How to keep your kitchen warm without heating ? Usually, a space that heats itself pretty well, your kitchen can be a tricky space to keep warm all of the time.
Cooking an evening meal will provide some residual heat, but what else can you do in your kitchen to make the space feel warm and inviting without switching on your central heating?
Paint the space
Some colours can make us feel warmer than others.
Ripping out your entire kitchen is going to be time-consuming and expensive, so consider changing the doors or painting them in a warming colour.
Consider painting a feature wall in a warm autumnal orange or red – as it is these shades on the colour spectrum that we associate with warmth and comfort.
Leave your oven door open after you cook
If you’re cooking your evening meal in the oven, don’t just close the door back over when you’ve dished out the food.
Keeping your oven door open is a simple way to keep the space a little bit warmer without the need for using your heating.
The residual heat from your oven will infiltrate the room and raise the temperature to a more comfortable level.
This won’t cost you any more than it would if you were just cooking the meal, and you’ll benefit from a warmer space thanks to the heat from the oven.
This is especially good if you have a kitchen adjoining your living room; as you’ll not only enjoy a scrumptious evening meal, but for a few hours at least you’ll also enjoy warmth without the need for additional heating.
Limit cooking meals that produce a lot of steam
Condensation build up will make your home colder.
You can reduce the amount of condensation created when you are cooking by leaving lids on pans to limit the amount of steam released into the air in your kitchen.
Be sure to ventilate the space when you are cooking to minimise the impact condensation has on cooling the temperature of the space.
Switch to warm white bulbs
A quick and relatively inexpensive way to make your kitchen feel warmer without switching on your central heating is to change your lighting features.
This can involve switching from cool white to warm white bulbs or installing under-counter and plinth lighting.
Bulb colours are typically denoted by a Kelvin rating, alongside a descriptive name, like “daylight” or “soft white”.
Bulbs with a lower Kelvin rating are much warmer and cosier than higher rated lights – and you’ll usually find that they work best in a living room, hallway or bedroom.
However, you can select warm white lighting in your kitchen, particularly if doing so makes the space feel warmer.
Install under-counter and under-cupboard lighting
Undercounter lighting will not only improve the aesthetic of your kitchen space, but it’ll also create a more homely feel in the space.
Studies suggest that a more homely look and feel can make a space feel warmer.
Lighting under counters or under cupboards can create a beautiful glow that helps to add a depth to the space – and that makes it look more inviting.
It’s this that makes people feel at home.
And when people feel at home, they are more comfortable, and the more comfortable a person is the warmer they will feel!
