The kitchen is one of the most important rooms in any home and is where many households spend a lot of time each week. As a result, it’s the area in the property that’s worth investing plenty of time, money, and energy into designing well, whether you’re preparing for renovations or going to build a new home.
The right light can make all the difference to how functional it is, how it looks and feels, and the ambiance created. Consider a few tips when creating your ultimate kitchen in 2023 or beyond.
Design Based on Tasks Completed in the Space
For starters, put in lighting that will suit how you use your preparation and cooking area. Think about the tasks you complete in the space and then design your lighting based on this. For example, you’ll want good light to chop, mix, measure, and serve food, as well as enough illumination to read recipes and the like, clean, etc.
In the kitchen, you might also polish silverware, eat at a counter, want to create a romantic ambiance, or supervise children who do homework nearby while you cook. You might also chat with friends or family as you prepare and serve food.
Think In Layers
When it comes to kitchen lighting, as the above demonstrates, there are multiple tasks you’ll do in the space, so it’s best to think about layers of illumination. For example, hopefully, you’ll already have plenty of natural light from the windows in your kitchen. If not, consider installing a skylight or two.
Plus, you’ll want to ensure you have ample overhead lighting to give you ambiance, such as what you get from track lighting, chandeliers, or pendant lights, and you’ll want some other more compact and task-oriented options, too.
You might like to install some recessed lighting with dimmer switches so you can turn up or down the brightness depending on the mood you want to set or the jobs you want to complete underneath them. These can be directed at parts of your kitchen where you know you need bright lights to see by, such as the island bench where you chop food.
It’s also helpful to buy a smart ceiling fan with a built-in light if the kitchen gets hot during many months of the year and you don’t have air conditioning or want to use a fan instead at many points. Plus, add some accent lighting to draw attention to things in the room you want to showcase or places where you want to give more of a feeling of depth. For example, use accent lights to highlight a beautiful art piece, an architectural feature in the room, or your collection of fine glassware or dinnerware, etc.
Utilize Motion-Sensor Products
Something that many people don’t think to do in their kitchens when it comes to lighting is to utilize motion-sensor products. However, if your space is like many others’, some areas are likely harder to see properly than others. This situation might occur at the back of your kitchen cupboards or in the recesses of the pantry, for instance.
Motion-sensor lights can help to combat this issue without requiring a lot of power drain. You can set up the sensors so they activate only when a door gets opened, giving you the illumination needed to find what you’re after but ensuring you’re not paying for electricity constantly.
Remember the Designer’s “Rule of Three”
Lastly, keep the interior designer’s popular “Rule of Three” in mind when you design kitchen lighting in your home. This phrase is about the idea that humans typically find items arranged in odd numbers, three in particular, most visually appealing. It looks “right” to our eyes and adds a sense of balance and interest.
While this rule suits product groupings of five, seven, or more items, three tends to be the magical number for many types of goods and different spaces. As a result, you might install three lights in your kitchen to create a beautiful look and feel.
You might purchase three matching hanging pendants to sit above your kitchen island or choose three, five, or seven recessed lights in the ceiling of your cooking preparation space.
As you can see, there’s more to kitchen illumination than meets the eye. Think about the above factors when designing this crucial area of your home in the future.
