When choosing your kitchen colours, what's the right strategy? Do you pick some colours you like and then hit the paint chip display at your local hardware store? Do you look for colours on sale to save a few bucks? They're just paint colours — not precisely a high-stakes…

Some used to think designing a kitchen was all about aesthetics, ergonomics and craftsmanship. It is about something else less tangible, which amounts to understanding what environments make people feel happiest at home: a move from the outer world inwards. The secret to a…