Lighting

The kitchen is often the busiest part of the house and good lighting will help a great deal you with your daily cooking, cleaning, and entertaining. Not only are your meals prepared here, but your family and friends gather here for everything from conversation to canapés. Sufficient and adequate kitchen lighting is a must for performing all your culinary needs, helping your kids with their homework, and reading the paper. When selecting lighting for your kitchen, consider the following:

For general kitchen lighting, decorative fluorescent fixtures centered over a workspace are not only a great source of light but will help save on energy bills. Fluorescent lights are much more powerful than incandescent light bulbs and have a longer shelf life. Kitchens less than 10m2 require a two-lamp fluorescent fixture, while those up to 25m2 will require supplemental lighting such as recessed kitchen lighting or kitchen island pendants. Downlights mounted 45cm from the edge of cabinets and spaced at 90cm to 120cm are an excellent way to create additional lighting.

The use of under-cabinet lighting helps prevent shadows on the counters and adds critical light to the workspace without getting in the way of your task at hand. Fluorescent under-cabinet fixtures are a cost-efficient lighting source and will provide enough light to find what you need in the back of your kitchen pantry. In open areas over sinks, use recessed downlights mounted directly over the sink. Mounting mini-pendants 45cm to 60cm above the work surface is an ideal way to light up a breakfast bar. A pendant with a dimmer hanging 60cm to 75cm above the table is ideal for lighting seating areas. Size the fixture to roughly 30cm less than the diameter of the table.

For kitchen accent lighting, the key is to give your kitchen that extra dimension. Illuminate your special home objects, architectural detail, food presentation areas, or bar sinks with track or recessed lighting. The use of directional lighting will cast light on just the right places in your kitchen.

Because kitchens are used from dawn to dusk, we can't always rely on windows and sky lights to provide us with natural lighting. Choose fluorescent lights to provide that missing ambient lighting. The ambient light provided by fluorescent fixtures will fill in your kitchen's shadows, reduce contrast, and light vertical surfaces to give the space a brighter feel.

Kitchen Lighting Tips:

• A glass or plastic pendant will provide ample "up-lighting" to cover the entire dinette area with light.
• Sketch a plan of your kitchen that focuses on activity areas and then decide what kind of light each area will need: general, task, accent, or decorative.
• Use higher watt bulbs in task areas such as bar or prep sinks, kitchen islands, or breakfast tables.