What is the best lighting for kitchens?

The kitchen is the heart of the home. It's where we prepare meals, organise dinners and generally spend most of the day when we're at home. Any multi-purpose space needs lighting that can cover such a wide variety of tasks that are performed in it. When planning the lighting for a kitchen, you should think of it like a cookbook recipe where you add ingredients.

Ask yourself what you do most often in the kitchen and where you need focused beams of light. Then add accent lighting for visual interest and finally general lighting to create the right mood, atmosphere and overall aesthetic. Add some dimmers, controllers, and light switches at the end and you've got a complete lighting solution. However, let's see in detail how this happens.

Focused lighting on cooking areas

Task lighting focuses on a specific area to provide targeted task lighting. Imagine yourself in the kitchen, think about what you normally do there and where you do it. Divide the kitchen into separate areas that need light - cabinets, drawers, countertops, aisles, sink, etc.

Kitchen cabinet lighting

One of the first things many people do when they walk into the kitchen is turn on the lights and go to the refrigerator, which actually emits light when opened. But what happens if you open a cabinet? Wouldn't it be nice to have a light there as well?

The best solution for lighting kitchen cabinets is to install an LED strip on the underside of each shelf, 1 cm from the front of the cabinets. It will accurately illuminate each cabinet, avoiding any shadow from the front. A great feature of LED strips is that they come in a wide variety of lengths and are easy to install.

LED soft strip (strip lighting) is also an option for cabinets, but use the soft strip with caution. You may be able to see the individual dots, especially if the cabinets are taller. In some cases, depending on the cabinets, you can use 45-degree light channels or L channel soft tape.

LED lights create a different effect, ideal for creating isolated light. Use spot lights to highlight individual items. Their compact size and easy installation make them attractive to homeowners considering a remodel only.

For cabinets with glass doors displaying china or glassware, another option is to create backlighting by placing a soft strip or L-channel (which provide a nice, wide spread of light) on the back of the cabinet, shining up or down.

Kitchen countertop lighting

Some of the most precise tasks in the kitchen are done on the countertops - cutting, food prep, pouring, etc. Countertops are usually underneath upper cabinets, so the easiest way to illuminate them is to install lighting in the form of lamps or an LED strip under the cabinets.

Note that many countertops have shiny surfaces, i.e. marble or granite, so a diffused light source is needed to avoid reflected glare.

It's not a bad idea to place the fixtures in front of the cabinet facing the wall, which will illuminate the countertops well. For easier installation, you can also place them at the back, facing the front. Just keep in mind that people may see the light channels mounted at the back when they sit at the dining table if the cabinets are visible.

Choose the right brightness

When choosing lighting, don't just think about wattage because it only indicates how much energy is being used by the bulb or light source. Rather, think more about the actual amount of light being produced, measured in lumens (the amount of light produced by a light source) and candlepower. The amount of candles needed on countertops depends on the age of the home's occupants. As we age, the lenses of our eyes begin to yellow and become much denser, which affects how much light we see. 50 candles is the standard number, but people over 50 may need 100 candles or more.

What lighting should we put over the kitchen table or island?

If you're using a kitchen island for food prep and other tasks, you'll need targeted lighting before you can think about decorating. While the kitchen island is often the place for decorative fixtures like pendants, most hanging light fixtures distribute light in all directions instead of providing focused beams of light to adequately illuminate the countertop. The absolute same goes for long kitchen tables.

Consider adjustable accent lights or recessed fixtures to better illuminate.  Decorative hanging fixtures can be added as an extra layer of lighting later.