Lighting Your Kitchen
Kitchens offer a different set of rules for planning a lighting scheme than any other space. While there are different tips and tricks associated with lighting any kind of room, the particular openness and essential nature of kitchens make them a particular challenge to light. So much of the atmosphere and general feel of a space comes from the lighting, making it an essential starting point for an interior design project. The “DMB Look” relies heavily on lighting to maintain consistent visual themes. Lighting is one of the reasons a home like the Carraway Project, with all of its rich heritage tones and unique cabinet color, still looks at home on our featured project page alongside designs with a cooler palate.
We always start with a general base of recessed lights on a dimmer switch. The first decision comes with the room layout. Where will you need light the most? Usually we’ll use a 4” LED fixture to provide a warm, efficient glow throughout the entire space. The appropriate number of these fixtures will depend on the size of the kitchen. They provide a balanced atmosphere and compliment your natural light sources. LED lights will be smaller and more efficient than their incandescent counterparts, and provide a simplistic and clean look.
From there, we’ll add task lighting. I’m a big fan of under cabinet lights. If you choose LEDs, they’re available in a wide variety of kelvin temperatures (colors), allowing greater customization and flexibility. These can run on a low voltage, and last an incredibly long time making them very efficient and low-maintenance. When paired with a dimmer switch, they make for great ambient mood lighting after dark. Under cabinet lighting illuminates the specific spaces you use every day and makes prep work a breeze. Now that you have your general and task lighting established, it’s time to move on to my favorite part: Decorative Lighting.
These can take many forms, including wall sconces, chandeliers, or pendant lighting, like the fixtures you see over the island in the above photo. The kind of lighting I choose depends on the other selections and the size of a space. The vertical space in a kitchen gives you a lot more chance to play with how the viewer’s gaze is directed. I like the texture and dimension that they add to the kitchen, drawing the eye upward to fill negative space, while providing light to the work and dining space that need it most. They aren’t too small or delicate to compliment the rest of the room. Scale is very much a factor when determining what kind of light your kitchen needs. Avoid picking anything too large to distract or too small to notice in the context of the overall design.
The material you pick for your pendants can also have a huge impact on the style of your space. For example, I wanted a heritage look for the Carraway Project. Material selections can be tricky, and I didn’t want a pendant that felt out of place or time. I worried that anything too notcible would take away from the rest of the kitchen, so I went with a clear glass pendant. It’s tonally consistent with the rest of the room, and gives a soft, bright light that doesn’t distract.
Not every kitchen needs the vertical dimension that pendant lights bring. For the Alexander Project, we used wall sconces to illuminate the many floating shelves. The shelves were an integral part of the design, but they don’t allow room for any under cabinet light. The wall sconces are beautiful but subtle: they don’t clamor for attention or take away from the lovely backsplash. Their small profile allows them to serve a purpose usually fulfilled by task lighting, making them an attractive option.
Ask yourself throughout the process about the stylistic needs of the space. In our Cascade Renovation, I intentionally avoided pendants or other more present and ostentatious decorative lights to prevent a visual distraction from their absolutely gorgeous backsplash. I knew that they wouldn’t fulfill the needs of the space, and the final product is all-the-better for it.
Light fixtures need to figure into how you use your space, and don’t necessarily need to be the sole design feature of the room. Since kitchens often open to other spaces, you should think of your light fixtures as a curated collection. Lighting is a cumulative affect of many distinct choices, and it’s important that they all remain consistent. The size and openness of kitchens means that you’ll need diverse choices to keep the entire space well-lit. Your Kitchen is the emotional center of your home, and chances are its your main work space. The right array of lighting will bring balance, and empower you to make your best creations in an optimized workspace.
Happy Designing!