Enhance Your Kitchen with Lighting

Enhance Your Kitchen with Lighting

For most people the kitchen is one of the most important rooms in the house. Aside from being the place where food is prepared and cooked, it is also a place to eat and socialize with family members and guests.
Since it’s an important space, your kitchen deserves to be decorated accordingly. You can invest in the best countertops, cabinetry and appliances and still have something fall off.
What’s the problem?
Even when everything else in a space is decorated perfectly, improper lighting can still negate it all. Choosing the best lights, and more importantly, understanding how to light a kitchen, is essential.

Incorporate Layers

A single overhead light might seem convenient, but it is by no means the most effective lighting solution, especially for a space as complex as a kitchen.

Think of the multitude of tasks you do in a kitchen, from chopping vegetables to washing dishes, to entertaining dinner guests. Your lighting should be capable of highlighting all of these tasks.

Consider combining task, ambient, and accent lighting throughout your kitchen.

Overhead lights can be used, but make sure to support them with smaller lights placed around the room. Different kinds of lights, such as recessed lights and sconces, can be used to great effect.

Incorporating different lighting layers will give your kitchen a much more dynamic feeling.

Draw Attention to Important Areas

Look around your kitchen; what do you want your guests to notice when they visit you? Is it the pile of dirty dishes in the sink? Is it the window that needs to be washed? Probably not.

When working with kitchen lights it’s important to understand that some areas of your kitchen should be lit up, and others may need to be a bit less illuminated.

Islands and centerpieces are oftentimes the focal points of many kitchens. These areas should be highlighted and guests’ eyes should be drawn to them when they enter the room. Consider being a bit louder in these sorts of areas by using something bold to make a statement.

Nothing says welcome to my kitchen like a nice chandelier or three identical pendant lights over an island.

Add Dimmers

Some of the best lighting designs in the world can still look bright and inappropriate if you flip on a switch and a harsh white light illuminates the room.

To combat this feeling, and particularly the harshness of many LED lights, consider installing dimmer switches for the various light fixtures in the room. This will enable you to have the flexibility necessary for any situation.

Family Handyman makes the point that there are times when you want bright fluorescent lighting, and other times when you need more ambiance. You don’t want to be peeling fruit in the dark, but you also don’t want your guests to feel like they are sitting on a stage under spotlights.

Dimmers enable complete flexibility to set whatever sort of mood you want at that time.

Pay Attention to Colors

When choosing kitchen lights, pay attention to the colors already present throughout the room.

As with any room in the house, the colors should be complementary, and if there is any contrast, it should look deliberate. Matching the red pendant light covers with the other red accents in the room could be a good call, but throwing fluorescent green into the mix might not be.

Aside from matching colors, pay attention to how much light will be present in the room. Remember that white and lighter colors generally reflect light, while darker colors do not. If your kitchen has some heavier colored walls, you may need higher watt bulbs to compensate.

Never underestimate the importance of a proper color scheme.

Consider Lighting Cabinets and Drawers 

Can you imagine going to your fridge for a midnight snack, opening the drawer and having everything be dark? Then why shouldn’t your cabinets and drawers also be similarly lit up?

One option is to install motion sensor lights inside these spaces. Next time you’re searching for that particular spoon in the drawer or the wok at the back of the cabinet, it might just be a little easier. Just like in your fridge, the light turns off once it’s closed again.

Lightology recommends also using strip lights inside drawers. This not only helps with convenience, allowing you to find what you are looking for but also gives your silverware a very eye catching sparkle.

Putting lighting inside your cabinets and drawers can not only make your life easier, but also adds further ambiance to your kitchen.

How to Light a Kitchen? Let the Experts Help You

As one of the most important rooms in the house, your kitchen needs to reflect the great variety of activities that take place in it.

When lighting any kitchen, layers should be added and focal points highlighted. Dimmers and colors can be used to further add ambiance, and lighting inside cabinets and drawers can be a practical, and a beautiful option.

If you’re still wondering how to light a kitchen, contact us for any of your lighting requirements. We’re happy to provide complimentary consultations and will work with you to create whatever sort of atmosphere you desire.

Aside from kitchen lighting, Lighting Distinctions is also happy to help with any other interior lighting needs, as well as with landscape and exterior lighting.

Get started designing the kitchen lighting your home deserves.

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