This past year, it seems that every kitchen that’s crossed our desktops has one thing in common: cabinets painted a deep petrol blue. As well as a few other features: a single long kitchen counter with a subway tile backsplash, open shelving, and a kitchen island painted a corresponding blue. Is the cult of the blue kitchen upon us?

We first started noticing the trend when we featured the West London kitchen of chef Skye Gyngell. Designed by British Standard, the two-tone kitchen has cabinets painted in Farrow & Ball’s deep Hague Blue, a cult color in its own right, and upper walls painted white. (When we first saw the kitchen, we found ourselves thinking, If I had this kitchen I’d be just like Skye Gyngell, with an arsenal of fresh herbs and root vegetables stored in vintage jars.)

But why blue? Essayist Maggie Nelson notes in Bluets, her ode to the color blue, “culinary advisors generally recommend against blue light, blue paint, and blue plates when and where serving food.” Why then, is everyone painting their kitchen blue?

“Ask people their favorite color, and in most parts of the world roughly half will say blue,” Natalie Angier writes in the New York Times. More supporting evidence: Painting an interior in shades of blue can translate to an increase in home value, and, according to studies, it’s associated with decreased heart rates, improved concentration, enhanced creativity, and a sense of calm. Which all comes in useful in a room where you might find yourself wielding a saucepan, reading a recipe, tending a boiling-over pot, all at the same time.

Here are 10 kitchens that illustrate the new époque bleue era.

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• Pared Down Simplicity: New Furniture from a Cult Woodworker