The Psychology Behind Kitchen and Bath Design

For the past century, kitchen and bath design has been based on the thinking of home economists and industrial engineers who came to the forefront in the 1900s. The disciplines cross-pollinated, resulting in concepts such as the work triangle.

Although updated for new lifestyles, “by-the-number” paradigms still govern much of kitchen and bath design. We teach, test, evaluate plans and even judge design contests on the size of the work triangle, feet of storage and inches of landing space. These precepts have made for safer, more user-friendly kitchens and baths. But now it’s time to take them to the next level.

New research in the fields of environmental psychology or ecological psychology is pointing the way and is the fascinating subject of a book by Winifred Gallagher called House Thinking. Her premise is, “Our houses require psychological as well as physical customization.”

Psychologists are coming to understand the interdependence between a person and his or her environment, behavior and even physiology. For instance, the neurochemistry of monkeys changes when they come home to their nests. Levels of cortisol and other measures of stress decrease.

One dramatic finding: for drug users, being in a place where they have used in the past can trigger physiological changes that create craving.

“From this environmental-behavioral perspective, the first step toward a home that’s just right for you isn’t leafing through magazines or collecting paint chips, but listing the things that you’ve loved and hated in past and present homes, and the activities that are, and aren’t, important in your daily life,” Gallagher counsels readers. Gallagher acknowledges that neither consumers nor design professionals are accustomed to paying attention to places’ effects on behavior.

“…it’s an interesting exercise to walk through your home while asking yourself a question: Does this room or closet or patio help me to be the right self at the right time?” she challenges readers.

Have you ever walked through the house with your client and asked how they feel in their current kitchen or bath? How do they want to feel?

If you inadvertently design a kitchen reminiscent of a place where the client watched her parents bitterly fight, your design will get a cold shoulder – and neither you, nor perhaps even the client, will understand why. But ask clients to describe kitchens they’ve loved, and you’ll be well on your way to intuiting what they might like.

Gallagher offers insights into how you might psychologically customize a kitchen or bath for a client.

Providing Balance
“The most important evolutionary elements of a…home are the paired features of…‘prospect,’ or a big, bright space that has a broad, interesting view, and ‘refuge,’ or a snug, protected haven,” she notes. Frank Lloyd Wright called these “nesting and perching” places.

Having the option of either, while enjoying the contrast between them, is the kind of simple yet important design feature that makes a house feel like a home, Gallagher writes.

There is, however, no formula for the right proportion of the two. Different personalities, and the two sexes, prefer different ratios of prospect and refuge. Female architectural students design more refuge into their projects, and men, more prospect.

Gallagher warns that many great rooms are almost all prospect. “That they frequently include a lavish kitchen, which is now often the cozy core of family life, may help make the macho space more appealing to women,” she adds.

Can you create a small reading nook, banquette or desk area for refuge in a big kitchen? Changing ceiling heights or lighting levels alters the balance, too.

While it must first and foremost be a safe haven, a home needs just the right degree of enticement, also, Gallagher reports. Enticement, she explains, occurs when walking down a long, dimly lit hallway toward a glowing room - moving from darkness into light. A brightly lit hall leading toward a dark space, on the other hand, can produce anxiety rather than anticipation.