How to plan your kitchen lighting

Apr 2

Your kitchen is probably the most hardworking room in your house, being used from first thing in the morning, throughout the day and into the evening. A carefully planned lighting scheme will impact how your kitchen functions for you throughout the day, as well as it’s atmosphere, mood and zones.

Separating lighting into three different purposes - task, accent and ambient - is the key to creating a successful lighting scheme for any room. Having these lights on different circuits allows you to control the atmosphere

Task lighting

Task lighting is the lighting that we require to be able to clearly see specific functions that we need to perform in a room. Think of a reading lamp next to an armchair, directed in a way that a person reading a book can clearly see the pages.

In the kitchen, it’s extremely important to have focussed areas of light for precise tasks, especially when preparing food or cleaning. Areas where you might want to add task light include:

Underneath cabinets, highlighting the countertops for food preparation
By the sink for cleaning and washing up
Illuminating the inside of cabinets to show the contents clearly
Within drawers to highlight their contents

Accent lighting

Accent lighting is more decorative, and its purpose is to highlight areas that we want the eye to be drawn to in a room, so that could be architectural features, focal points or decorative objects.

Because a kitchen is such a functional space, adding accents is a good way to add some character, atmosphere and warmth. Some examples of accent lighting you might want to include:

LED lighting above wall cabinets or above the toe kick - be careful with this as it can sometimes start to look a bit ‘boy-racer’ if you overdo it
Illuminated glass fronted cabinets or open shelves styled with glassware or attractive kitchen items (we don’t want to be showing off our Sports Direct mug)

Picture lights above art

Ambient lighting

Ambient lighting is also known as general light, and it’s the light that we need to be able to safely walk around a space without tripping or bumping into objects. When planning your lighting, think about where the natural light is in your kitchen as well as the darkest areas to guide where you need to light.

When it comes to the source of ambient lights, there are lots of aesthetically pleasing options aside from the dreaded spotlight. These include:

Surface mounted or flush mounted lights
Adjustable track lights
Pendant lights

When it comes to hanging pendant lights, make sure there’s no exposed bulbs at eye level. The last thing you want is to be sat down enjoying your dinner while a bulb shoots it’s light directly into your eyeballs - so always make sure they’re hung at a suitable height.

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