Kitchen & Bath Design to Promote Healthy Living

21 Aug Kitchen & Bath Design to Promote Healthy Living

This past week, I had the opportunity to participate in an NKBA panel event where experts discussed Tapping into Wellness to drive growth. Speakers Laurence Carr and Shannon Ggem explained how the kitchen and bath industry could promote a healthy lifestyle.

Laurence Carr, based out of New York, specializes in creating “contemporary, luxury residential and hospitality spaces that promote wellbeing, create harmony, and improve the flow of energy.” Her mindful designs are breathtaking, and I found her commentary on must-haves for a healthy home insightful. She noted that Kitchen Design should be implemented through five fundamental pillars; Minminalsm, Air & Water Quality, Sustainability & Environmental Health, Nature, and Color. In addressing all five areas, a designer can directly impact a client’s wellbeing in their home.

Laurence continued in covering how light plays a role in creating a healthy home. She uses the 14 patterns of biophilic design to back her explanation of how light impacts our lives. Because light has a direct impact on performance and wellbeing, Laurence explained the importance of maximizing daylight in the home.

Shannon Ggem, an award-winning designer, based out of Los Angels, specializes in historic restoration and takes pride in “enhancing people’s lives by enhancing where they live.” Shannon gave great insight on how to reduce stress in the home. She explained the solution to addressing and minimizing stress is to maximize control. Whether you control the amount of light or temperature in a space, the client feels in power, and in turn, stress is reduced.

Shannon continued to note that audio plays a significant role in design. Recently, she took place in a feasibility study where she learned about irritants cause by auditory disturbances. Although we love our open floor plans, she noted that with the beauty of the design comes an increased echo. Shannon suggests opting for soft, porous materials to absorb sounds waves to achieve an ideal open floor plan.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the National Kitchen and Bath Association and learn from some of the best in our industry. I am looking forward to implementing some of their suggestions into my new designs!