NAR Dashboard

Welcome!

Our Mission.

You care about your home. The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® cares about homeownership. To help you become the best, most responsible homeowner you aspire to be, we want to provide you with free information and tools you can use to make smart and timely decisions about your home.

From time to time, we may reach out to you to help us support legislation and/or policies that may have an impact on you, the homeowner. You can choose to join our cause. Or you can choose not to. Regardless, your privacy is safe with us.

We'll never share or sell your email address or other personal information you may provide us in the course of using the site with anyone without your explicit consent.

Can You Spot the 9 Kitchen Design Details That’ll Make You Fat?

Tagged in:

We spend a lot of time in our kitchens, and we love to make them as warm, inviting, and hard-working as possible. But some of the same features that make our kitchens efficient and comfortable send subliminal messages that say, “Let’s eat more food!” Here are ways to prevent your kitchen renovation or minor makeover from making you fat. Each of our examples features a design culprit or two — can you spot them?

Added to Binder
Prev
13 of 19
Next
7. Now You See It, Now You Eat It

Can you spot the feature that’ll make you fat?

 

Credit: Jean Allsopp

Image: Jean Allsopp
See All Slideshows

  • Can you spot the feature that’ll make you fat?

     

    Credit: Adam Blasberg/Photolibrary/Getty Images

  • It might look harmless enough, but that little TV and convenient stool is a ready-made snacking station. Distractions, such as watching television and web surfing, lead to mindless munching, especially with a whole cornucopia of goodies within arm’s reach.

     

    Credit: Adam Blasberg/Photolibrary/Getty Images

  • Can you spot the feature that’ll make you fat?

     

    Credit: chuckcollier/iStockphoto

  • An island prep station is fine, but when you add convenient seating to your kitchen, you’re adding an invitation to linger over snacks, especially with a fridge looming so tantalizingly close. Take a stand! Lose those stools to help resist temptation.

     

    Credit: chuckcollier/iStockphoto

  • Can you spot the feature that’ll make you fat?

     

    Credit: Zach Zeldner / Leyla Steele

  • Combining major living areas into one super room can make your kitchen the focal point of home life. Better to add a few partition walls that keep your kitchen separate from family rooms that are for relaxing, entertaining, watching TV, and studying.

     

    Credit: Zach Zeldner / Leyla Steele

  • Can you spot the feature that’ll make you fat?

     

    Credit: Torben Petersen, photographer

  • Kitchens that include dining tables and banquettes are asking for it — for more food, that is. Having places to eat right next to your kitchen makes second helpings all too easy. Eating in another room, such as a separate dining room, discourages that tempting extra scoop of mashed potatoes.

     

    Credit: Torben Petersen, photographer

  • Can you spot the feature that’ll make you fat?

     

    Credit: Mercer Interior, Elizabeth Mercer Aurandt, designer

  • The classic kitchen work triangle — the distance between the sink, prep area, and cooking appliances — may not be working to your advantage. The smaller the triangle, the more you’re likely to snack while you prep. Give yourself some space to make sure you’ll still have some appetite for dinner.

     

    Credit: Mercer Interior, Elizabeth Mercer Aurandt, designer

  • Can you spot the feature that’ll make you fat?

     

    Credit: Structural Dimensions, Inc., Eden Prairie, MN

  • We love great storage solutions, except when they’re trying to make us chubby. Walk-in pantries are fabulous for stockpiling food, but place temptation at your fingertips. Lots of temptation. When bargain bulk supplies end up in your pantry, the practical side of you says, “Eat these! You’re saving money!” So, unfortunately, you do.

     

    Credit: Structural Dimensions, Inc., Eden Prairie, MN

  • Can you spot the feature that’ll make you fat?

     

    Credit: Jean Allsopp

  • Glass-front refrigerators are chic, but they won’t make you sleek. Seeing your grub only inches away encourages opening the door and sampling what’s there. The old adage “Out of sight, out of mind” is the better rule to live by when choosing a refrigerator for your kitchen.

     

    Credit: Jean Allsopp

  • Can you spot the feature that’ll make you fat?

     

    Credit: Neuhaus Design Architecture, P.C.

  • The more accessible your food, the easier it is to snack and nosh. Although open shelving and glass-front cabinets are cool kitchen storage solutions, they’re ideas that might go straight to your waist. If you’re keen on the notion of open shelves, use them for storing plates and bowls — not food items.

     

    Credit: Neuhaus Design Architecture, P.C.

  • Can you spot the feature that’ll make you fat?

     

    Credit: http://www.gapinteriors.com/imagedetails.asp?imageno=65126

  • Indirect and task lighting is great for setting the mood — for eating. To discourage food consumption, however, use bright lighting. Keep task lighting for food prep, then flood your kitchen with lots of light to suppress your appetite.

     

    Credit: http://www.gapinteriors.com/imagedetails.asp?imageno=65126

  • If you like these, you may want to take a spin through HouseLogic’s library of slideshows.

     

  • 1. Watching Your Weight
  • Leave Media Out of Your Kitchen Plan
  • 2. Standing Room Only
  • Lose the Stools
  • 3. The Not-So-Great Room
  • Making the Kitchen an Open Invitation
  • 4. Eat In? Not Thin!
  • Eating areas inside the kitchen
  • 5. Small Triangles = Big Waist
  • Compact Work Spaces Encourage Snacking
  • 6. Walk Right In, Munch Right Down
  • Large Food Storage Areas Mean More Consumption
  • 7. Now You See It, Now You Eat It
  • See-through Refrigerators Put Temptation at Eye Level
  • 8. Open to Temptation
  • Open Shelves Filled with Food
  • 9. Light-Hearted Eating
  • More Light Curbs Appetites
  • Like our slideshows?
  • 1-watching-your-weight
  • leave-media-out-of-your-kitchen-plan
  • 2-standing-room-only
  • lose-the-stools
  • 3-the-not-so-great-room
  • making-the-kitchen-an-open-invitation
  • 4-eat-in-not-thin
  • eating-areas-inside-the-kitchen
  • 5-small-triangles-big-waist
  • compact-work-spaces-encourage-snacking
  • 6-walk-right-in-munch-right-down
  • large-food-storage-areas-mean-more-consumption
  • 7-now-you-see-it-now-you-eat-it
  • see-through-refrigerators-put-temptation-at-eye-level
  • 8-open-to-temptation
  • open-shelves-filled-with-food
  • 9-light-hearted-eating
  • more-light-curbs-appetites
  • more-slideshows
  • Image: Adam Blasberg/Photolibrary/Getty Images
  • Image: Adam Blasberg/Photolibrary/Getty Images
  • Image: chuckcollier/iStockphoto
  • Image: chuckcollier/iStockphoto
  • Image: Zach Zeldner/Leyla Steele
  • Image: Zach Zeldner/Leyla Steele
  • Image: Torben Petersen, photographer
  • Image: Torben Petersen, photographer
  • Image: http://www.mercerinterior.com
  • Image: http://www.mercerinterior.com
  • Image: Structural Dimensions, Inc., Eden Prairie, MN
  • Image: Structural Dimensions, Inc., Eden Prairie, MN
  • Image: Jean Allsopp
  • Image: Jean Allsopp
  • Image: Neuhaus Design Architecture, P.C.
  • Image: Neuhaus Design Architecture, P.C.
  • Image: Gap Interiors
  • Image: Gap Interiors
You May Also Like