Countless kitchens across the UK (and beyond) have some form of plant life somewhere in the room. They might be modest little saplings, or beautiful natural centrepieces to kitchen islands or counters. Some of the biggest plants may even serve as eye-catching kitchen focal points in their own right.
Our own passionate kitchen designers have no shortage of experience in finding creative ways to incorporate plant life into our customer kitchens. Now with Spring well on the way and a little more colour coming back into the world, we thought we’d take a quick look at some of the biggest reasons why you might want to include them in yours!
Plants in our homes have uniquely soothing qualities, and have been proven to boost mood and reduce stress and mental fatigue. That makes them especially valuable in the current age of on-off lockdown restrictions, where any kind of stress relief is especially welcome! Not only do plants in our kitchens make us happier, but they can also boost our productivity, concentration, and creativity – all of which can help us make even more stunningly delicious meals!
When you read the words plant life, chances are that the first colour that pops into your head is green – but plants come in all sizes, shapes and colours, and those can all be used to enhance the specific sort of atmosphere you want for your kitchen. If you want bright and breezy space, the lighter green shades can work particularly well, whereas if you want something darker and a bit more luxurious, you might prefer a beautiful succulent.
Alternatively, you can use a delicate vase filled with brighter and more vibrant flowers, which are great for accenting neutral surroundings with an eye-catching pop of colour. Just like the tulips you can see in this high quality German kitchen for a former family home!
This one obviously comes down to exactly what kind of plants you choose for your kitchen. If you like the idea of a small windowsill garden, you can practice your light-fingered touch by growing herbs to use as cooking ingredients, such as basil, oregano, rosemary, bay, and mint. Rosemary can be used to spice up potatoes and roast veg, while oregano has long been a staple of Italian cuisine. The light taste of herbs like mint, on the other hand, means that it can be put to good use rounding off salads and desserts. And this leads directly into another key benefit of keeping plants in your kitchen…
Many people find that there’s a simple but certain joy to be had in cultivating their plants, especially if they’re using them for cooking purposes. Now we won’t go too much into the psychology of it, but essentially they give us a fun project to focus our attention upon. In general, if we’re required to focus our attention past a certain point, the stakes become higher and this can ultimately lead to more stress. However, this isn’t an issue for most plants as they have such minimal demands for their care. What’s more, the consequences for failure are low – worst case scenario, you buy a new plant – whereas the reward of successfully nurturing them to adulthood can give us wonderful feelings of achievement and satisfaction.
On top of that, many people find other elements of caring for their plants to be equally engaging too – such as finding out more about the conditions in which they thrive, and how to get the very most out of them. As we touched on above, after a year of on-off restrictions, millions of us could do with a low-stakes feel-good project these days!
You can see a great example of how plant life has been used to magnificent decorative effect in one of our recent case studies – a space that came to be when a dog walk led to a dream kitchen! Or if you need any more inspiration, you can browse the rest of our case studies at your leisure.
Due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, at the time of writing (February 2021) we’ve had to temporarily closer our designer kitchen showrooms in Failsworth in Manchester, Urmston in Manchester, Blackburn, Barrowford, and Woolton in Liverpool. However, we’re ready to open our doors again as soon as it’s safe for our customers – until then, why not book a free Designed From Home service?
