Tuesday, September 15, 2009

How To Pick Out Great Kitchen Lighting

Choosing kitchen lighting that will transform the functionality of your kitchen while contributing to its aesthetic appeal is a great way to update one of your home’s most used rooms. Modern kitchen lighting is also designed for energy efficiency, creating not only energy-saving operation, but cost savings as well. Design, function and ease of installation and operation will all come together when you choose the right kitchen lighting.

A Multi-Task Room


In addition to preparing and cooking food your kitchen may also serve as a dining room, a home office and your children’s study and crafts area. Today’s modern kitchens require a great deal more lighting versatility than the traditional single ceiling fixture.


Lighting Design

Design and placement techniques in the modern kitchen will depend on the shape and size of your room as well as the location where specific tasks will be performed. Professional lighting schemes today combine general, accent and task lighting to provide different levels of illumination to support different functions like chopping vegetables and reading recipes. Examine your kitchen and note which lights will be functional and which ones decorative. Write down every kitchen functions you can think of that needs lighting. Examples include working on countertop areas, peering into cabinets and drawers and moving around the work area safely. Functional lighting fixtures include use of fluorescent, recessed, track, spot, pot and other types of lighting including low voltage and intensity level control using dimmer switch operations. Recessed lighting is a popular task lighting choice for areas like over the sink or the stove that provides better illumination for chores conducted in these areas.

Decorative Lighting

A popular choice for eating areas in your kitchen is pendant lighting supplemented with task lighting in specific work areas of the room. Multiple-bulb decorative fixtures make great choices when illuminating areas like an island. Choices for kitchen light fixture finishes include materials like wrought iron, pewter, satin nickel and colored glass.

Accent Lights

Another great lighting choice in the modern day kitchen is accent lighting installed in areas like above and below kitchen cabinets. Accent lights while affecting the room’s ambience can also act in a functional manner. These areas call for the use of miniature track lights as well as strips of low-voltage lighting. A popular choice in modern kitchen designs is use of halogen due to its ability to be dimmed and quality light it produces.

Home Office

Since a new trend in kitchen designs focuses on space used for office-like tasks, different illumination requirements are considered. You might have a need to work on a laptop computer, pay bills, balance a checkbook, sort coupons or read recipes. Lighting a space in your kitchen for doing paperwork without creating glare on a computer screen calls like under-cabinet halogen lighting or desk lamps.

Pendant Lighting

Pendant lighting, also called hanging light fixtures, provide a single source for both task and accent lighting. These hanging, shaded fixtures are available in an array of choices from nostalgia-based antique looking to modern halogen designed. Use of pendant lighting fits a designer’s need to provide an alternative to the usual horizontal lines created with most kitchen light fixtures installed in the ceiling or over countertops and under cabinets. Pendant lighting also provides excellent focused task illumination.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.