Kitchen Lighting

Light Fixtures for Kitchen Lighting

Light Bulbs for Kitchen Lighting

Accessories for Kitchen Lighting

Kitchen Lighting Tips

Guiding Principle

"Light is the first element of design; without it there is no color, form, or texture." – Thomas E. Farin

General

If the kitchen isn’t lit properly, who will notice it? Who will care to notice it? Who will even want to be in it?

General

Lighting can add depth and/or excitement to a kitchen. Let’s face it, the kitchen is where you and your family spend a lot of time, so take the time to light it well so that it becomes an inviting and pleasant space to be in.

General

Bad lighting can be expensive and good lighting does not have to be expensive.

Accent Lighting

Accent lighting adds drama to a kitchen by creating visual interest. As part of the decorating scheme, accent lighting is used to spotlight paintings, house plants, sculpture, and other prized possessions, or to highlight drapery or the texture of a wall. House plants can be accented by aiming an uplight at the wall behind the plant, creating a dramatic silhouette of the plant against the wall.

Color

Think about the importance of the key colors in your kitchen (ceiling, walls, cabinets, countertops, furniture), then use proper lighting to bring out the most dramatic colors. Remember that darker surfaces absorb more light. For example, an all-white kitchen requires 40%-50% less light than a kitchen with dark walls and dark wood cabinets.

Dimming Systems

Today's dimming systems enable you to do several positive things: lower light levels to conserve energy and increase lamp (light bulb) life, vary the mood of a room, and alter the intensity of the light to suit the activity.

Downlights

When recessed downlights are used in the kitchen they should be centered over the exposed countertop. This is another way of providing lighting that will eliminate someone working in their shadows on the countertop. Also, if white trims with white baffles are selected, the downlight becomes less obtrusive, blends into the ceiling a little more, and helps to prevent the ceiling looking like “swiss cheese”.

Fluorescent Light Bulbs

When selecting fluorescent lamps (light bulbs) for the kitchen try to select T8 lamps with a color rendering index (CRI) of at least 85 and a color temperature of 3000K. This lamp is usually identified using the number, “830” or “930”, somewhere in its product code.

Fluorescent Lighting

When selecting fluorescent light fixtures for the kitchen try to select those that have instant start T8 electronic ballasts. This will ensure that the fluorescent lamp will turn on without flickering, that the fixture will not give off with much heat, that the ballast will not emit an annoying humming sound, and that the fixture will accommodate energy-efficient T8 fluorescent light bulbs. Fluorescent lighting is, without question, one of the coolest of all of the light sources and modern, high quality fluorescent light bulbs provide excellent lighting with very good color rendition.

General Lighting

General lighting provides an area with overall illumination. Also known as ambient lighting, general lighting radiates a comfortable level of brightness, enabling one to see and walk about safely. Since modern floor plans are more open and your guests may want to move more freely from the living room to the kitchen to the dining room, you may want to make sure that there is enough general lighting in the kitchen to encourage this. This type of lighting is intended to soften the lines on people's faces and create a warm, inviting glow.

Indirect Lighting

Coves, soffits, over-cabinet areas, and other concealed locations can also be used to provide very pleasant, very effective indirect lighting using T4, T5, or T8 fluorescent light fixtures.

Layers of Light

There are 3-4 basic types of lighting that should work together to create a well-lit kitchen: general lighting, task lighting, accent lighting, and sometimes decorative lighting (lighting that is used primarily for decorative purposes). A good lighting plan combines at least the first 3 types and possibly all 4 types to light an area, according to function and style. No single light source can provide all of the illumination that is needed to light a kitchen well. In fact, the most common mistake with regard to kitchen lighting is to try to light a kitchen with one fixture centered in the ceiling.

Line Voltage Halogen Lighting

Line voltage (120-volt) halogen lighting is often too hot to use in or under cabinets.

Low Voltage Halogen Lighting

Low voltage (12-volt) halogen lighting offers a very white, crisp kind of light source that has excellent color rendering capabilities and often makes crystal and good china “sparkle”.

Pendants

In general, pendants and mini pendant lights should be hung about 30 inches above the tabletop and be at least 12in narrower that the table on all sides.

Task Lighting

Task lighting helps you perform specific tasks such a preparing food, reading, sewing, cooking, homework, hobbies, games, or balancing your checkbook. A good example of task lighting is under cabinet lighting.

Under Cabinet Lighting

Under cabinet lighting should be mounted closer to the cabinet front — not near the back of the cabinet. In the kitchen especially this helps to eliminate the possibility of your working in your own shadows. A highly polished countertop (for example, granite) will act much like a mirror and will reflect the image of the under cabinet light quite well. Thus, it might be a good idea to select under cabinet light fixtures that have a frosted or textured glass cover that diffuses the light as much as possible.

Wall Grazing

Wall grazing provides dramatic illumination that reveals the texture of special materials, such as the brick, stone, or stucco. Wall grazing is uneven, brighter and scalloped at the top of the wall. For the most exciting effects, use PAR lamps in small aperture recessed downlights. Locate the downlights no more than 12 inches from the wall and the same distance apart. Wall grazing also lights polished surfaces, such as marble without distracting reflections in the surface.

Wall Washing

Wall washers are special downlights that direct light up to the top of the wall. They eliminate the shadows, sometimes called “scallops”, which are characteristic of simple downlights. Space wall washers no more than 36 inches apart. For the smoothest effect, space wall washers 24 inches from the wall and 24 inches apart. Avoid locating wall washers near doors where they can glare into the eyes of people entering the room.

Windows

At night windows become black, reflective "holes" in your kitchen walls. Consider installing some attractive outside lighting that will not only reduce or eliminate the reflection of you looking out of your windows, but will also visually expand the interior space of your kitchen out into the exterior after dark

Xenon Lighting

Xenon lighting is long-life incandescent lighting that can be dimmed, if need be. This type of lighting can be used for cabinet, book case, under cabinet, or indirect cove lighting.