Is this good
design or bad feng shui?
If we look
at the modern kitchen design in many new houses, there is one common feature
that we can also find many luxurious houses is: to have the kitchen
stove/island located at the middle of the kitchen. So, is this a good design or
bad feng shui?
I believe
the people who design this type of kitchen is firstly not a feng shui follower
because it is really against many feng shui good practice of placing the
kitchen stove. In feng shui, the kitchen stove is considered as one the three
most important features in the house, namely the main entrance, kitchen stove
and the master bedroom. In this particular layout, we can see that the kitchen
stove has no solid support at the back because it is opened at all sides which means it is difficult to retain the chi. This
will generally cause health and money problems. Furthermore, under the concept
of the “small tai chi”, this is referring as the “burning of the heaven heart”
as the kitchen stove is located at the middle of the kitchen. In many cases, it
will also facing the kitchen sink directly across which creates the conflicting
effects of water and fire.
Leaving feng
shui ideas aside, there are some practical issues in this type of design. For instance, it
is very difficult to discharge the heat, steam, grease and smell from the
cooking which is not a desirable environment inside the house. Personally, I believe this is typical an “only
look good in picture” gimmick in the sale brochure but impractical in everyday
cooking activities. Just imagine all the cooking utensils, bottles of cooking
oil, spices lying around!
