All too often, lighting is seen as an addendum to a kitchen remodel, or even just a finishing touch. In reality, your lighting design influences not just how your space appears but also how it functions.
The light fixtures you select—and where you place them—will create a specific atmosphere in your kitchen in Seattle and give you the ability to carry out a variety of your daily tasks. Consider the importance of your lighting choices and an integral part of the whole kitchen. Even simply updating your lights as a single project can greatly improve the comfort and value of your Seattle kitchen.
What Type of Lighting is Best for Seattle Kitchen?
For residential spaces, such as your kitchen, there are various options when it comes to specific types of light fixtures. As you make your decision, you’ll want to take into consideration the size of your space, the specific design aesthetic, and how you typically use your kitchen. Additionally, you may have allotted a certain portion of your kitchen remodeling budget to your lights.
To help you prepare for your upcoming kitchen makeover, here is a look at the main types of light fixtures to include in your design:
1. Flush Mount Ceiling Lights
Flush or semi-flush mount lights are versatile and stylish fixtures that fit flush against the ceiling. They are typically shaped like a dome or drum, but you can find square-shaped and bell-shaped fixtures and a range of other styles. Flush mount ceiling lights blend into their surroundings without drawing a lot of attention or extending far into the room, which makes them a good fit for smaller kitchens or other high-traffic spaces. They are generally considered to be general lighting because they disseminate a significant amount of light throughout the whole room, although you can also use flush or semi-flush mount lights to illuminate specific areas, such as your sink area or another workspace.
2. Pendant Lights
Pendant lights are another popular type of general lighting for residential spaces, such as your kitchen. They tend to make a bigger statement than flush mount lights, as they hang down into the kitchen and take up more space. You will especially see them placed over a large kitchen island or a dining nook. There is a wide range of pendant light fixtures, from triple-pendant lights for your kitchen to large drum or bowl pendants and more subtle mini pendants. Antique or old-fashioned kitchen lights also tend to come in pendant format, in comparison to sleek and modern recessed or flush mount fixtures. With pendants, you want to be careful about finding the right choice for the size and style of your kitchen since they are more eye-catching than other light fixtures.
3. Recessed Lights
Recessed lights are actually placed into the ceiling, helping your preserve a sense of openness in your kitchen. Without an exposed fixture, they also require less cleaning to pick up dust and grime. However, you need several recessed lights to fully illuminate a whole room, which is why they work better as an addition to other light sources or to help you achieve more latitude to control the atmosphere in your space. Before installing recessed lights, you have to make sure there is enough open space above the ceiling and that the fixtures won’t interfere with other wiring and plumbing.
4. Under Cabinet Lighting
Under-cabinet lighting really puts a focus on the surface space you use every day for cooking, food prep and numerous other activities. As a result, they elevate the function and comfort of your kitchen, while also augmenting the ambiance by showing of your beautiful kitchen backsplash or other decorative elements. There are several types of under-cabinet lighting to choose from, including LED lighting strips, light bars, and puck lights. LED lighting, in general, tends to be the most popular and energy-efficient form of lighting as opposed to halogen, xenon, or fluorescent lighting.
5. Mixture of Light Fixtures
High-end kitchens, regardless of size or style, tend to have elements of everything for a more complex, versatile design. Even a smaller kitchen will include some type of general lighting along with an installation of task lighting here or there. Especially if you live in a northern location such as Seattle, where it gets darker earlier in the day for large portions of the year, you will want a varied and strategic lighting plan for your remodel. You can further elevate the versatility of your kitchen by installing dimmer switches for the lights and other special features.
Why Does Proper Light Installation Matter?
While it can be fun to pick out the color, material and style of your kitchen light fixtures, putting them in the right locations is an equally important—and a bit more complicated—consideration. Where and how you use the lights will impact their effectiveness and how they contribute to helping you achieve the right look and feel for your kitchen.
For example, lighting a closed-off kitchen requires a different strategy than lighting an open concept kitchen. Without a carefully thought-out plan, you can wind up with too much light in some areas and too many shadows in others.
To help you with this complicated aspect of your Seattle kitchen remodel, it’s worthwhile to call in a professional designer to look at the space you have—as well as how it will change post-renovation. They will collect a series of measurements and discuss your kitchen lighting needs to help you develop a strategy that fits your budget, lifestyle and aesthetic preferences.
Redesigning Your Seattle Kitchen
One of the benefits of working with Innovative Home Renovations for your 2021 kitchen remodel is that our team pays attention to all the small details, not only the big components. Through a collaborative process, we can take your ideas and vision for your space and work them into a remodeling plan that’s designed just for you. We also work off a fixed-priced contract for each project in Seattle to ensure that it is completed on time and on budget.
by Bennett Bottorff