Great lighting is an essential piece of crafting that vision of your dream kitchen. There are, however, several types of kitchen lighting to think of! Whether recessed spotlights, under cabinet strips or a nice bar pendant it is paramount that you choose something that is perfect for you. The kitchen is an important space in the house for cooking, working or even general socialising so you want to make sure you have the correct light level and style whilst keeping the energy cost at a minimum.
We would recommend using LED lamps in this setting to prevent high energy usage, with the kitchen being used frequently this will lower your usual energy cost by a dramatic amount and stay cool compared to your usual halogen or incandescent alternatives. As mentioned in our previous guide, LED Lamps have a much longer lifespan and come with longer guarantees, as well as offering options for which colourway you wish to adopt as well as options for dimming. For example, for a more modern setting a cool white look would compliment it, with the warm white variant being more apt for traditional settings.
Remember, that a kitchen is a practical space, lighting is key. You need to make sure that there is sufficient lighting within the room so you may work. Sadly, one of the best options are down-lights, dotting a few down-lights around the kitchen will give you a nice even spread of light across the room. Flush Lights will also work well in this setting, these lights will hug the ceiling and will generally give a good spread of light across the kitchen.
Personally, I believe that if you have a larger kitchen area, you should stay clear of spotlights. This is mainly due to shadowing issues; spotlights will provide a cone/beam of light to one area but will not provide light anywhere outside of that set area. If you have a kitchen island/breakfast bar, utilise this space by using pendants. Since this is dead space meaning no one will run into it, you can get away with having something a bit more extravagant. Whether you are having single pendants or a bar pendant, we suggest having an odd number of them, to help provide the spacing across the island.
Another area that is worth looking at is task lighting, these are usually under-cabinet lights and are used for decoration or to generally light the worktop. There is a lot of variety when it comes to this style of light including LED and fluorescent strips, tape or discs just to name a few.
Top Tips for Choosing the best Lighting for your Kitchen:
- Match your metals in the room, if your room features one particular metal colour match those with ceiling lights.
- Match the colourway of your pendant to other metals that are in the kitchen. I.E Door handles, plug sockets and decorative features.
- Make sure all the bulb is in the exact same colour to prevent any clashing in light output.
- Know your measurements, the key is balance; Not too big and not too small.
- Layer the lights you have in your kitchen, have a set of lights that are used for function and have a set of lights that are used for decoration and/or mood lighting.
Choosing the perfect light for the kitchen can always be a daunting task due to the amount of choices open to you, although see below for some options we think could start you off! We hope this guide proved helpful! Please like and share these guides to all your friends! And see you next week light-readers!
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