Walk into a dental practice or a commercial kitchen and the walls are almost always white. There’s a reason for that, and it has more to do with how our brains work than with the actual germ count on the surface. We’ve been trained to read brightness as cleanliness.

Why We See White as Clean

Our association between white and hygiene goes back a long way. Hospitals, lab coats and porcelain sinks have all reinforced the idea that a bright, uniform surface means a germ-free one. Research in color psychology backs this up too, with studies showing people unconsciously link brightness and white tones with purity and positive qualities. When a space looks spotless, we assume it is.
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