Best Kitchen Lighting Ideas for Functionality and Style

PHOTO CREDIT: BO & DOT

More than other room in the house, kitchen lighting matters. As the heart of the home, the kitchen is a place to cook delicious food and enjoy being with the people you love, both of which require very specific (and different) types of lighting. Not only can light dramatically change the look and feel of your kitchen, but it can make or break the meals you are planning as high visibility is essential when you are cooking. Whether you want to update your current fixtures or are planning on building your kitchen from scratch, these kitchen lighting ideas keep both functionality and style in mind.

PHOTO CREDIT: PAULA INTERIORS

There are three categories of kitchen lighting: ambient, task, and accent. You’ll want a mixture of the three to cover all your bases, creating a layered lighting scheme that meets your exact needs. 

Ambient Lighting

Ambient kitchen lighting provides the overall illumination for a space. This type of lighting primarily comes in the form of ceiling light fixtures like recessed lighting, chandeliers and pendant lights. It works in tandem with natural light coming from the windows to create a bright, yet not harsh ambiance. 

Task Lighting

PHOTO CREDIT: PAULA INTERIORS

If you’re the cook in the family, you know how important it is to have task lighting. It’s how you are able to see what you are doing while you are cooking, chopping, cleaning, and reading recipes. The most common types of task lighting fixtures in a functional kitchen include LED strip lights and undercabinet lighting. 

Accent Lighting

Finally, there’s accent lighting, which is responsible for adding ambiance to your space. Accent lights focus on one particular spot or object, setting the mood without illuminating the entire room. Some popular accent light fixtures include toe kick lights, wall sconces, and track lighting.

Our Most Popular Kitchen Lighting Fixtures 

1.   Statement Chandelier

As a type of ambient kitchen lighting, chandeliers are a great way to add style to your kitchen as well as general light. When choosing a statement chandelier, it’s important to take into account the size of your kitchen and the overall style of your home to keep it from feeling out of proportion. For example, we recently desinged a breakfast nook with a modern chandelier hanging over an intimate table for four. We take careful consideration into the height of hanging light fixtures because they can bump heads when they are too low and lose impact when they are too high. 

2.           Pendant Lights

While chandeliers have many bulbs on one fixture, pendant lights feature just one bulb on each. Recently, they’ve become very popular in contemporary kitchens. One way we love using pendant lights is to hang three over a kitchen island, as we did in this recent kitchen design. They not only add a focal point to the space, but also spread light evenly across an area where you do a lot of cooking and entertaining. 

3.           Wall Sconces

As wall sconces focus light on one specific spot, they can be used as accent lights to set the mood in your kitchen for celebrating. There are endless styles of wall sconces to choose from and we’re always happy to make suggestions for our clients depending on what design style they prefer.

4.           Under Cabinet Lights

Under cabinet lights are popular for task lighting and come in an array of shapes and styles. Some of the most commonly used are circular puck lights, LED strips, and fluorescent bulbs. All of these will light up your countertop areas, making it easier to see what you're doing. 

5.           Recessed Lighting

Used in many kitchens, recessed lighting is installed into the ceiling to provide general lighting for the room. They blend in when not in use, but provide a lot of light at night without being too obvious as a fixture. They’re especially useful when a dimmer switch is installed because it lets you control the strength of the light. 

Good kitchen lighting fixtures are a must-have in any home. Not only do they provide much-needed illumination for cooking and food prep, but they can also be used to create a warm and inviting ambiance for your guests and family. After years of working on both residential and commercial properties, we have the expertise on beautiful, functional lighting solutions for your kitchen.

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Talk to you soon,

Paula