How to Choose the Right Kitchen Light Fixtures for Your Cooking Space
Shine a new light on your cooking and baking activities.
We tend to focus on appliances and storage space when it comes to the kitchen. However, light fixtures are also very important! Kitchen lighting is designed to brighten and accent your cooking space so you can prep ingredients, cook meals, make coffee, or grab a midnight snack with ease. Not to mention that light fixtures accentuate the beauty of your kitchen countertops, backsplash, and cabinet finishes. Keep reading to learn how to select the right kitchen light fixtures to illuminate your space.
1. Evaluate Your Kitchen's Current Lighting Situation
The first step in choosing kitchen light fixtures is to take stock of the current lighting situation in your kitchen. Do you have a light source above your kitchen island, kitchen sink, or cooking space? Is the style of the light fixtures and the light bulb color temperature to your liking? If you're looking to install new light fixtures, are there ceiling electrical boxes already in place with hookups to your home's electrical system? If not, you may need to have a qualified electrician help install and run electrical lines to the spot where you want to put a light fixture in your kitchen.
2. Identify Spots That Need More Light
Now that you've surveyed your kitchen's current light sources, consider areas for improvement. You might have a stunning kitchen sink window that provides a lot of natural light throughout the day, but does it need more light at night? You can usually identify other dark spots in your kitchen on and around your countertop below the upper kitchen cabinets. The upper cabinets cast shadows on the countertop and prevent overhead lighting from adequately illuminating the space. Once you've identified areas in your kitchen that could use more light, it's time to consider the types of kitchen lighting you want to include.
3. Decide on Three or More Light Sources for Your Kitchen
When choosing kitchen light fixtures, we recommend combining three or more types of lighting. The key is to make sure you have a mix of overhead, task, and accent lighting to brighten or complement every area in your kitchen. Here's a list of light fixtures you can incorporate in your kitchen to elevate style and brightness.
Kitchen Island Lighting
If you have a kitchen island, you know how essential it is to your daily routine. It's where you position seasonal decor, have casual meals, prep ingredients, and enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning. So why not let it shine? Kitchen island lighting is usually designed as a row of pendant lights to properly illuminate the length of the island countertop. If you want more control over where the light shines on your kitchen island, you can opt for track lighting instead. These kitchen light fixtures have a similar horizontal design with multiple lights, but you can move/direct the lights to a particular spot. Both kitchen island and track lighting can have dimmable features, which allows you to control the lights' brightness levels on your kitchen island (great for when just waking up or winding down for the night!).
Doing dishes and washing produce has never been more possible. Pendant lights act as the perfect kitchen sink light fixtures because they typically come as a singular unit with enough light output to illuminate your beautiful farmhouse sink or state-of-the-art faucet. Not to mention, they're also compact enough to fit perfectly between upper cabinets. Pendant lights typically hang about 20"–40" above the countertop surface. We suggest going with a pendant light that has an adjustable hanging length so you can make the best decision for your space.
Once you try under-cabinet lighting, you'll never want to go back. These lights can have warm/incandescent or neutral/cool white color temperature outputs to meet your lighting needs, whether you want a moody candlelight feel or bright LEDs to cast light on your cooking station. Some even have multicolor settings so you can make the lights blue, purple, green, pink, or yellow (and that's just to name a few colors). Under-cabinet lights can be plug-in or battery-operated so you can choose the option that aligns with your space. Have room between your upper cabinets and the ceiling? Consider lining the top of the upper cabinets with these lights for another kitchen light fixture idea that's equally stunning. The lights won't be visible to the eye, but they will create an inviting glow above your cabinets. In love with this lighting option? Review How to Install Under Cabinet Lighting: Your DIY Guide to learn how easy they are to install.
