Interior designers are looking towards the environment for inspiration within our own homes. Previously, bringing nature into the room would be as simple as adding flowers or wallpapering with sunflowers. Yet, technological advances and an understanding of how the environment affects our mood have created a new interior style: Biophilic Kitchen Design.
Designers using this approach create rooms knowing how the human body responds to the world’s rhythm and nature. This style creates calmer interiors and helps with creativity, and companies like Google and Apple use it for their workspaces. Potential other benefits also include feeling more alert and productive.
How To Incorporate a Biophilic Kitchen Design
So, what are some tips for incorporating a biophilic kitchen? Here are some suggestions for adding this new trend, which has positive benefits for your home.
Circadian Lighting
What if your house structure doesn’t have large or even no windows to add natural light to your kitchen?
Biophilic design includes the concept of circadian lighting, which references our body’s waking and sleeping patterns and energy throughout the day. Light cues affect circadian rhythms, sending signals to the brain to be more awake or to become tired.
Circadian lighting changes intensity and color, matching the outside daylight by mimicking it in the interior. As we notice in nature, the sun is too bright at noon, but we can see sunsets with an orange glow. These distinctive lights can create this feeling in your biophilic kitchen, impacting your overall health.
Natural Surfaces for Cabinets
The choice of materials for major structures will largely contribute to the overall feel of your kitchen. Natural materials and textures are becoming more popular this year for cabinets and countertops.
Many variations of wood in cabinets, from dark brown walnut to creamy maple, are neutrals that fit into any home. More than colors, wood grain brings the texture of trees into the kitchen and becomes a subtle, minimal design.
Stone countertops, such as granite and marble, are becoming favored, not just for their feel but also for their veining.
Since granite and marble are more expensive, alternatives made from acrylic can reproduce the look but are more scratch-resistant. However, quartz can give you the feel without as much veining, and it is more durable and affordable.
Textured Backsplash Inspired by The Living World
Backsplashes are an area that interior designers feel can be a creative space that personalizes the interior. Even if the room is full of solid slab colors, backsplashes break up the monotony of a sterile room.
While wallpapers can serve the same effect, backsplashes are the center of a room. You can add a point of interest without committing the entire place to that pattern.
For the biophilic look, there are many ways to add nature to the room. You can add stone tiles or wood details and insert images of plants, flowers, or animals. The details do not have to be literal portraits to convey nature.
For example, the representation of flowing water or the fractal veining of leaves can work well as a backsplash texture.
Vertical Garden
One of the biggest trends projected in homes is the vertical garden, which creates wall décor with plant life. Most interior designer sites embrace this aesthetic, but these plants are plastic for practical reasons.
If you have real plants, you’re dealing with dirt, watering, and positioning them for sunlight, which is messy to maintain. The suggestion of real or artificial plants brings an intimate level of the outside to your interiors.
The vertical garden is a unique opportunity for the kitchen to grow a practical herb garden. You can add a real vertical herb garden the size of a bulletin board or real texture and visual interest.
This is especially great for cooks who can use the freshest verbs in their cooking. It is crucial you find a solution for the drainage of this herb box so that you can maintain it.
Large Windows and Natural Lighting
The presence of windows brings in more natural light, which is often preferred in any kitchen interior. Natural sunlight brightens the room and likewise brightens your mood.
While sunlight isn’t the only lighting consideration for the kitchen, you need evening illumination. Night lighting in the kitchen should not be as strong as daylight, but it should be bright enough to prepare food.
While we want maximum sunlight, it doesn’t mean avoiding drapery or curtains. Fibers like linen can either be sheer to add light or more substantial to control light in the space.
Horizontal or vertical blinds are available in wood textures. Even Roman blinds add more natural cover to the area.
Flooring
The ground is a strong foundation for anything in nature and is particularly true in the biophilic kitchen. Many options of wood flooring are available on the market, from hardwood planks to vinyl tiles with wood grain.
While marble and granite tiles are natural, if they are glossy, they feel less natural because they are too polished. Matte tiles are preferred since most stone found outside is not reflective.
Yet, an unexpected floor material that is biophilic is concrete. Concrete comprises rock and sand, so you feel a firm connection to the Earth beneath your feet.
