Revisiting the Heart of the Home

Have you heard the saying, “The kitchen is the heart of the home.”? There’s a reason it still rings true.

Making the Kitchen the Heart of the Home

After the bathroom, it’s likely that the first room you visit when you get out of bed is the kitchen. This is where you make your morning cup of coffee, prep breakfast, and pack lunch. At the start of the day, it may be the only place you get to connect with your family members before everyone goes in their own direction. When you get home from work or school, the kitchen cabinets in Milwaukee WI call to you as you remember that favorite snack you tucked away behind the soup cans.

In many homes, the kitchen doubles as the dining room and is a primary location for enjoying family meals together and connecting. Some studies show that including family dinners in your routine can create increased resilience, build esteem, contribute to academic performance, and even lower the risk of depression. Dinner at home also helps decrease obesity and increase the intake of foods with higher nutritional value, like fruits and vegetables.

The kitchen is where we learn to cook and is often where we first start helping out as children since household chores abound in the kitchen. From the oldest to the youngest, there is always something that can be done; washing dishes, taking out the trash, cleaning the floor, and putting away groceries, to name a few. Contributing to housework helps children feel a deeper sense of belonging and ownership in the family unit.

If your kitchen isn’t the heart of your home yet, it can be. A little intentionality in how and where you engage in your home can dispel feelings of loneliness and isolation and bring a genuine sense of community and connection.