When renovating your kitchen, it's easy to get lost in choosing cabinets, countertops, and appliances. But there's another factor that's just as important. It's the lighting.
“The importance of kitchen lighting is two-fold,” says Rush Jenkins, CEO of WRJ Design in Jackson, Wyoming. Another is decorative lighting, which can enhance the atmosphere of your home in the same way that luxurious jewelry can enhance a beautiful outfit. ”
And now that cooking spaces double as gathering places, it's more important than ever to use lighting to set the mood, says Los Angeles-based interior designer Jen Feldman. says.
“The kitchen isn't just a place you go to cook,” Feldman says. “It's a comfortable space to live in.”
She and other designers shared tips on how to brighten up your kitchen.
Create a light layer
Professional architects and designers rarely use a single appliance to illuminate the kitchen. Instead, it focuses on creating layers of light using different types of fixtures in different ways.
“I love to cook and bake, and I need a bright atmosphere when I'm working,” said Blair Moore, founder of Moore House Design in Warren, Rhode Island. But she says if she's inviting her friends over for cocktails or canapés, she'd want something different. .
“When I'm entertaining, I want to make sure that no overhead lights are on,” she said. “In those cases, use ambient or accent lighting instead.”
What would be the best way to obtain it? Use wall sconces or similar fixtures.
Moore added, “I always like to layer three types of lighting: general lighting, task lighting, and ambient or accent lighting.” This makes it easy to illuminate the room in different ways.
Start with the most basic lighting
When planning your lighting plan, you should start by selecting common lighting fixtures, such as surface-mounted ceiling fixtures, linear track systems, and recessed can lights.
Regardless of the type of fixture you choose, placement is important.
“People want these spaces to be well-lit, but we're trying to really think about what we light,” says founder of New York-based architecture firm Workshop/APD. CEO Matt Berman says: That means focusing on key functional areas such as counters, flow lines, and sinks and stoves.
Berman said his company typically places overhead lights along the lines of the cabinetry, rather than installing a grid of recessed fixtures that bathe the room in light.
All of the designers interviewed for this article liked to make ceiling fixtures so discreet that they didn't stand out. When using recessed fixtures, small diameter ceiling lights with a 2- to 3-inch opening are preferred, as well as trimless designs that are installed flush with the ceiling with drywall compound applied. Berman also likes his system of recessed tracks that allow him to install multiple lights within one cut in the ceiling.
Add more light above your work surface
Even if most of the room is lit, it's helpful to have some focused task lighting at the counter where you'll be doing tasks like chopping vegetables, carving meat, and grating cheese. If you don't have upper cabinets, one option is to install simple sconces or pendants to provide light on the counter.
Feldman added brass sconces above the countertop in her kitchen. Moore uses retractable scissor-arm sconces to provide light where it's needed.
If you have upper cabinets, we usually recommend adding an LED strip under the counter. By hiding it behind a display shelf or recessing it into a cabinet, you can illuminate the entire length of your counter while remaining hidden from view.
Los Angeles interior designer Meghan Eisenberg chose stylish wall sconces to illuminate her kitchen countertops, but now she wishes she had added under-cabinet lighting as well. says.
“We didn't do it, and I've lived to regret it,” she said. “It's really helpful to have under-cabinet lighting when you're cleaning and there's shadows on the cabinets above.”
If you're concerned that the interior of some cabinets is too dark, you can also add LED strips inside the cabinet that automatically light up when a door or drawer is opened.
Make a statement with decorative fixtures
Just like in your dining room, don't ignore the opportunity to make a statement with decorative fixtures in your kitchen. Often this is a chandelier or a series of pendant lamps above the island.
Mr. Jenkins, of WRJ Design, used a brass and bubble glass chandelier by Lindsay Adelman, leather and frosted glass pendants by Allied Manufacturers, and smoky blown glass linear fixtures by Gabrielle Scott to create a dramatic produced an effect.
“You have a great interior, and when you put some beautiful lighting into it, it enhances it and creates a focal point,” he said.
But it's important to consider what else is around that match, he added. If a great light fixture blocks the view to a window with a view, Jenkins would look for a light fixture with a clear glass diffuser. If not, you may choose fixtures with opaque or translucent shades that will be affected by other materials used in your kitchen cabinets and furniture.
Eisenberg said if your kitchen is open to other living spaces, it's also wise to research nearby lighting fixtures. If her kitchen island is next to her dining table, she'll hang one statement fixture on just her one in that area.
“I always choose places that I want people to pay attention to,” she said. “I don't want to have one pendant hanging over the dining room table and another pendant in the kitchen.”
plan controls
To get the most out of so many lighting layers, you need to be able to control them. At a minimum, different types of lighting (general lighting, task lighting, decorative lighting) should be divided into separate switches. It is even more effective to use a dimmer.
The next step up is a home automation system with smart dimmers that will allow you to set the scene for different times of day and uses. “This way you can set up a night scene with dim lighting and a nice, bright morning scene,” Berman said.
It's also important to know the color temperature of the different lights you plan to use. LEDs, which have a color temperature of 2,700 Kelvin, he said, are similar to incandescent bulbs, but in the kitchen, “we're going to go up to 3,000 Kelvin, which is a little bit brighter and whiter.”
This color temperature is great when making breakfast, but may not be ideal if you want warm, dim light during cocktail hour. One solution, Berman said, is to look for light fixtures that use dim LEDs to warm LEDs, gradually transitioning to warmer color temperatures as you dim them.
All light fixtures in your kitchen should have a similar color temperature, whether you use dim or warm lighting.
“There's nothing more annoying than having a nice, warm light in one area and then having a bright, white, fluorescent-like light next to it,” Jenkins said.
Adopt plugin options
Most kitchen lighting is built-in, but plug-in lamps can add a few lumens to dark corners for an extra touch of style. Eisenberg, Feldman and Moore have all used table lamps in their kitchens.
“I always love table lamps above the counter,” Moore said. “I love that it feels like a piece of furniture,” she added, especially now that the kitchen serves as a living space.
Feldman liked the look so much that he designed one kitchen with switched outlets above the wall shelves. This allowed me to plug in a table lamp and wire it to a dimmer on the same wall as the sconce.
“Lamps are a really fun and beautiful way to dress up a space,” Ms. Feldman said.
After all, lighting your kitchen is “really the sum of all its parts,” she added. “It's no different than cooking with multiple ingredients in the kitchen.”
If you would like to receive weekly email updates on residential real estate news, please sign up here.
