The kitchen has been called the heart of a home, and for good reason. A properly designed kitchen is warm and inviting and people flock to that area of the home. Home cooked food is seen as comforting and an inviting kitchen invokes those same emotions. Kitchen ceiling lighting can play a major part in making a kitchen a desirable gathering place.
While it is often not noticed as much as things like cabinets or appliances, lighting is the foundation that allows these higher impact pieces of your design to shine.A good kitchen lighting design will include a multi-tiered approach.
If you've ever been in a kitchen that only has central fixtures, you've seen the effect that is created, with poor coverage and deep shadowing in work areas. Central florescent lighting is especially notorious for this undesirable effect, though it is a low cost lighting solution. While a good central fixture is important for overall light levels, you'll also want to include targeted kitchen ceiling lighting that will cover the areas that are missed. It's also important to take into consideration the size of your space to get the maximum effect.
You should include central lighting in several key areas. Central fixtures should be placed in the kitchen itself and also over the dining room and the eat in kitchen table. These are focus areas, so you'll want to choose fixtures that are pleasing, such as a chandelier. Next, you should focus on otherworking and gathering areas such as the bar, food prep station and sink.
Options such as recessed or pendant lighting can be great options for kitchen ceiling lighting. Keep in mind the design law that things are more pleasing to the eye in odd numbers and use groupings of three to five lights in these spots.
Finally, use ambient lighting for effect and focus. These are especially pleasing when placed above or below the cabinets or shining on shelving featuring plants or kitchen collections. Also, keep in mind that you will often want to adjust each tier separately, especially when entertaining, so keep each lighting area on a separate circuit.
It can be great to have an option to dim lights to create ambiance. While lighting isn't often the most noticed thing about a kitchen, a room with poor lighting will be uninviting and dull.
Using kitchen ceiling lighting can be an easy way to make your other remodeling changes really pop. Follow a tiered approach, focusing on not only central lighting, but lighting focused on work areas and focus spots. By doing so, you will make your kitchen the warmcenter of your home.
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