like that ‘work’ on the colour wheel. Once you’ve found these three colours, you should choose the most neutral one for your walls, then the second most neutral for woodwork and furniture, and a third ‘accent’ colour, for pops of colour in your décor. For kitchens in particular, there are a set of colours that work really well for the walls. A classic white gives a fresh and clean feeling but should be combined with other colours to avoid feeling sterile. Grey colours give your kitchen a modern look (but be sure to look at the undertones – many greys can appear more ‘purple’ on the wall), and greens can give a feeling of tranquillity, while reflecting the leafy foods you may be preparing there.
According to colour psychology in interior design, for smaller kitchens you should avoid darker colours. And in general, keep darker colours (such as orange, red and black) for ‘snug’ rooms such as living rooms, as in a kitchen setting, they can have a stressful effect on your mood.
As architecture and design is so individual, to try to determine the ‘best suited’ type of space, a study asked zoologists how they would go about creating an ideal habitat for apes (the animal humans share most of their DNA with). Their response was not to implement a special colour scheme or an architectural change, but simply to create something to reduce stressors and encourage a natural environment. Of course, humans need a little more thought put into their dwellings than that – but the point still stands. When reflecting on the link between interior design and psychology, ease of use should always be at the forefront of the mind. Here are a few ways this can be implemented into your new kitchen;
Want more tips for interior design and psychology, suited to your needs? Simply get in touch with Lambert Welch Kitchens, where an expert member of the team would be more than happy to help you out and talk over your new kitchen needs. Feel free to browse our portfolio of beautiful kitchens or give us a call on 020 8444 6777 today!