When thinking about kitchen design, lighting is often one of the most important considerations. Because kitchen lighting can affect so much of what we do in the kitchen and how we do it, planning out our options thoroughly makes perfect sense. In fact, after furniture considerations, the lighting is probably the next most important aspect of the kitchen.
Nowadays, there are literally hundreds of options in lighting fixtures for kitchens, and many of them are quite inexpensive. If you are stuck for ideas on where to go with your lighting, a few hours checking out some home decorating sites, magazines, or even the local homebuilder’s emporium should give you a few ideas.
Planning kitchen lighting presents a few unique challenges due to the nature of the work that goes on in the kitchen. Since most of your activities in the kitchen are functional in nature, you will need adequate lighting that allows you to see what you are doing at all times. Whether you are slicing, cooking, or washing the dishes, you have to make sure that you have enough lighting to do these tasks without any difficulty.
Don’t forget to plan for changing light throughout the day. If you had designed your kitchen properly, you should have all the light you need during the daytime hours, which means that you only really need lighting at night. If your kitchen remains dark during the day however, you will need to figure out kitchen lighting that works during the day as well as at night. Depending on your needs and the amount of light available, you might need to install a dimmer system that will allow you to adjust the light as needed.
In most cases, insulting multiple light sources is preferable to installing a single light source. Multiple light sources will produce a less harsh effect and allow you to precisely illuminate specific areas of your kitchen.