Introduction
hi i’m michael from kitchen cider and we’re going to look at lighting in your kitchen [Music] now when it comes to lighting in your kitchen my general advice is to add lots but to do so in layers and make sure that you control each of these layers individually i like to break lighting down into three main sections ambient task and decorative so we thought we could go through the types of lighting in each of these sections and look at what you need to consider from both a practical and aesthetic point of view and at the end of the video i’ve got a couple of top tips or bright ideas just some extra bits to consider
1. Ambient Lighting: The Foundation
right let’s start with ambient lighting so when i talk about ambient lighting i mean the main lighting in your ceiling typically led recessed lights or pot lights whatever you want to call them this is the lighting to cover the whole room and give that general overall coverage for your kitchen now there are a couple of things to consider with these lights most notably where you position them and how many you need so let’s look at how many you need and i’m afraid it’s the classic it depends the aim with ambient light is to sort of flood the room evenly with light so you want enough lights to cover the room but not so many that the light itself is sort of overlapping on one another and it feels like we’re just stood on the surface of the sun so
this is where we need to look at the size and shape of the room as well as the kitchen layout to determine where we need to place these lights you’ll also need to consider the size of the down lights themselves as the larger the diameter the bigger the light coverage from them so you might not need as many lights or you might be able to space them out slightly further apart and still achieve the same coverage and lastly you also need to consider your ceiling where the joists are as well as any architectural features such as beams or skylights as this might restrict where you can physically install the downlights so with these things in mind let’s look at some positionings i usually like to start with the first row of lighting off from the wall and a good general rule is to try and position these lights in line with the edge of your countertop so about 60 centimeters or about 24 inches off the wall now this is for two reasons one is that it’s far enough in front of any wall cabinets that the light will actually light the whole of the wall cabinet and not just a small part where the light gets cut off if it’s too close and
secondly that it’s not too far off the wall that when you’re stood working at the counter top the lights behind you and it creates a shadow as you’re working so this 60 centimeters or about 24 inches is really the sweet spot for this row of lighting from there i work along the kitchen run and spread the lights anywhere from sort of 90 centimeters up to a meter and a half so sort of three to five feet making sure that none of the lights are closer than that 60 centimeters 24 inches to any wall now the exact distribution of these lights will depend on the size of the lights themselves as well as the size of the room and the height of the ceiling and ultimately how many lights will naturally fit evenly spaced out in the room now there is this sort of loose rule where you can take your ceiling height divide it by two and that gives you the distance that you space your lights out so if you have say an eight foot ceiling you should space your lights four feet apart i think this is an okay rule but really the size of the lights that you’re having and the shape of your room and your kitchen layout are more important things to
consider and if the rule says to spread them out four feet that might not feel like enough you might need more or it might not fit effectively in the size of the room so i’d say it’s more of a starting guide than a definite rule now depending on your kitchen layout you may skip some of these down lights out of the runs and out of their positions if you have an island or a peninsula you might want to reserve those spaces for some pendant lights instead and
although i do strive to try and keep these lights in a sort of uniform row you may need to position one out of line depending on the shape of the room or your kitchen layout for instance if you have a full height cabinet in your run as part of your kitchen layout and one of these ceiling lights ends up being in front of it the 60 centimeters or 24 inches off the wall won’t be enough because the cabinet itself comes out 60 centimeters so in this scenario i would bring that down light about 6 to 12 inches out away from the cabinets depending on the size of the light itself this way you create that separation from the cabinet and allow enough space for the light to actually come down and into the room and into the cabinet when you’ve got it open as i said the goal is to create a full and even coverage of light in the room but not to overdo it so every time you turn the light on you just blinded
2. Task Lighting: Function Meets Style
next up is task lighting so i have two types of lighting i consider to be task lighting and that’s under cabinet lighting and pendant lighting of course pendant lighting could also be described as decorative too but i think they should focus as task lighting foremost now under cabinet lighting can be really important for a functional kitchen it gives that extra light needed for doing those day-to-day tasks like actually prepping and cooking food now while we have our ambient lighting correctly installed above it’s higher up and in the ceiling and the light is generally much softer by the time it comes down and reaches our countertop by adding under cabinet lighting you get much more direct and intentional lighting in the areas that you’re going to be working the most making it a very practical lighting source now there are lots of different under cabinet lighting options on the market from led color changing strips to individual lights fitted at the back of your wall cabinets
and even recessed lights in them as well the type that you have will ultimately come down to what’s available for your particular type of kitchen that you’re getting as well as just what you like the look of personally i like led strip lighting of some description i find they give a better kind of more even and wider light coverage rather than any individual lights or spots that might just give you sort of these pockets of light i also prefer locating the light strip towards the front edge of the wall cabinet again i find this gives a better coverage of light over the whole countertop area rather than having lights at the back of the wall cabinets sort of against the wall sometimes they only light up the back of the countertop and the wall or the splashback rather than the actual area that we’re working in i always recommend getting under cabinet lighting of some description so if you’re designing a new kitchen plan this in early so your electrician can get the wires in place and if you’re retrofitting some under cabinet lighting you may be able to hide the wiring or might have to surface mount them or you can get lights
