Incorporate "feng shui" in your home design

When shopping for a kitchen, most of us consider cabinetry style, say, or countertops, few of us talk about vibe. But "you may want to create the perfect qi [energy flow]," says feng shui master Paul Ng.

"Feng shui is a way to optimize the energy around us," Mr. Ng says in a telephone interview from Richmond Hill.

The kitchen is one of the three most important energy sources in your home, he says. The others are the entrance and the master bedroom.

In feng shui, the kitchen is considered the heart of the home, symbolizingnourishment and wealth. The placement of the kitchen and its contents can influence a family's prosperity and health, Mr. Ng says.

Here's how the cycle works: Good, nutritious food yields good health. And a well-nourished person is more effective in his or her career and relationships. In turn, a more effective person is more likely to be prosperous.

"Time and again, I've seen kitchens in the wrong spot--especially the stove in the wrong orientation. That can cause a lot of money-losing," Mr. Ng says.

The best location for a kitchen is in the "health centre of the house," the "activity centre of the house," or in the "long-life centre of the house," Ng says.

These centres are based on the "life cycle" of the house, which shifts every 20 years. This is something that a feng shui master, like Mr. Ng, can calculate.

"It's all mathematical. People have thought it's psychological; it's got some kind of voodoo. It's nothing like that," he stresses. "The proper way to do feng shui is 100% scientific."

If you don't know the life cycle of your home, ideally, the kitchen should be on the east or south side of the house, he says.

And you shouldn't see your kitchen when entering your home. Because the kitchen represents prosperity, you want privacy, because you don't want to show people where you have money, he says.

If the kitchen is in the wrong place, the owners can never save money, Mr. Ng warns. So relocating the kitchen is advised.

If relocating the kitchen isn't an option, as long as the stove and/or sink aren't visible when entering the house, the situation isn't as bad, he says.

Mr. Ng suggests setting up a French door with glazed glass -- to let light through, but to block the view to the kitchen.

The layout of the kitchen is crucial.

The stove -- by far the most important part of the kitchen -- represents the wealth generator, Mr. Ng says. The burners on the stovetop should be used equally, because this represents obtaining money from multiple sources, he explains.

The only locations that should be considered for the stove are the east, south, or south-east walls. The east represents wood, and the south represents fire; so these locations are considered a good source of energy, because they symbolically represent the ease of starting a fire for cooking. The worst places for the stove are the northwest, the north and the west walls, Mr. Ng says. When you're cooking, you should be facing either east or south.

Ideally, the stove (fire) and sink (water) should be at a right angle. They should never be adjacent, Mr. Ng says, because the proximity of fire and water can lead to conflict.

("Bewitching kitchen" prepared by Irene Seiberling/National Post)