Kitchen is the most important entity in the house. It is referred to as the treasure of the house in some Chinese scriptures.
This is the only prominent place where fire element plays a key role. In vastu shashtra the principle direction of natural energy field of fire is Southeast. Hence the ideal location for kitchen is southeast. A visible advantage of having the kitchen in the southeast is that it is open to the positive effects of morning sun rays and also gets fresh air most of the time.Windows in the kitchen should be in east and ideal location for door is northeast, east or north to allow the natural light and fresh air through out the day.
Color of the kitchen walls can be green, soft pink, orange, brown or yellow. As these colors are considered as appetite stimulator.
All the equipment like microwave, electric oven , toaster etc should be placed in south or southeast direction. refrigerator should be placed either in northwest or southwest direction. Empty gas cylinders should be placed in southwest. Exhaust fan should be in east direction as all the cooking is done in this direction. Grain pulses and spices must be stored in the west or in the south direction.
The ideal location for sink and drinking water storage is northeast corner as this direction gets maximum morning UV rays that kill the germs.
There should not be a common wall between toilet and kitchen. Kitchen should not be constructed in front of a bathroom, bedroom or worship room.
One need not panic if it is not possible to follow some or even none of the guidelines provided in the Vastu Shashtra as vastu principles and effects are only secondary to one's inner strength and endeavor toward soul growth.
Read my other posts on Vastu here.