kitchen lighting

Not so long ago, every kitchen was illuminated by a central light that was covered with a lampshade. Then we went through the era where fluorescent lighting provided illumination, which was downright ugly as well as bad for the eyes. Now we have many more options.

Your kitchen has three or four main areas: the stove, the sink, work surfaces, usually under tall cabinets, and sometimes a table or center island. You also need to light the floor sufficiently to make sure you don’t trip over toys or other falling items.

First the sink, always difficult. During the day it will not need light since it is usually located in front of a window. You have a need to keep electricity away from water, so why not put recessed ceiling lights over the sink? or spotlights either on the ceiling or high on the wall (above the window) or, if your wall cabinets are close enough, on the side of them.

The cooker is easily turned on, a unit fitted above the hob will provide a fan to remove steam and odours, and a light. If you have separate units (or even if you have a conventional cooker), the oven will usually have a light inside it.

Work surfaces should be well lit so that food preparation and serving (not to mention tea and coffee) can be easily completed during dark days and early mornings and evenings. If you have wall cabinets above your work surfaces, why not put lights in the bottom of them? These can be lights that match the ones over the sink or you can use very small strip lights and put a small ledge on the front of the cabinets to hide them from view.

Next, the table or central island. You can use spotlights to illuminate this area or why not look at the many lamps that can be moved closer to the table or to the ceiling depending on when and how you want the light. If you put a dimmer switch on this light, it will provide you with a wonderfully romantic light for dining.

If you have a particularly large kitchen, you will need to provide dim general lighting so that you can see properly while walking. This can be provided by either ceiling downlighting or strategically placed small spotlights. However, if the kitchen is not huge, lamps above work surfaces and/or table/island lighting provide enough light to create mood lighting.