How to Plan your Kitchen Lighting
With the constant evolution of kitchen design, more and more importance is being placed on aspects of the room that may not have been given such significance in the past. Lighting is often under-appreciated but it is vitally important in creating the perfect atmosphere for you and your guests.
Cupboards Lighting in cupboards can add a new lease of life to your storage. Whether you have glass-fronted cupboards or opaque ones, some subtle lighting that illuminates the area can be perfect for that extra little bit of character. Lighting in cupboards works well with items like glassware – the light reflects off the glasses to create beautiful effects.
Mood Lighting Adjustable lighting can be fantastic for a catalogue of reasons. When you need visibility for cooking or cleaning, you can have the lights at full brightness, but when you would like to create more of an atmosphere for dinner or a party, you can simply alter the brightness and maybe even the hue of the lighting to engineer a perfect ambience for you and your guests.
Modern or Traditional? Lighting can have different impacts depending on the overall
design of your kitchen. Adding some unique lighting solutions to a modern kitchen can add to the sleek, minimalist feel of the room, whilst doing the same to a traditional kitchen can inject a bit of contemporary influence. It is important that you consider, however, what lighting solutions go best with your particular style of kitchen before you install them.
Work Lighting You can also install a lighting solution that makes the work side of using the kitchen easier. Work lighting, also known as task lighting can be installed in specific areas, such as above worktops, sinks, on the undersides of cupboards with the aim of illuminating your workspaces without dominating the room.
Energy Efficiency If you are trying to improve the lighting situation in your kitchen, it can be tempting to install a lot of lighting and in turn increase your energy consumption. The advent of LED lights, which use between eight or 10W are considerably more energy efficient that traditional lighting which can use up to 50W. A large kitchen with 14 lights and under-cupboard lighting can use as little as 200W. Carefully check the packaging of your chosen lighting to ensure you are not sacrificing colour or brightness for efficiency. The colour temperature should be around 2,700 Kelvin and a Colour Rendition Index (CRI) rating of over 90.
Touchstone Worktops are experts in the supply and installation of granite, quartz, marble and natural stone worktops. If you would like us to help you create the perfect kitchen, get in touch with us today and we’ll be happy to help.
