The most important room is many homes today is the kitchen.
When it comes to kitchen interior design, one of the most important elements
is the lighting.
The kitchen is probably one of the most versatile rooms in the house. Besides
being used to prepare food, it is now a home office, children’s study, and
overall gathering area. With all these different tasks, proper lighting is
essential. Since kitchens are now often used for entertaining, it is also
important to use lighting to set the right mood.
It is fairly simple to select the proper kitchen lighting. Your first job is to
identify those areas in the room that need task lighting, such as the range top,
counter top, sink area, or eating area.
You can create a great work area for your sink and countertop areas by using a
combination of track or recessed lighting and under cabinet lighting. To avoid
glare and shadows you want to mount the under cabinet lights as close to the
back of the cabinets as possible. It is best to pick fluorescent fixtures which
are energy efficient and can cover at least two thirds of the length of the
countertop.
Since breakfast nooks are commonly used for reading you will want to install
overhead lighting. Some common choices in this area are decorative pendant
lights or flexible track lighting. You can ensure that you have adequate light
for all the tasks in this area by placing these lights on a dimmer. You can then
turn them up for homework time and down for entertaining.
Effective kitchen lighting includes layers of lighting made up of ambient
lighting, task lighting, and decorative lighting. Look around your kitchen for
different ways to utilize the various types of lighting to make your kitchen a
functional and inviting room.
Ambient Lighting
This is the regular light for the room. This is the light that is used most
often for casual time spent in the kitchen. A good example of ambient lighting
is track lighting.
Task Lighting
This type of lighting makes it easier and safer to perform a variety of tasks. A
common example of kitchen task lighting is under cabinet lighting. You often
find this kind of lighting in drawers, pantries, closets, and cabinets.
Decorative Lighting
This is accent lighting used to add style and color to your kitchen.
Down Lighting
This type of lighting consists of small aperture cans in the ceiling and is very
energy efficient. These lights produce a nice sharp light without glare.
Low Voltage Track and Mono Rail Lighting
These easy to install lighting systems offer flexibility and interesting touches
to your overall lighting design. |
