Comments on my Kitchen layout

[Jocelyn yu]

My husband and I have put a deposit on an attached townhouse. This is still very much in pre-construction phase; however, the builder is very unwilling to deviate from the plans.
I have 2 questions:
1) Orientation of the house.
The garage door facing the street is NE (as measured from center). The main entrance is on the side of the building and faces NW. This does not face the street but the main entrance of the other townhouse. Would it be correct to say this is a SW house?
2) I've looked at the layout and it seems fine except for the kitchen range. The kitchen is located in the S/SE sector which is ok since both my husband and I are West type people; however, the fire mouth of the kitchen range faces S/SE. I cannot change the orientation of the range. Is there anything else I can do? I do have a rice cooker whose fire mouth I can orient to an appropriate direction. Will this do?
Jocelyn

[Cecil Lee]

Dear Jocelyn,
First of all, let me congratulate you on your new home:)



Please see below:-

Quote

On 10/14/99 5:00:40 AM, Anonymous wrote:
My husband and I have put a
deposit on an attached
townhouse. This is still very
much in pre-construction
phase; however, the builder is
very unwilling to deviate from
the plans.
I have 2 questions:
1) Orientation of the house.
The garage door facing the
street is NE (as measured from
center). The main entrance is
on the side of the building
and faces NW. This does not
face the street but the main
entrance of the other
townhouse. Would it be correct
to say this is a SW house?

As your have a few entrances, you should ask yourself the following questions:-
1. Which door will I frequently be using?
The door that you frequently used can (should) be your main entrance door. For example, if you frequently use the garage door as your entrance, then this will be your main entrance i.e. NE or the door at the NW (if I read correctly what you are mentioning).
For the house facing, there are two ways of looking at it:-
Based on Qi analysis. Under Qi analysis, the frontage of your house e.g. the side that usually have your living room (with lighting coming in is considered your house facing).
Like Accounting, many FS practioners are more conservative and do not take into consideration the frontage as your main door area as this is difficult to measure. For example if your living room windows stretch from one side of the room to the other, then where is the front door/main entrance determined?
2. In usually more conservative FS assessment, it is usually your main entrance door e.g. at NE or NW. (I believe, if I get what u mean, it should not be SW at all).

Quote

2) I've looked at the layout
and it seems fine except for
the kitchen range. The
kitchen is located in the S/SE
sector which is ok since both
my husband and I are West type
people; however, the fire
mouth of the kitchen range
faces S/SE. I cannot change
the orientation of the range.
Is there anything else I can
do? I do have a rice cooker
whose fire mouth I can orient
to an appropriate direction.
Will this do?

In modern day Feng Shui, although the kitchen is still important, you should take note of the following more important points:
1. As the purpose of the kitchen is to retain "heat" or a place where food is made, it should preferably be a location where the `warmth' can be retained.
2. This is why, most FS practioners will advise one to face the stove inwards rather than outwards. Especially if the knobs of the stove should face inwards. Better still if your stove knobs are facing the sky.
3. Since your kitchen is not at the North compass area, you do not need to take note that a water position cannot be placed facing the stove as it may "extinguish."
4. Where possible the cooking stove etc.. should not be at the centre of the kitchen but against a wall in the kitchen. It should not be placed on a wall with windows.
5. Avoid having more than one cooking stove in the house. Do not have two.
Other than the above points (plus some others), it is less or of secondary importance in Feng Shui. Other more imporant points are to analyse the house e.g. using the Flying Star, at each sector, if there is an imbalance of the Five Elements or an over influence of an element, then it should be corrected or neutralised.
Hope the above helps.
Cecil

[Jocelyn yu]

Dear Cecil,
Thanks for your quick reply.
On my first question--the reason i said mine was a SW house was because I've also read some theories (Lilian Too, etc.) that the type of house is determined by its sitting position (e.g. direction you face as you go into the house from the main door). In my case, I have 2 doors into the house. The door from the garage into the main house faces NE (if I measure from inside of house, looking out) but its sitting position then is SW (if I measure from out of house going in). The other main door faces NW (from center to outside) therefore its sitting position then is SE. I guess bottom line question is do i need to worry about the sitting position of the house--if not, I'm ok since NE or NW are good directions for myself & my husband. If yes, then, I should just use NE entrance since sitting position SW is favorable.
For my second question, the kitchen range is against a solid wall. However, I've also read from Lilian Too that the direction of the fire mouth (direction of energy flowing into range) is very important. The energy should not flow from an inauspicious direction (e.g. S, SE, E, N for me & husband).
Thanks
Jocelyn

[Cecil Lee]

Dear Jocelyn,
Please see below:-

 

Quote

On 10/14/99 10:45:42 PM, Anonymous wrote:
Dear Cecil,
Thanks for your quick reply.
On my first question--the
reason i said mine was a SW
house was because I've also
read some theories (Lilian
Too, etc.) that the type of
house is determined by its
sitting position (e.g.
direction you face as you go
into the house from the main
door). In my case, I have 2
doors into the house. The
door from the garage into the
main house faces NE (if I
measure from inside of house,
looking out) but its sitting
position then is SW (if I
measure from out of house
going in). The other main
door faces NW (from center to
outside) therefore its sitting
position then is SE. I guess
bottom line question is do i
need to worry about the
sitting position of the
house--if not, I'm ok since NE
or NW are good directions for
myself & my husband. If yes,
then, I should just use NE
entrance since sitting
position SW is favorable.

 

In traditional Feng Shui, the original Eight House Theory is that if the main door is facing north, but you are sitting South, Eight House calls this a South facing house.
Nowdays, with majority of users familiar with the ordinary compass direction and layout, when we talk about a `South' facing house, most people would assume that the main door is at the South.
This is why when the Xuan Kong Fei Xing (Flying Star Theory) it is no longer called a South house etc.. but in Chinese, it is called `Sit South' and `Face North'.
Under this description there is no way one can make a mistake as it is clearly `spelt out'.
Under the umbrella of www.Geomancy.net www.Geomancy-online.com etc.. all the theories has already been simplified and related directly to the ordinary compass. You can understand that the audience here is universal. Thus us objective is to make it easy for everyone.
If you have need tried this compass method, feel free to check out this link: http://www.geomancy.net/fs/cecilcompass.htm
Therefore, in this website, when we talk about a South house, it is assumed that the main door is at the South.
Even when one is using a Chinese Loupan and if you are standing outside the main entrance door (facing it), one should remember that the direction that you are facing the main door is the Sitting direction. You should instead take the `opposite' which is the Facing direction.
Since many users are reading many different books, my personal advise is to take the concept provided by each author `totally' and not `piecemeal' i.e. if you read a book you should try to apply the author's method in total.
Usually, if the author uses traditional theory, it should match any other methods unless one or the other has made a mistake.

 

 

 

Quote

For my second question, the
kitchen range is against a
solid wall. However, I've
also read from Lilian Too that
the direction of the fire
mouth (direction of energy
flowing into range) is very
important. The energy should
not flow from an inauspicious
direction (e.g. S, SE, E, N
for me & husband).

 

You can take the above advise. Usually, it would be more important for the spouse or the wife in this aspect (if you can).
In applied Feng Shui, it would be more important or relevance to check the Flying Star numbers at this locationto see if there is a `balance' in the flying star elements.
In addition, the shapes and form school should also be looked. Since the kitchen has both the water and fire element, these two elements has to be in harmony. Water is also eqiuvalent of Yin (cold) and fire (Yang) or hot.
Warmest Regards,
Cecil