An article exploring how the lighting in your kitchen can add warmth and depth to your home. We know how a kitchen can sell a home and here we look at how the lighting can show off your kitchen to its best effect.
Many hours are spent in the kitchen, be it cooking, washing-up or making a cup of tea. Some are lucky to have lots of natural light with large windows and doors in the room while others have to make do with light fittings to create the illusion of natural light.
Cabinet lighting:
Under cabinet spot lights can show off your workspaces to great effect. If you have a central light in the middle of the room then it can cause shadows on the worktops from the wall cabinets. Under cabinet lights can be low wattage and provide a gentle hue onto the work surface to allow you to see properly when you are chopping vegetables or preparing a pizza.
Lighting in your home can make or break an interior look. Without good lighting the room can appear much smaller and darker than it is, particularly if your windows are small.
Natural light:
Making the most of natural light means allowing the natural light to flood in to the room. Make sure there aren’t too many items cluttering up the windowsill hindering the light coming in. If you want to have a blind at the window, choose one that can be pulled up tightly so the maximum amount of glass is still visible to allow light into the room during the day.
Once you know what natural light does and doesn’t do in your kitchen then it’s time to look at how you can enhance the light feel in the room. A central bright ceiling light may be great to give you some light but an over bright bulb can be harsh and stark and leave your room feeling cold. Tone down the wattage in your main kitchen light and keep the under cabinet lights on to fill the shadows created by the wall cabinets.
There are many LED lights available now that save you money on your electricity bill but will still light up a room instantly. The main reason most people still have high wattage bulbs in their kitchen is because they need a bulb that will light a room instantly and not take a while to warm up. Nowadays there are many low wattage LED lights that use fewer watts, light up the room as soon as you flick the switch and don’t cost the earth either.
Having multiple spot lights in the room might seem like a chore to install. However they can provide a much more subtle light that can give the warmth and texture to the room that you are looking for. A qualified electrician will be able to install them for you with a standard flick switch or a dimmable switch and use the existing wire that is already in use in your kitchen. No special wiring is needed.
The kitchen is a key room in any home and whether you are looking to buy or sell or stay where you are, whatever size room you have can always benefit from good lighting. Not only is it useful to see whether your toddler has inserted one of her toys in the washing machine but it’s also nice to know good lighting will help you find that bottle of wine at the back of the cupboard you had completely forgotten about.