Kitchen lighting is just as important as having the right utensils to prepare meals. Without enough lighting, one would face some difficulties working in the kitchen. Therefore, before you conclude that you have designed your kitchen in an ideal manner, you should consider the type of lighting that you are using. With the many lighting options, you need to determine what type of lighting is best for your kitchen. You can go with task lighting, general lighting or both. What should you go for?
Kitchen Lighting Ideas
Before looking into the best lighting options, let’s look at how to light up the kitchen while at the same time decorating it.
Layer Your Look
Layers are a good option for lighting simply because there is no lighting fixture that will provide your kitchen with the required light for all kitchen tasks. This means that you will have to use one main overhead light with a combination of other smaller lights, hence the name layers.
The smaller lights should be positioned in areas where there are other tasks in the kitchen. For instance, you should have smaller lights near the dishwasher, food prep section and any other section that is of importance in the kitchen.
The significance of adding these layers is that it prevents glare in your kitchen.
Add Ambience
Why shouldn’t you forget about ambient lighting in your kitchen? This is one fixture that most people tend to ignore. However, it should be made clear that ambient lighting is of great importance with regard to filling the spaces or the dark areas in lighting. If the lighting fixtures that you used doesn’t light up the room as you expected, these gaps can be effectively filled by ambient lighting. It gives your kitchen a warm glow. Also, they are an affordable option if you are running on a tight budget.
Reflect on Tasks
Task lighting is also a fundamental part of any kitchen lighting. Just as the name suggests, this form of lighting will concentrate light on the specific tasks that you are performing. In this case, if you are preparing food in the prep section, you should have designated task lighting in that section. Also, there should be lighting fixtures in other major zones such as the washing zone and the storage zone.
Add Light Dimmers
You’ll want to work in a kitchen where the light is bright enough for you to see what you are preparing. However, once you are done cooking and you’re ready to eat, you also want a dim light to facilitate a warm and cool environment. This means that light dimmers are equally significant. They provide your kitchen lighting with the advantage of easier customization to suit your needs.
Watch the Heights
The height of your kitchen lighting should also be taken into consideration.
For effective lighting in your kitchen, you don’t want to hang the lights far above the kitchen counters. Likewise, they should not be too low. It is important to fix your lighting fixtures at an appropriate height. Also keep in mind the tall people in your house.
Use Accents
If you are looking to add depth to your kitchen, then accent kitchen lighting is the ideal choice. Besides giving your kitchen depth, it also provides dimension.
Use a Wall Sconce
In conjunction with adding accents, you could alternatively use a wall sconce.
This applies in situations where you have something important to showcase about your kitchen. For example, if you have a special wall where you hang your artwork, using wall sconces for your lighting can be an ideal way of lighting this section and brings out your kitchen personality. You should be careful not to use high-voltage lighting fixtures for this option.
Fixtures in Threes
Lighting up a large kitchen can be challenging if at all you don’t know the right fixtures and the lighting plan that you will be using. In this case, you might want to go for one main kitchen fixture. However, you might realize that one light fixture will leave other areas of the room without light. So the best option for you will be to use three similar lighting fixtures. Use pendant fixtures to hang at the center of your kitchen. The benefit here is that light will be effectively distributed.
The Advantage of Track Lighting
Another issue that you will be looking to avoid in your kitchen is shadow.
Shadows will only give your kitchen an inconsistent look. Therefore, there are times when you will find yourself preferring to work in particular areas.
This happens because some areas of your kitchen are dark. To avoid this, track lighting comes handy. The good news is that there are a wide array of options for you to choose from. The lighting fixtures are also energy efficient so you won’t spend a lot on electricity bills after renovating your kitchen.
The track lighting fixtures can offer a quick fix since they can be installed in a day or two.
Avoid Clutter
Your desire to have a bright kitchen might push you to install several main lights. Indeed, you will get sufficient light, but the issue is that your kitchen will appear cluttered. Too much light is also not good. The best thing to do is to use one or two main lights and rely on other lighting fixtures to fill the gaps. For instance, track lighting can help to provide light in the storage and other important areas of your kitchen.
Open Shelf Lighting
Open shelf lighting is also worth thinking over if you have open shelves in your kitchen. In most cases, these open shelves will be far from the main light. As such, you should utilize LED strip lights in this section. They could be positioned under the shelves. It will be easy for you to locate what you want in this section.
The Influence of Your Kitchen Color
While striving to install the best lighting fixtures for your kitchen, you shouldn’t forget to consider your kitchen color. If you have a warm-colored kitchen, it is advisable to add more brightness to this room. Therefore, you should settle for higher wattage bulbs. On the contrary, a bright kitchen will not require as much lighting since the color reflects the little light that it gets from these bulbs. A white-colored kitchen, for example, will not require high wattage bulbs.
Lighting Your Dark Room
There are also those spaces that are often dark. The pantry section, for instance, is one area that is sometimes left unattended. This section can be illuminated by using motion sensors. This means that you don’t have to look for the switch when entering. When you open the door, the light sensor will light up.
Common Kitchen Lighting Challenges
If you have worked or cooked in different kitchens, then you must have noticed a difference in lighting. Some kitchens provide sufficient light in all areas that you may want to access. However, there are those kitchens that fail to provide this. It leaves one with the challenge of having to use additional lighting to locate what they are looking for.
Additionally, there are instances where some kitchens don’t balance light effectively. This means that they are either too bright or too dark. The following is a brief look into these common lighting challenges that you might encounter in your kitchen and their respective solutions.
Uncomfortable Lighting
The lighting of your kitchen can be uncomfortable if at all it’s too dark or too bright. The problem causing this is that you don’t have layers.
To fix this problem, you need to balance the lighting. You should have a good balance between ambient, task, and accent lighting. What does this mean? Ambient lighting fixtures provide general lighting. Task lighting fixtures delivers the required light to perform particular tasks such as cooking, washing, etc. Accent lighting is decorative. Balance these in your kitchen and folks will not feel that your kitchen lighting is uncomfortable.
You Can’t See What You’re Cooking
You might also face a problem seeing what you are cooking. The problem you are experiencing here is that your kitchen lacks task lighting. You might have installed the best ambient lighting, but still find shadows in different areas of your kitchen.
To solve this issue, you should pay attention to functional areas of your kitchen that require task lighting. These areas should have enough light and you ought to install lighting fixtures above them.
Lighting Fixture is Too Big/Small
Remodeling your kitchen can make you feel overwhelmed. It could blind you from realizing that you are using either too big or too small lighting fixture for your kitchen. At times, it might not be enough to provide you with the decor you anticipated.
Solve this challenge by choosing the most suitable fixture for your kitchen.
Before installing anything, you should think about whether it fits the scale of your kitchen. An experienced designer should help you decide what is best for your kitchen, so don’t forget to consult.
The Kitchen is Too Bright
Is your kitchen too bright to the extent that it leaves you with pain in your eyes? Usually, this happens because of the recessed lights you are using. It is quite likely that you used too many to light up the kitchen.
To help you solve this problem, it is vital that you create a lighting plan for your kitchen. Consider your space and decide on the right number of recessed lights that you will require.
A rule of thumb that you should keep in mind is that there are many lighting specialists willing to provide you with expert advice at a fraction of the cost.
Consequently, strive to get it right the first time by seeking for assistance before choosing any lighting solution for your kitchen.
Have the design specialist visit your home at a time when the sunlight is facing your kitchen. This will help to determine how much light you need and where to locate it.
