You don’t have to delve too deep into the past before you discover an era when the kitchen was regarded less the heart of the home, and more a place where you would cook food, clear up and clear off. Whether the lighting echoed that attitude or was itself responsible, the fact remains it was pretty nasty.
The fluorescent tube spread like a plague, suffusing kitchen spaces with cold, flat light. To be sure it was certainly bright and you would have no difficulty seeing what you were doing. But it was drab and soulless and quite likely to induce a headache after any length of time.
These days, people don’t congregate so much in the lounge but prefer to stop and gather in the kitchen. Contemporary kitchen designs boast features such as breakfast bars, island units and ad hoc informal areas intended for social interaction. But all too often the lighting needs to play catch up.
When it comes down to it, ceiling lights are good at filling a space with light but quite useless for carrying out tasks (like chopping and cooking for instance). Because most kitchen work surfaces and cabinets are laid out against the walls, you can never avoid casting your own shadow over the task area ahead of you.
Ceiling lighting is most definitely an important component as it is an easy way to provide background ambient light (though recessed spotlights are way better than fluorescent tubes). But in order to bring a kitchen to life you really need to install a range of different lighting fittings.
One of the simplest ways to lift a kitchen is with pendant lights suspended reasonably low over strategic locations. These are an especially effective means of lighting a kitchen island for example. Another is to use wall cabinets as lighting platforms.
The position and size of wall units can suggest what types of lighting to add to them. If there is space above, lighting around the coving can be interesting, and it’s usually always possible to suspend strip lights underneath to throw light onto counter tops. For glass or open units you can even install lighting inside them.
These days the easiest method of fitting lights to kitchen cabinets is through the use of lightweight LED light strips. These have very low power consumption and won’t cause problems with heat since they hardly produce any. They are also great for accenting lines by, for example, running along the edge of a plinth.
So if you want to drag your kitchen lighting kicking and screaming into the modern world then think about introducing some LED lights. They look stunning and blend in naturally with the many reflective surfaces present in modern kitchens.
If you’re interested in finding out more then you should enjoy these two articles about kitchen lighting and kitchen cabinet lights in particular.
categories: LED kitchen lighting,kitchen cabinet lights,LED strip lights,kitchen pendant lights,kitchen lights,LED lights,kitchen lighting ideas,lighting,kitchen,home,interior design,decor,makeover