LIGHTING FOR YOUR KITCHEN
It is not the first thing that comes to mind with your kitchen design however, lighting is a key component of smart design; it affects the way you use the space but also how it feels. Here are some tips to consider when choosing your kitchen lighting.
ACCESSORISE
Lights need to look good during the day as well as at night. You also want your light fittings to be functional. Beautiful light fittings should be eye-catching even when they’re not lit. Pendant lights are a good choice, drawing the eye in and adding style. They also have the benefit of being very easy to change compared with built-in fittings, so you can keep up to date with your home styling.
FUNCTIONALITY
Your kitchen is a very versatile room. It can go from chopping veggies and cooking dinner to signing permission slips and helping kids with their homework all in the one afternoon. You need a clear direct light at the ready. Directional lighting navigates light downwards, creating intense light in one spot – perfect for task lighting, when you need the intensity to see things clearly. Pendant lights are a good way of adding directional light to your kitchen island, dropping the light low enough to prevent glare and shadows. In addition to pendants, you might use carefully positioned down lights for task lighting in the kitchen or a suspended LED profile.
CONSIDER THE SPACE
Make sure you know the kitchen space and its dimensions so you can plan accordingly.
The bottom of your pendant light should hang no lower than 1.8 metres from the floor, just above eye level. With the average ceiling height in Australia ranging from 2.5-to-2.7 metres. A huge feature pendant might look amazing online, but if there is not enough cord it can look silly. Mini pendants can be the best choice allowing for a longer cord so that everything is in proportion. In addition to the length of your pendants you should consider the configuration of your lights based on the length and width of your benchtop or island.
PRACTICALITY
We all want our lighting looking beautiful, however they also need to be practical and make your life easy. It’s a kitchen so that means they need to be resistant to smoke, resistant to moisture from steam and easy to clean. It’s also a good idea to make sure lights in such a high use area are energy efficient.
When choosing kitchen pendant lights it’s best to stick to materials that are easy to clean such as metal and glass.