Designing the Perfect Urban Kitchen Lighting
Designing the Perfect Urban Kitchen Lighting
Lighting in the kitchen is essential, but it's more difficult to aptly light a kitchen than most realize. We've all worked in that one classic kitchen style, with the single central ceiling light that somehow casts a shadow on every single counter. Without an island or workstation lighting, central lighting just doesn't provide good illumination for food prep. After all, the chef has to stand between the light and every wall-mounted countertop.
Here at Urban Ambiance, we know what home chefs really need: Customized lighting solutions to provide beautiful illumination to every workstation in the kitchen. And there are a surprising number of beautiful ways to do this. Whether you like sconces, pendants, canister lights, or strip-lights, we can help you build the perfect urban kitchen lighting design for stunning home meals and clear illumination of every dish.
Spotlight Illumination for Sink and Stove
Straight-down spotlights or canister lights are ideal for your sink and stove workstations. Stove hoods, in fact, often feature their own light to better illuminate the food on the stove. This is essential to determine the color, consistency, and done-ness of the food you cook. A spotlight is also useful above the sink because you get a clear, one-station view of all your dishes or sink-based prep.
These lights are bright and can provide ample light for cooking even if the rest of the kitchen is pleasantly dim.
Under-Cabinet Lighting for Clear Counters
High cabinets are great for storage, but bad for lighting. Even if you have wall-to-wall canister lights in the center of your kitchen, cabinets often cast shadows on the countertop where you need light the most. So instead, turn those cabinets into a lighting asset.
Mount a row of LED lights on the underside of each over-counter cabinet. That ledge that shadows the counters can now be used to provide beautiful, bright, and pleasantly indirect light for every countertop task.
Foot Lights Direct Midnight Snacking in Safety
Similar tactics can be used on the floor or the underside of lower cabinets. That kick-space can also be illuminated with a line of LEDs to provide safe navigation through the kitchen for a midnight snack. Lights near the floor are safe and create minimal illumination without throwing the ambiance of a peaceful house at night when the overhead lights are off.
Task Activated Motion-Sensor Lights
Another potentially handy innovation in kitchen lighting is to set some lights on motion-sensors. Specific workstation lights, for example, may only be needed when your working in that particular spot. But the placement of ingredients and the movement of your hands will ensure that light flips on any time someone is cooking. This is great for snacks, meals, helping inexperienced chefs, and ensuring the lights come on when your hands are full.
Install Pantry Lights
Pantries are almost never well-lit enough for comfort. Pantries often have no light at all, leaving ingredients in constant shadow. Other pantries do have a light, but it's dim, up high, and rarely reaches the depths of the shelves. Under-shelf lighting is a great innovation for pantries, and you can also use directed spotlights and even vanity-style arm mounted lights to ensure that you can always see all the way to the back of each pantry shelf.
Cleverly Placed Switches and Smart-Home Integration
Finally, don't forget the switches. Working with your electrician or installation technician, talk about where the wiring for your new lights will go and the best possible places to put a switch. This is your opportunity to design convenience for yourself as well as excellent lighting. Where does your hand naturally go when you want to turn on each light? Where can you sneak in a lightswitch that the whole family can use? Your home and personal kitchen workflow will provide the answers.
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Ready to upgrade your kitchen lighting solutions? Contact us today to explore the many beautiful and practical light fixture options or to discuss your idea of an ideally lit kitchen. We are proud to help homeowners achieve the perfect illumination for every home experience.
