For French painter Raoul Dufy, who was once called the “granddaddy of modern chic” by Time magazine, blue is a special colour. “Blue is the only colour,” he observed, “which maintains its own character in all its tones. Take blue in all its nuances, from the darkest to the lightest – it will always stay blue”.

Perhaps blue will even tease out the domestic god or goddess in you- Amanda Garzia

Where do you start if you decide to have a blue-coloured kitchen? Do you opt for a mix-and-match scheme with blue as one of two or three colours? Navy blue and white, for example, would be ideal for a nautically-inspired kitchen.

Alternatively, splashes of red – to a kitchen with blue as the principle colour and white as the secondary colour – adds a bright twist. Or do you, on the other hand, go for multiple shades of blue with, perhaps, a few touches of a neutral colour to create a classic look?

There is a reason why blue is associated with the kitchen. Blue is a cool colour. This is a plus in a room where the occupier routinely prepares a minimum of two or three meals a day. If the chosen shade of blue is not overly bright, it turns the kitchen into a calming space.

This is an invaluable feature for a room which is used for food preparation and a number of other activities. Gone are the days when the kitchen was, more or less, a hidden space. Nowadays, infact, serious thought goes intodesigning the kitchen.

Gone are the days when it was hidden from visitors so much so that it may jointly claim – together with the living room – the role of meeting place for family and friends. With streamlined models enticing customers and sophisticated appliances to match, the kitchen has become the place to unwind. And all the more when the colour of your kitchen is blue.

The atmosphere created by a blue colour scheme works well on several levels. The psychological effect of blue is such that it encourages feelings of serenity to the extent that it may influence physical well-being by lowering the pulse rate and body temperature.

By virtue of its soothing qualities, it may make the kitchen an ideal place to unwind and chill out while snacking or sipping a drink after work. It may prove easier, indeed, to cook in a blue kitchen because the colour’s calming effectcompensates for the stuffy atmosphere generated when food is being prepared.

Blue may even inspire you to experiment with a new recipe. Research has shown, in fact, that people are more productive in blue rooms. Added to this is the fact that blue is the colourmost associated with hygieneand cleanliness.

While kitchens are, together with bathrooms, notoriously difficult to keep clutter-free, the prevalence of blue as a main colour may work in such a way as to motivate the occupier to make a more sustained effort to keep the room as tidyas possible.

Aqua, cornflower, electric, royal and teal are but a few variants of the primary colour blue and several options are, therefore, available with so much to choose from. If you want to maximise the sense of space in a kitchen which is on the small side, it is important to keep in mind that colours on the blue side of the colour wheel make walls look like they are receding. If the chosen colour makes the room appear a little larger, the roomwill instantly feel more spacious (and relaxing).

When planning the kitchen, therefore, the first step is to consider – as you pore over the colour charts – the best colour combination for the room in question. Walls, kitchen units, countertop, splashback and accessories will come together to tie up the whole look. The walls may, for instance, be blue or, alternatively, white walls may serve as the perfect backdrop to a layout of blue units.

If choosing the colour-scheme is proving a tad daunting, a few simple tricks may help to steer you clear of making any long-term decisions you may come to regret.

First of all, if, you choose white paint as a fail-safe foil for a blue kitchen model, you may opt to go for a darker shade when it comes to choosing the floor tiles. Why? In this way, you are mimicking nature by using the darkest colour for the floor, the medium shade for the in-between area – which in this case is the kitchen model itself – and the lightest shade for both the ceiling and the parts of the wall which are not covered by the kitchen unit.

Secondly, decide if you prefer an active or passive colour scheme. If you happen to be the adventurous type and opt for a bright colour like orange to complement the blue hue, keep in mind that this type of scheme is visually stimulating and may potentially detract from the kitchen’s relaxation potential.

If, on the other hand, you choose another cool colour that – like blue – is visually passive, your end result will be a casual and laid-back look for your kitchen.

If your kitchen proves to be a spacious oasis of calm, it may easily draw family members in to hang out for hours on end reading the newspaper or simply indulging in idle chit-chat.

Perhaps it will even tease out the domestic god or goddess in you. Petits fours anyone?

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