TIPS AND IDEAS ON HOW TO LIGHT A KITCHEN
All the roads in your household lead to your kitchen. It’s the most integral part of every home. In fact, you can go as far and say that a kitchen is what makes a home – a pillar around which all other functional rooms are built.
Therefore, every stylistic choice you make with your kitchen should add to the comfort of this environment, and light fixtures are not an exception. This is why, once the time for renovation comes, each of us needs some sound tips and ideas on how to light a kitchen.
Consider task lighting
When the ceiling light is too high, it can cast heavy and long shadows on your workspace. If you want to see clearly what you are doing and not end up cutting your fingers, consider task lighting. It’s very practical and, considering how low it can go, it offers a chance for interesting stylistic solutions.
There is just one thing you need to watch out for – its location. You do not want to bump your head constantly into it and there is a danger it will turn into an obstruction. The best hotspots for task lighting are kitchen islands, workspaces and pantries.
Look under the cabinet
If your kitchen is lined with bulky cabinets, you do not have to tear them down in order to get reasonable lighting underneath them. Under-cabinet lighting is an amazing alternative to space-eating lamps and other impractical light sources that can occupy your under-cabinet workspace.
They often come with softer lighting, which can create a calming effect that opens up your kitchen space quite nicely. In fact, they’re a necessity for most people that own cupboard-heavy kitchen.
Go crazy
If you have the financial means or the creative flair to spark-up interiors, you can look into some decorative lighting. If you want to make your kitchen pop, go with showy fixtures with striking visual appearance.
Make sure their color contrasts the surrounding walls and cupboards, but do not make them a singular item of that color in the kitchen – for example, if you want to go with a rough, medieval looking chandelier in a modern kitchen for eclectic interior, make sure some of the shelves and surfaces match its color for better blending.
However, you should think thoroughly about this decorative aspect before you decide to give it a go – you will either end up spending enormous amounts of money, or you will commit to the most arduous do-it-yourself project you could ever imagine.
Practical things on your mind
If you’re remodeling your kitchen completely, make sure you find dependable contractors – this is not particularly hard these days due to the advantages of the internet and online reviews. Try to hit the fine line between affordable and solid.
If some malfunctions occur a few weeks after the remodeling, do not panic or immediately jump to the conclusion that the contractors did not do their job well. Instead, have a reliable emergency electrician on speed dial and have them check if the problem is something minor before storming into your contractor’s office.
Additionally, if your family is big and it consists of several generations, you need to consider the accessibility of lighting switches for the rest of your family members – especially children. Double switches are a bad solution, so you can go with a reasonable height.
Should you consider accent lighting?
Accent lighting is the rarest of all the light-layers in the kitchen. This is because they are the least functional type of lights – they are practical only in the case you want to put a visual “accent” on some aesthetic detail in the kitchen.
For example, lights installed inside glass cabinets to illuminate your precious china or another light to cast a soft gleam over the painting you decided to hang in the kitchen are prime examples of accent lighting. If you don’t think you need such lights and if you want to keep your kitchen functional, it is better to keep that money in the pocket.
Many people make that century-old mistake of adding a single source of light on the ceiling of their kitchen, without taking any time to think about it further. With these tips and ideas on lighting a kitchen, your kitchen lighting will be both more stylish and practical.
NOVEMBER 29, 2017