Here's a very simple principle to bring into your kitchen: corners can hurt.
Ouch!
The solution is simple: something called Soft Geometry, instead of hard.
Grey's experience with the Alexander Technique led him to study how body movement is affected by peripheral vision, which, surprisingly, turns out to be another source of muscle tension. When your eyes sense sharp corners on the edge of your path, they activate a stress response to ensure that you avoid hitting anything. This makes you more tense.
To counteract this and make the time spent in the kitchen more relaxing, Grey developed what he calls "soft geometry." His counters have round edges; his islands and the cabinetry below them are circular or elliptically shaped, while the counters and cabinetry opposite them are often concave. He also likes free-standing, floor-to-ceiling cylinder-shaped cabinets for storing large pots and pans. All these unusual shapes make the space feel more playful, which is also relaxing.
The unusual shapes would seem to require a bigger area for a kitchen, but Grey said the opposite is true. With a concave-shaped kitchen, you can get more cabinets and appliances into a smaller space, while freeing up more floor area so that two or more people can work at the same time.
Inspired by the relationship between peripheral vision and body movement, he argues that "people flow like water around obstacles in a space." So "by rounding the edges of the furniture, you make the kitchen friendlier to use." It's a happy space.
I want to make environments that make you feel good, that foster well-being [says Grey]. I started working with neuroscientists eight years ago – in particular John Zeisel – which validated a lot of the things I’d been doing with emotionally intelligent design. I also wanted to apply the science of happiness to kitchens , which was inspired by Sir Richard Layard’s book, 'Happiness: Lessons from a New Science.' He noted people were happiest between 5-9pm when they are either in the pub or their kitchen. So the question for the kitchen designer is, how do we enhance that?We need to have a central island where the hob is placed so the cook can face the room with a raised height bar for food serving and for leaning against. Visitors can then sit or perch and chat with the cook who can keep eye contact with the entire room. You need also different level work surfaces for small children and secondary work stations and plenty of table space so that lots of different activities can take place simultaneously.
And it starts with those curves. It could be something as simple as rounding the corners on a straight island bench, to remove the feeling of hazard. Or it could be a whole island is made elliptical.
His suggestion to make that eye contact easier is a central island in the kitchen, but one with curved corners, rather than angles and sharp edges.
"Anything that is in your peripheral vision demands more brain action. And something that is sharp can cause anxiety, however subliminal, because we are aware it's something we should avoid bumping into, as it could hurt.
"There's a practical benefit, too, because by using rounded corners for furniture you can take less space for walk-through areas.
Movements will be more relaxed, as subconsciously you won't feel the need to allow more room as you pass fittings."
While acres of counter space may look impressive, it's not what we need emotionally, says Grey, who believes we are more relaxed when we have less choice and more compact spaces to work within.
When working in a kitchen our eyes and focus are on the work, and on the people around us. Rounding off our corners removes the feeling of hazard in our periphery— and so keeps our eyes where they should be: on our food, and on our friends and family.
It's all about maintaining focus on what's important. "Eye contact as key to design was another neuroscience-inspired idea, alongside the identification of each kitchen's 'sweet spot' as the location for a key piece of furniture such as the central island."
This design technique "eliminates sharp corners and makes for a more relaxed way of negotiating an island in the middle of a room." The soft geometry "encourages everyone to linger in this space. People lean against these curves."
Grey's bespoke curved benchtops often call for curved cabinets. It's here where much of the expense lies. But you can bring in curves easily enough with a curved benchtop and "conventional" 600mm rectangular cabinetry (cabinets drawn below with dashed lines). ...
...or a straight benchtop and small island/peninsular. ...
... or something more ...
