Kitchen Lighting Design
What you choose as kitchen lighting can be make or break for functionality, ambience and design. Whether your kitchen is modern with a clean lines design, or traditional, these lighting trends can be adapted to all styles.
This article will help you to decide what kind of kitchen lighting trend will suit your kitchen best, and explain the kitchen interior design trends to look out for.
Types of Kitchen Lighting Available
First of all, you need to understand the different types of lighting available. Natural light is always welcomed, but not all kitchen areas have the luxury of being naturally well-lit. All kitchens require good task lighting above food preparation areas for ease of cooking and safety. This can be in the form of downlights, under-cabinet lighting and overhead lighting such as pendant lighting. It is important to only use light where it is required and to not block light with objects on your kitchen worktops.
For main lighting that is spread evenly throughout the room, hanging lights are often the preferred choice. Make sure that no lighting is installed at eye-level so as not to cause glare and inconvenience.
As well as setting the mood, accent light can be used to draw the eye to certain features or objects, such as spotlights in glass cabinets with your finest crockery. Leading light can be used to highlight the opening to drawers in a Milano style kitchen. Kitchen lighting can also be used to make rooms appear larger when directional spotlights are angles up towards the cupboards and walls.
Kitchen Lighting Trends 2018
Trends this year seem to favour “vintage” pendant lighting and copper accents. These take ideas from urban lighting and styles from across the globe in countries such as Morocco. Multi-level ceiling lighting has also been popular because people want their central lighting to be a feature, expanding on the old-school chandelier idea.
On the flipside, modern glossy kitchens have seen an increase in LED lighting for its design and cost-saving features. LED strip lighting running under kitchen cabinets compliments the clean lines look and hides any wiring.
A huge kitchen lighting trend is being eco-friendly which may explain the increase in the amount of LED kitchen lighting sold due to its energy-efficiency and low wattage. Consumers are looking for ways to live in a more sustainable way and save running costs at the same time.
Mood lighting in kitchens has become very popular. Despite not being bright enough or angled in a way to support task lighting, it can be used very nicely alongside it or as a night time alternative to dimly light the room for minimal tasks. With the extensive range of LED strips and colours, the mood can be changed at the touch of a button and lighting can be hidden in coves or under cabinets.
