Today I will be discussing easy tips you can use to create a wonderfully vibrant kitchen space. This important room contains the fire and water elements which represent nourishment and prosperity and wealth. Use these tips to create a kitchen that enhances the water element to bring good health to your family and brightens the fire element to bring wealth into the household.

• Yellows are good colors in the kitchen because they promote digestion. Red, brown and white are also good choices because they enhance the fire element. Try to avoid blue or black, as these colors are associated with water and tend to put down the fire element representing wealth and prosperity.

• Try to avoid placing the kitchen where you can see it when you enter the front door and try to locate the kitchen toward the back of the home. A kitchen at your entryway can mean that guests will come over to eat and then leave. This placement can also encourage inhabitants to eat all the time. Because you can’t always choose the location of your kitchen, you can remedy this location by placing a beaded curtain or a door between the front door and the kitchen door. Or, place a piece of eye-catching décor near the kitchen entrance to divert attention away from the busy on-goings of the kitchen.

• Try to keep the fire element appliances (such as the stove and the microwave) away from the water element appliances (such as the sink, dishwasher and the refrigerator). The typical western interior design triangle fits with this Feng Shui theory. To keep water and fire elements from interfering with each other, appliances should be separated by something made of wood or something representative of wood, like a plant or a picture of a plant.

• Fix leaky faucets. This means that your wealth is draining away.

• The stove, a fire element, represents wealth and prosperity. To best enhance this area of your life, make sure all burners function well and use all burners on the stove equally, as this represents getting money from multiple sources.

• Try to place your stove in a location where you can easily see the entrance to your kitchen. This puts the chef at the “command” station and a happy chef will make more nourishing health meals. If this placement is not possible place a small mirror behind the stove so you can see who is entering your space.

• Try not to place a window above a stove, because the heat represents prosperity and you don’t want your wealth to fly out the window.

• Declutter your kitchen. You wouldn’t put extra items that aren’t purposeful in the soup you eat. Don’t have them in the space where you prepare your soup either. De-cluttering the spaces you see as well as the hidden ones will help promote the flow of good chi energy.

Good lighting and good ventilation in your kitchen are keys to good health.

For more information about design and Feng Shui, visit www.marieburgosdesign.com or email Marie Burgos at: marie@marieburgosdesign.com