The Best Lighting Options for a Modern Kitchen Space

Under the Kitchen Cabinets

One of the goals of kitchen lighting is to provide excellent task lighting, which frequently refers to the area beneath your kitchen cabinets or shelves. Using LEDs under the wall kitchen cabinetry to light the countertop is not only a practical solution but also aesthetic. They illuminate the exotic stone backsplashes and countertops, the floor, and the shelving display, creating a floating feeling that is perfect for enhancing space if you also are looking for small kitchen lighting ideas.

Island

As the kitchen island is the second working area, it should constantly be lit so that users can view the whole surface. For this purpose, designers offer to use LED recessed downlights or simple decorative pendants in the quantity of three ones due to odd numbers are more pleasing to the eye. 

Dining Table

A fantastic method to ensure that your culinary items look their best when served is to add more light over the eating space. The best option to achieve this is the use of pendant lights. With their help, it is also possible to create an unmissable feature in the kitchen design. Pendant lights with their low-hanging nature could be used over both the island and the dining table where people don't walk underneath.

Consider the Verticals and Horizontals

When planning it is essential to take into account how the lighting will work in the kitchen vertically, as well as horizontally. Recessed lighting brings widespread light across the entire space, but, as we noted above, to illuminate particular zones in the kitchen low-hanging lights could be needed. This is especially important for a kitchen with high ceilings, where the visual diminishing of scale is highly required sometimes.

In Big Kitchens

Large kitchen spaces or open plan kitchen designs need more light. That's why designers don't afraid to double up existing lightning options both horizontally and vertically. Nowadays, it's common practice to illuminate the big kitchen by using both a large number of recessed lamps and pendant lighting above the island and eating area.

Wall lights

Wall lights are appropriate well in a small kitchen, especially where is a lack of natural light. Choosing the lights it is highly recommended to consider the tallness of the people living in the house and the height of the ceiling. 

Uplighting

To offer additional general light, put uplighting from the tops of the kitchen cabinets. This will also reduce the number of downlights required.

Highlight Skylights

Consider adding illumination to the area surrounding any skylights you have so that they do not appear to be dark holes at night. ‎

Contrast Pendant Lighting

Pendant lighting makes a big impact on room interiors, and their form can often be the final piece of your kitchen design puzzle that brings everything together. The fixtures should create a standout contrast with the entire kitchen space. For example, the dramatically dark green color of pendant lights hanging over an island could collide with white oak kitchen cabinets. This adds structure and thoughtful design touch to the space. Choosing pendant lighting as the general light option you have to make sure that your fixtures have reliability and timeless design. Nowadays, designers prefer to integrate industrial lamps with long steel swing arms into kitchen design allowing users to freely move between the sink and breakfast table.

Grand Chandeliers 

A single pendant lamp is not enough to inject elegance into the kitchen design and just illuminate the entire space. However, the chandelier hanging above an island is a great option to unite a lighting kitchen scheme and create a focal point, especially in a big or open-plan space. Chandelier also is perfect for adding a sense of grandeur and a festive occasion. Moreover, chandelier crystal droplets not only look visually pleasing, but they also shimmer and reflect light, casting it around the room.

Illuminate Storage Cabinets 

Lighting inside pantries, kitchen sideboards, glass-fronted cabinetry, and wall cupboards serves both practical and aesthetic purposes. Such type of lighting can be used to make a feature of glassware, provides an opportunity to create pockets of soft diffused light that can make a focal point and brighten darker corners of the room, or help link the kitchen space with dining or living areas, especially in an open plan room. Ideally, this lighting option has to switch on automatically when opening the doors and switch off when closing. 

Using Downlights

Downlights are strategically placed in your kitchen to provide light only where it's needed. A popular choice is low-glare directional downlights that wash the front of your kitchen units, providing soft reflected light to the entire working area. When the cabinets are open, these downlights also illuminate the inner space. For general lighting in a modern kitchen, dimmable downlights are often the best solution. You can adjust the brightness to suit your needs, from bright for cooking and cleaning to dim for creating a particular mood.

Creating Focal Point

One great way to make a real impact on your kitchen decor is to choose a bold and expressive element to place in the center over the island or dining table. This element should provide ample light for the whole area. Installing dimmable lamps is a great option for adjusting the room's atmosphere as needed. Don't be afraid to use daringly oversized lighting fixtures as they can add character to your kitchen design. A single large and spectacular pendant suspended over the island or breakfast bar can look like a piece of art. Positioning oversized lampshades that hang from the ceiling over the island can maximize task lighting over the workspace and create a widespread warm glow at the center of the room. Thanks to their slightly surreal size, they add a quirky touch to the kitchen's interior design.

Everyone Сhooses LEDs

LED lighting is now a common choice for residential spaces. Incorporating LEDs at different levels in the kitchen has become a popular tradition among manufacturers and users. This lighting option floods the kitchen space with light, providing maximum illumination. LEDs are by far the most energy-efficient option, lasting at least 20,000 hours or ten years. They are also a great way to incorporate bold kitchen ideas into your space. Designers recommend looking for LEDs with warm color rendition to avoid a hospital-like feel. LED strips provide soft, low light and are typically used for backlighting backsplashes and shelving. However, they can also be useful for directing people’s attention through the kitchen space. Another advantage is their compactness – even a large island can be significantly illuminated by tiny lamps on flexible strips.

Take Control of the Light

Lighting control allows users to adjust the mood of the kitchen space. Whether you want to create a bright daytime feel or a more subdued evening atmosphere for entertaining, smart systems offer many options, including color graduation. Controllability is key. Ceiling spotlights should always be dimmable, so users can adjust the functionality of the kitchen while cooking or hosting guests. Remember that task lighting is essential over the most-used areas, so it’s convenient to keep one zone for food and another for a relaxed atmosphere with dimmable lights. Increasingly, customers are opting for self-adjusting lighting systems that respond to the amount of natural light available, ensuring that the balance of lighting is always just right.