that can just clip on and they’re battery operated you can operate them with a remote next we’ve got pendant lights having pendant lights over a kitchen island or peninsula brings that more intense lighting down closer to our countertops giving us that more practical task lighting exactly how close to the countertop or how far up above it depends on your height and to some extent the height of your ceilings you’ll want your pendant lights to hang down from the ceiling enough to create that practical task lighting as well as to create that feature look of pendant lights but not so far down that the light fixes themselves are blocking any sight lines through your kitchen or just right in your face as you’re working the general rule is to position the bottom of the light fixture somewhere between 75 to 90 centimeters or 30 to 36 inches above your countertop somewhere around that point is usually good for most people as i said the exact height will depend on your height it’s your kitchen it needs to work for you now as i said pendant lighting can be viewed as decorative
it’s a great way to add some visual interest to your kitchen or help you to achieve a particular style or aesthetic that you’re going for whether that’s one big pendant strip led or a cluster of pendant lights or individual pendant lights however in my opinion if you are having individual pendant lights i would go with either two or three pendant lights no more no less and whether it’s two or three will depend on the size of your island or peninsula and the size of the pendant lights themselves really it’s what feels appropriate for the space if you’re going for two pendant lights make sure that they are evenly spaced in from the edge of the island and evenly from each other this generally gives the best light coverage so if it is an island that we’re talking about take the overall length of that island divide it by three and then position the pendant lights on those third lines this is if you’re looking for that perfect symmetry in your kitchen and same kind of thing if it’s three pendant lights center that first pendant light and then work out evenly from there from the edge of your worktops as well
3. Decorative Lighting: The Finishing Touch
and lastly we’ve got decorative lighting so i would consider decorative lighting to be anything like in cabinet lights for glass fronted wool cabinets or internal draw lighting or lighting inside a ladder cupboard as well as things like strip lighting underneath the countertop at the front edge of your cabinets or things like plinth lighting so where the strip light is underneath the bottom of your base cabinet or even individual lights cut into the plinth itself any additional lighting in your kitchen that isn’t directly designed or used for tasks and could be classed as more non-essential these types of lighting are really more style and aesthetics focused and just that cherry on top of your overall kitchen design but just because they’re more decorative doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t include them it’s these types of details that can really elevate a kitchen or any space really and create a real wow factor and make your kitchen a more joyful user experience
4. Pro Tips & Bright Ideas
right so a couple of top tips or bright ideas some extra things to consider with kitchen lighting probably the most important one which i mentioned at the start and that is to have individual controls or switches for each of the types of lighting that you have as i said lighting is all about layers and you want to be able to control each layer individually you don’t want just one light switch in your kitchen that turns everything on and off all together i would create separate switches for your ambient ceiling lights maybe even two switches depending on how big the room is and how many lights that you actually have and then separate switches for any pendant lights under cabinet lights and any other decorative lights that you might have this means that
you’ll have lots of different options to create different lighting environments and moods in your kitchen depending on what you’re doing i think that’s very important next tip is to consider installing dimmable lighting similar to the last tip this is really all about controlling your lighting environment you could add dimmable lighting everywhere for ultimate control or maybe to just your pendant lights whatever you think makes most sense and you think could be handy to have that extra bit of control over just remember to make sure that any lamps or bulbs especially leds are dimmable and that you’ve got the correct dimmable switches installed for everything as well my next tip is to go with white finished recessed lighting or pot lights now you can usually get these recessed ceiling lights and a whole host of different finishes like stainless steel brass black etc and if you like these
it works for your look then great go for it personally i recommend going with a plain white finish most people will be painting their ceiling white and by having a white finish the lights seem to just blend in with the ceiling i find that if you go for a different finish they become very noticeable and really pull your eye up to the ceiling which can make the room feel busy and can also make the ceiling feel a bit lower and lastly consider the color temperature of your lights now lighting color or lighting temperature is measured in kelvins with a lower number of say around 2000 kelvins being a more orangey red sort of light like candlelight 4000 kelvins being that middle ground and what we would call more of a natural light going all the way up to say 7 000 kelvins which is a much sort of bluer whiter light referred to as a more daylight color again
this is more of a personal choice depending on what kind of look and feel you’re trying to achieve with your lighting i tend to recommend a more natural to daylight color somewhere around four to five thousand for your main ambient and task lighting this gives a bit more of a clearer light and one that can help to focus more whereas the more warmer and orange light can be used to create a more calming atmosphere which you may want to incorporate with some of your decorative lighting there are even smart lights or bulbs out there that you can use that will change their color temperature so something else to consider if you’re looking for the ultimate flexibility and lighting design and control
Conclusion
so there you go i hope this kitchen design lighting guide helped any questions leave a comment below i try my best to answer everything i can as always thank you so much