Now that you’ve selected your kitchen cabinets, backsplash, and flooring materials, it’s time to put a little thought into what type of lighting you want in your kitchen.

Kitchens benefit from a variety of lighting styles and types liked ceiling, recessed, and natural lighting. Let’s take a look at a few excellent solutions that not only work well for overall lighting in your kitchen, but are a great choice for food preparation as well.
 

Recessed Lighting

Recessed lighting, also known as a can light, are installed in the ceiling. They typically use halogen or incandescent bulbs and provide a more general type of lighting for your kitchen.  This type of lighting is great as an overall task light, for being able to see into a pantry, and for food preparation.

However, because they are installed so high into the ceiling, it’s recommended that you use additional types of lighting such as under cabinet lighting and pendant fixtures to help eliminate shadows.

Under Cabinet Lighting

Most of our food prep happens on a counter where there are upper cabinets hung on a wall. While upper cabinets do provide extra storage space they can create dark shadows and make it somewhat difficult to really see what you’re doing.

A great solution to this problem is to install under cabinet lighting. Not only will this get rid of any dark shadows created by the upper cabinets, it will also add another visual dimension to the look and feel of your kitchen, while providing a much-needed source of additional task lighting.

Pendant Light Fixtures

If you have enough space in your kitchen for either a kitchen island or an eat-in-kitchen countertop, a great way to add more décor and lighting over these spaces is to add a beautiful pendant light fixture.
Pendant light fixtures are available in all kinds of sizes, shapes, colors and styles. They are an excellent choice for additional task lighting, illuminating food preparation, and dining. And with so many beautiful options available there is sure to be one to fit your needs.

Track Lighting

Like recessed lighting, track lighting will provide quality light in your kitchen. The difference between track and recessed lighting is that track lighting is surface mounted, and allows much more flexibility with being able to adjust the light where you want it.

This is a great plus when it comes to food preparation, because you can control where the light is pointed, and you won’t have any shadows typically created by recessed lighting.

What are your thoughts about lighting for the kitchen and food preparation? Leave us a comment and let us know.