Whether you are completely renovating and redecorating your kitchen or are just looking to improve the atmosphere of it with some kitchen lighting ideas, LED light guides is here to help.
Interior lighting is a key component to a kitchen and in order to have an aesthetically pleasing kitchen that is also incredibly functional, you need to balance the lighting just right.
It is not just cooking, meal preparation and eating that happens in kitchens these days. Kids do their homework, lists are made, gossip is exchanged and wine is consumed. In 2018, the kitchen is referred to as the heart of the home.
We’re going to look at some kitchen lighting ideas you can steal to get that balance in your kitchen lighting right so that your kitchen can be more functional and comfortable for you, your family and your guests.
By adding some simple kitchen light fixtures, you can transform this house hotspot into something more homely and warming.
Table of Contents
Understanding the Main Types of Lighting used in Kitchens
For kitchens, there are three different types of kitchen lighting that are most commonly used. They are:
- Ambient lighting
- Task lighting
- Accent lighting
Ambient Kitchen Lighting Ideas
Ambient kitchen lighting is generally a main source of light. It is normally used to either make the natural light flooding in from the window and door brighter or light up the room if there is no light at all.
It is best to try and flood as much light into a kitchen, as evenly as possible from the ceiling of your kitchen lights. This can be done using various kitchen light fixtures such as flush mounts, recessed lighting, pendant lights, and chandeliers lights to name a few.
Task Kitchen Lighting
Although ambient kitchen lighting provides a lot of light for your kitchen, there are often areas that are missed out. This is where task lighting comes in handy for your kitchen lights.
Cabinets and work surfaces can be better illuminated using the latest and best under cabinet lighting or LED puck lights as a complement to ambient kitchen lighting.
These are generally non-permanent installations, compared to permanent kitchen light fixtures, and are relatively easy to install.
Accent Kitchen Lighting
Accent lighting can be seen as the finishing touches that help to accentuate areas and elements of the room. Cabinet LED strip lights, toe kick lights, kitchen light fixtures and many others can be used as a form of accent lighting.
Illuminate Key Areas
By illuminating key areas in your kitchen with light, you can help to add more layers to your kitchen to give it more depth. Some key areas where you can do this include with some kitchen light fixtures and other kinds of kitchen lights are:
- Over islands
- Under cabinets
Over Island Kitchen Lighting – Pendant & Recessed
Kitchen island lighting ideas are generally used for two reasons. Although it depends if you have an island that is predominately used for sitting and just chilling and socializing or if it has one that it is integrated workspace and cooking area, you will want to light that area well.
Kitchen island lighting ideas have become increasingly popular for people looking at kitchen light fixtures and other lighting solutions. If your island is used for carrying out a lot of tasks, then it may be good to have a combination of hanging lights and recessed downlighting.
However, if your islands are used for socializing and generally hanging out around mini pendant kitchen lights make a great choice of kitchen lighting fixtures.
Under Cabinet Lighting Fixtures
Lighting under the cabinets is useful if the ambient kitchen lighting you have is good, but still leaves darker areas. Undeer cabinet lighting can be used for cabinetry, work surfaces and as task lighting.
The most commonly used under cabinet lighting are:
- Puck lights – These are oval and round shaped and ideal for mood lights and are ideal for adding illumination to countertops in the form of either a pool, spot or scallop of light.
- Strip lights – LED light strips are versatile and are ideal for cabinets, such as low and on the interior. Particularly, if ambient lighting doesn’t reach certain areas.
Give the Ceiling Special Attention With Lighting
Obviously, as ambient kitchen lighting will make up the biggest part of the lighting for your kitchen and that will be provided from above, that needs to have special attention.
One of your best options for your kitchen ambient lighting would be recessed downlighting, which unless you have a relatively small kitchen, is something of an essential lighting solution.
In a small kitchen you can rely on just a single big flush mount in the center of the ceiling, kitchen ceiling light fixtures are the best way to do this. But, the use of recessed lights provides you with a much more refined and tailored lighting
When arranging it, you want to make sure enough light is spread evenly enough around the room, with a distinct emphasis on illuminating the areas where there is high levels of traffic and use. If you’re concerned about making it too bright, incorporate dimmers into the system.
Another great idea for ambient lighting in your kitchen would be to use either semi-flush mount or flush mount lighting.
This is effective if you don’t have as much space to illuminate and there is also the benefit that using this kind of lighting can help to add an additional touch of style to the room, compared to recessed lights which are more or less hidden from sight.
Making your Kitchen Really Stand Out with Accent Lighting
Accent kitchen lighting fixtures can be very effective for helping to make particular parts of your kitchen stand out and give it a real individual look and feel.
If you’re not looking for kitchen ceiling light fixtures, here are some of the options you have open to you when it comes to accent lighting are:
Recessed lights – These can more or less be placed wherever you like or need. They are an especially important choice when you are looking to light glass cabinets, open shelves and other sections of your kitchen that are visually important or interesting.
Over Cabinet lighting – Over cabinet lighting, when used effectively, can add a touch of depth and even drama to the room. They work in a similar way to under cabinet lighting in that they can be used to illuminate architecture and decor.
Toe Kick Board lighting – These lights can be used to give that real individual look to your kitchen and also have the rather practical value of being useful for creating a lit-up pathway. LED tape and rope lights are the most commonly used forms of toe lighting when it comes to lighting ideas.