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Authors Website: www.lamplightworld.com
Many kitchens these days are not just small sized rooms complete with cooker, fridge freezer and table. Many are now open plan areas, often with a diner
or informal living rooms areas complete with sofa and television. A lot of your family and friends will gather here socially and therefore kitchen lighting
has many tasks it needs to fulfill.
Whilst planning the lighting for your kitchen be aware that any lighting scheme you propose must have a dual purpose. It must be functional as well as pleasing
to the eye and fit in with the decor of that room as well.
When trying to decide upon the type of lighting, think about the tasks that you carry out the most in the kitchen and the sort of movements you need to
make in order to complete these tasks. For example, walking from the fridge to the cooker, from the larder to the table etc. What about the sink areas and
the stove areas? Is your one central pendant going to be sufficient to provide the light to illuminate these areas? Is the light adequate to make the tasks
of dish washing and cooking easier? Are you able to easily distinguish between dirty and clean dishes?
A clean and simple way of providing additional kitchen lighting is to make use of concealed fluorescent lights in your wall-mounted storage cabinets. By
having these light fittings on the underside of the units you are effectively providing light for the worktops, which are beautifully illuminated but the
lighting itself is hidden out of sight. Clean and highly effective.
Similarly by positioning the fluorescent lights on the top of the wall-mounted cabinets, you are causing the light to bounce off the ceiling and upper parts
of the walls thus providing diffuse, indirect light for the kitchen.
As well as the style of lighting fixtures, it is important to take into consideration the color-rendering qualities of the light source. Generally speaking,
with regard to fluorescent lighting, elect for the "warm" tubes which will greatly enhance the visual appearance of the food. "Cool" tubes will cause red
meat and green vegetables to appear grey - not very complimentary at all.
Although fluorescent lighting is widely found in kitchens these days, it is slowly being overtaken by tungsten lighting as the preferred kitchen lighting
source. Tungsten lighting has a more warmer, cozier glow and is perfect for the kitchen environment whereas fluorescent lighting tends to be more harsh
and clinical looking.
Pendant lighting is a popular choice for kitchen and dining areas. Hanging pendants tend to be used in non-cooking activities, mainly for providing a soft,
comforting glow whilst eating. The more commonly used kitchen pendant lights tend to be the tiffany style hanging pendants which, with their bright colors
and intricate nature-inspired patterns, have a brightness and glow that can provide just the right ambience for an intimate meal.
The beauty of utilizing pendants is that with a bit of creative flair, they can be used in a variety of ways for different uses. You could group a row of
pendant lights over a worktop. Ensure that they are close enough to each other so that they provide a consistent level of light.
Another favorite form of kitchen light is to use rise-and-fall light fittings which, as well as providing focused pools of light, can be adjusted to point
any which way.
These are just some of the things to bear in mind when designing your kitchen lighting scheme.
© 2007 Lauren Tyler - Esam Trading,LLC
Note: This article was submitted by a second party and the contents are subject to our
disclaimer.
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