Brits spend nearly two-and-a-half years of their lives in the kitchen

Half of Brits call their kitchen the ‘heart’ of the home – and spend nearly seven hours a week there (Image: Howdens)The kettle gets boiled 12 times during a typical week, while 43 minutes are spent stirring food.And the average adult predicts they do more than 300 steps a day in the kitchen alone.Four in ten claim most of the time they spend in the kitchen is spent running back and forth between the fridge, oven, and microwave – while a fifth claim it’s taken up with setting up and disassembling gadgets, such as steamers and coffee machines.It also emerged more than half (51 percent) consider it the ‘heart of the home’, with 41 percent saying it’s where they spend most of their time.A spokesman for Howdens, which commissioned the research, said: ‘They say home is where the heart is, and for most people the heart of the home is the kitchen.’Throughout the decades, the role of the kitchen has changed – it used to be a room only used for cooking, but now it’s become a hub for so much more.’The study also found a quarter of those polled describe their kitchen as ‘lively’, while 27 percent call it ‘busy’ – but for 22 percent, the atmosphere is generally ‘peaceful’.When it comes to big life events celebrated in the kitchen, a fifth found out they were going to be parents in the room, while one in ten had their offer accepted on a new house. Brits spend 43 minutes a week cooking food, and boil the kettle 12 times in a week (Image: Howdens)More than a fifth (22 percent) often use this space for entertaining – with the typical kitchen hosting four parties, six games nights, five book clubs, and six seasonal celebrations, such as Halloween or Christmas dinner.And one in three (34 percent) find themselves gravitating to the kitchen when they have guests over.Besides cooking and entertaining, the room is also regularly used for listening to music or podcasts (28 percent), reading (20 percent), and working from home (18 percent).But 41 percent believe the kitchen is more than just somewhere you cook food – with over a quarter (27 percent) calling it their ‘happy place’.And despite one in six (16 percent) of those surveyed, via OnePoll, claiming they are proud of their kitchen, 36 percent said it’s the room they’d most like to renovate.Of those who have recently had a new kitchen fitted, more than one in ten (11 percent) said it has transformed their lives.The spokesman for Howdens added: ‘It’s important to have a kitchen space you are happy with, as it acts as the hub of the home for most people.’From using it as an office when working from home, to celebrating your child’s first birthday, it has evolved from ‘just a room you cook your food in’.’