Kitchen ceiling light fixtures are a must because they disperse even and direct light throughout your kitchen from a central point or multiple points (necessary for larger kitchens). You can categorize overhead lights into three main categories: flush/semi-flush mount, recessed, or lighted ceiling fans. Although pendant lights are also ceiling-mounted, they're more used for accent or task lighting. Control the brightness of overhead lights by opting for models with dimming features.
Flush Mount & Semi-Flush Mount: Flush or semi-flush mount light fixtures come in a variety of shapes, designs, and sizes that you can scale to your kitchen's size. Flush mount lights rest completely against the ceiling (great for kitchens with low-ceilings) and typically have a shade that helps filter light throughout the room to prevent glares or harsh light. Semi-flush mount lights are just like flush mounts except they suspend from the ceiling from a short central support column. This makes semi-flush mount lights a great option if you have higher ceilings.
Recessed Lights: Recessed lights are the ultimate "barely-there" light source that go in the ceiling. These lights are perfect for overhead lighting because they're small but bright and you can install multiple on your kitchen's ceiling to achieve the brightness you want. Recessed lighting also pairs super well with pendant lighting because they can provide overhead light without taking away from the pendant light's style and space needs. Check out our Recessed Lighting Calculator to determine how many you need for your kitchen.
Lighted Ceiling Fans: Ceiling fans with lights are exceptional overhead light sources for your kitchen because they help illuminate the room and help to vent cooking odors or smoke/steam. If you can't handle the heat you can just turn on the fan feature for a much-needed breeze.
You might not automatically think of wall sconces when you think of kitchen lighting fixtures, but they can actually be a staple source of accent or task lighting! You can use one or multiple wall sconces above your kitchen sink in place of a pendant light to accentuate the spot and provide brightness. Or you can enlist wall sconces to bookend your upper kitchen cabinets. Want a unique decorative light source to illuminate kitchen countertops? Install a trio of wall sconces along your kitchen backsplash.
At the countertop level, there's actually a lot you can do to brighten things up and add beautiful accent lighting! These countertop light sources work well whether you have upper cabinets or not. Believe it or not, plug-in night lights are a savvy way to add a warm glow to your kitchen countertops, and all you have to do is plug them in. They come in a range of fun designs from seashells to mini lanterns to decorative glass figurines to match your kitchen's style. You can also cozy up your countertops with mini or small table lamps. Table lamps help brighten up countertop corners and create a warm look wherever they go. Worried about being able to reach an outlet? There are plenty of battery-operated table lamps for cord-free lighting!
Tip!
Check out Your Ultimate Guide to Types of Lighting for more lighting types and ideas.
4. Consider Styles & Finish Options
When it comes to choosing a style of lighting for kitchens, there are so many options! From modern to traditional to farmhouse-inspired, industrial, boho, or coastal, you can find kitchen lights in almost any design style you need. Consider light fixtures that have the same metal finishes and design styles as other light fixtures in your kitchen and other rooms. This creates an effortless, design-centered look that translates through your kitchen and the rest of your home.
Tip!
Just as you want to ensure your lighting matches the ambience of your kitchen, you also want to make sure it isn't too large or too small for the space. The right light fixture should adequately light your kitchen without overtaking the space. Review How to Measure for a Ceiling Light to learn how to calculate the best width of a light fixture for your kitchen size.
5. Balance Bright & Ambient Lighting
Now that you've selected the light fixtures for your kitchen, it's time to think about lightbulbs. The best kitchen lighting uses the correct lightbulbs to control the color temperature output and to influence the ambience of the kitchen. We recommend using neutral or cool white lightbulbs for kitchen island pendants and overhead or over-the-sink light fixtures to enhance the overall brightness of the kitchen. Opt for candlelight or warm white lightbulbs for under-cabinet lights or wall sconces to create a warm and inviting space. This blending of color temperature keeps your kitchen from being too bright or too dim.
Tip!
Learn more about your lightbulb options in Types of Lightbulbs: How to Choose the Right One and review How to Layer Lighting in Your Home for helpful tips on how to balance cool and warm lighting tones.
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