Overeating More Tempting in Modern Kitchen

Today’s modern kitchens with their open floor plans may be one reason some people are overeating.

Unlike the homes built decades ago, today’s open floor plans offer a constant view. Without entering the kitchen, you can easily see the fridge, pantry and any snacks left on the kitchen counter. All that temptation can lead to eating too much, according to a recent study published in the journal Environment & Behavior.

“…The results of our study suggest that the openness of a floor plan, among many other factors, can affect how much we eat,” said Kim Rollings, assistant professor in the University of Notre Dame’s School of Architecture. “Eating in an ‘open concept kitchen,’ with greater visibility and convenience of food access, can set off a chain reaction. We’re more likely to get up and head toward the food more often, serve more food and eat more food.”

Rollings and an environmental psychologist from Cornell University looked at whether dining areas could affect how much college students ate and overeating.

Every time a student stood up to get more food in the study, they would eat more. They ended up consuming an average of 170 more calories when they were in a kitchen with an open floor plan.

Minor Overeating Increases Weight Gain

“Considering that decreasing calorie consumption by 50 to 100 calories per day can reduce or avoid the average annual weight gain of one to two pounds among U.S. adults,” she said, “these results have important implications for designers of and consumers in residential kitchens; college, workplace and school cafeterias and dining areas; and buffet-style restaurants.”

Back in the 1950s, most kitchens in America were separate from the rest of the house. People entertained in the living or family rooms.

“Now,” Rollings said, “open-concept plans put kitchens on display, which is great for entertaining, but not necessarily for our waistlines. Serving food out of sight from diners in an open kitchen, serving food from a counter in a closed kitchen rather than from a dining table, and creating open kitchens that have the ability to be enclosed may help U.S. adults maintain their weight.”

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