The New York Times has recently published an article stating that our kitchens could be having an underestimated effect on the more modern health risks, through nothing but sheer kindness and proximity. The article was written by Neil Izenberg. Izenberg is the founder of KidsHealth.org, a website dedicated to teaching and helping parents, kids and teens with kids health and lifestyles, and is a Paediatrician at an esteemed childrens hospital. Izenberg starts by telling us of the kitchen hazards of old; fire, smoke inhalation and of course food poisoning. It was for this reason, he tells us, that back when his 1840 Philadelphia row house was built, the kitchen was in the basement. He goes on to tell the story of his house and his childhood kitchen. We hear of how the widespread introduction of the icebox led to big changes in food preservation, eventually leading to the electric fridges we all have today, and how safe gas and electrical developments combined with this to drag the kitchen out of the basement into the main area of the home. However, things still were not as they are today. Kitchens used to be their own single purpose dedicated room and were declared closed after eating. However, the social standards of modern times quickly put an end to that. nbsp; Leading on to the main point of the article, Neil Izenberg quotes Our kitchens, like our girths, have grown substantially. With the new social requirements it is customary to have our kitchens and our living spaces intertwined. This makes getting to the kitchen a lot easier than traipsing down to the basement, and it is common knowledge that if food is easier to eat, we are likely to eat more of it. If you put two and two together, the kitchen looks like it could be playing a role in the increasing obesity issues, although obviously, there are many, many other contributing factors. So upgrading your kitchen/living space may not be the way to a healthy life, we dont know. But, what we do know is it doesnt do any harm to make it look nice, and here at sinks.co.uk we know exactly how to do that.