When you’re able to build your dream kitchen, you can complement it with beautiful colors, open space to entertain guests, and natural materials that reflect your love of Colorado’s beautiful scenery. But that’s not all. There are always ways to use light to brighten up and enhance your space even further.
Kitchen designers know the importance of utilizing light correctly. You want your kitchen to be a relaxing, airy space for hosting friends and family. It should be comfortable, soothing, and easy on the eyes. Using natural light from skylights or windows, custom, warm light fixtures, or hanging pendant or under-cabinet lighting can provide the most aesthetically-pleasing environment for cooking or entertaining.
Kitchen Distributors is the premier kitchen design firm in Denver. Our experts, armed with 70 years of experience in designing kitchens for Colorado families, understand the importance of designing the perfect kitchen right for you. We specialize in all kitchen design elements, from modern trends to contemporary and transitional kitchens. We walk you through every step of the process from design to installation.
Maximize Natural Light
Natural light not only provides a more relaxing kitchen space. It can boost positive aspects of your health. According to Healthline, natural light provides measurable health benefits. In a survey of over 1,600 employees conducted by The Harvard Business Review, “access to natural light and views of the outdoors” ranked number one for workplace environment desires. It’s only natural to seek that in your home as well.
Natural light provides a more soothing visual experience than fluorescent lighting and improves your levels of vitamin D, which helps to fight disease and improves mental health, among other benefits. Fluorescent lighting can also cause headaches, worsen mood, and stifle productivity. Other benefits of natural light include:
- Reduced likelihood of seasonal depression
- Improved sleep patterns
- Reduced stress levels caused by use of fluorescent lighting
- Improved vision from relieving stress caused by artificial lights
- Boosted mood and productivity
If you don’t have skylights or windows in your kitchen area, consider using mirrors to spread more natural light around the room, getting rid of curtains or blinds, or using reflective and bright colors.
Utilize Statement Lighting
Unlike domineering overhead lights that provide an industrial, cold feeling, dramatic, yet subtle, statement lighting can warm up your kitchen space and produce a more homey, comfortable feel that you won’t want to leave.
Statement lighting adds a stylish flair in kitchens that utilize more traditional designs that contrasts other aesthetic components, like brass handles for cabinets or drawers. In any kitchen, regardless of style or design, the overhead lights create an atmosphere that matches the architecture of the space.
Hanging lights over an island or countertop can provide adequate lighting for all essential kitchen tasks without being too bright or overbearing. Using a chandelier provides a classy ambiance while being pleasant to the eye. Using floor or desk lamps can spread out the light sources and provide a calming experience for your guests.
Stay On the Softer Side
Soft, under-cabinet lighting provides a warm glow on any countertop while setting a relaxing mood for a night in. Combining hues of dark blue or green, gray, or brown with low impact lighting will blend in a calming environment for cocktail hour, a family meal, or hosting guests for a dinner party.
Custom, dimmable lights can help you determine the mood for any given situation. If you’re prepping for a big meal, like Thanksgiving, utilizing the full brightness might be practical. But when it’s time to host guests or sit down for dinner, dim the lights to allow everyone to settle in and feel at home.
To err on the side of softness, avoid overhead lights or excessive lighting in the kitchen or dining area. Candles can be countertop mood-setters for an intimate meal. Pendants allow for color coordination in the kitchen while providing adequate and relaxing levels of light.
Layer Your Lighting
- Ambient lighting – the primary source of light in the room (a hanging pendant or chandelier)
- Task lighting – lighting used for specific tasks (Stovetop lighting)
- Decorative lighting – the artsy or wow factor in your kitchen (light as a centerpiece or sculpture)
Depending on the party size in your kitchen, you can customize these layers to your situation.
Sustainable Options & Tips for Kitchen Lighting
With the following sustainable lighting options, you won’t only lower your energy bill, you’ll help the environment while you’re at it.
- LED lights: LED lights are highly energy-efficient, reduce light pollution, emit negligible heat, and last longer than incandescent and fluorescent lights. They can save around 90 percent electricity as compared to incandescent lights and 50 percent as compared to compound fluorescent lights.
LED lights also don’t attract bugs like incandescent light bulbs do, which is an added bonus for any kitchen owner. LED lights that are “natural white” or “cool white” are great ambient lights for the kitchen and will save you energy.
- Choose accent lights compared to overhead lights: Instead of having default overhead lights in your kitchen that are either 100 percent on or off, choose accent lights to decorate your kitchen. You can turn one or two off when they’re not in use while having enough light to get tasks done. This will save you money and cut down on your energy consumption.
- Keep lights off during the day: Utilize the natural light you have in your kitchen by keeping artificial lights off during the day. This provides a more calming environment for your daily kitchen tasks and saves unnecessary energy usage. It will also be easier on your eyes and your energy bill.
Conclusion – Using Light to Enhance Your Dream Kitchen
Lighting can determine the mood and tone of your kitchen. Like the icing on a cake, lighting affects the first impression people have of your space: how approachable and appealing it is, the temperature of the room, and your personal style and flair.
The best lighting is natural light, which makes your kitchen shine without artificial lighting impeding on your overall feel. You can also boost your productivity in the kitchen with these lights. Plus, it’s the most cost-effective way to highlight your kitchen organically.
If you don’t have an overabundance of natural light in your kitchen, choose softer, layered options to best complement the use of your kitchen situationally. This lets you transform your kitchen into a speakeasy, a cafeteria for family, a warm oasis for guests, and more. If possible, choose sustainable options like LED lights or accent lights that use less energy.
For all your kitchen designer needs and questions, contact us today to see how our professionals at Kitchen Distributors can bring your specific vision to life. Give us a call at (303) 795-0665 or email us at [email protected] to see how we can begin building your dream kitchen today.
Kitchen Distributors is an award-winning kitchen design team that turns your dream kitchen in Denver, CO to a reality. From concept to full-service construction, we take care of all the details of your future kitchen design, so you can focus on what matters.