Like any other room of your home, your kitchen too,
requires a nice well-thought-out lighting plan. Nowadays kitchens are
not just restricted to cooking meals, but also have many more functions.
For many people, it is the most frequently used place in the house.
Apart from the preparation of meals, kitchens, at present, also make a
place for the kids to do homework, parents to assess the bills, reading,
eating, and watching TV. Given all these reasons, it is essential to
have adequate as well as flexible kitchen lighting.
General Lighting
While devising a lighting plan for kitchen, the first thing that comes
to mind is general lighting i.e. the light that'll be used more often
than not. If it's a small kitchen, just one light in the center will
provide the general light. Since most of kitchens are larger these days,
perhaps a single light fixture in the center will not meet the lighting
needs. So, the best solution is to go for recessed lighting as it is an
excellent way to provide general lighting in a kitchen in a neat and
clean manner.
Right Placement
Right placement of the lights is very important. While designing a
layout for the kitchen's general lighting, consider the areas where
tasks will be done. These areas comprise of counters, islands and
tables. By lighting these areas in most of the kitchens, the rest of the
room too gets a good spread of general light. You can put the recessed
lights fall out on the ceiling in a way that they are directly over the
outside edge of the cabinets. The point here is getting the lights close
enough to the work area. Don't ignore any corners that are left dark. If
your kitchen has an island, install 2 or 3 pendant lights over it, to
provide a stunning look to your kitchen.
Task Lighting
Task Lighting is important in the kitchen to provide direct light over
the counters, stove and sink. Placing one or two small recessed lights
over the sink is attractive as well as useful. Chimney lights can
provide sufficient light over the stove. To illuminate the counters, you
can use under cabinet lighting in the form of simple fluorescent
fixtures. Another nice lighting affect can be provided by using low
voltage linear track that can be dimmed and endow very good light to the
counters. You can also use xenon fixtures and halogen fixtures; however,
xenon is definitely better as it has a longer bulb life than halogen.
Accent Lighting
After you're done with general lighting and task lighting, the last
thing to work on is accent lighting. Some kitchens have space above the
cabinets. By providing lighting on top of the cabinets, such kitchens
can look simply brilliant. Tray ceilings with crown molding can also be
helped very much from this type of lighting. To make your kitchen look
extraordinary, you can use either a low voltage type track or rope
light. So, following the right kitchen lighting plan, you can make your
dream kitchen in next to no time.
