Getting the most from your kitchen lighting

Lighting is quite clearly crucial in any room in a modern household but this arguably applies most closely to what is, in most cases nowadays, the busiest room in the house: the kitchen.

Making sure you get the lighting scheme right in your kitchen requires a delicate balancing act between choosing the sort of illumination that will show off the style and colour schemes you've chosen for your room whilst also providing practical light to enable you to perform the many tasks performed in this area safely and effectively.

General ambient and accent illumination in kitchens can be provided by lights either embedded in or hanging from the ceiling. Depending upon how these lights are arranged in the room, the illumination will show off the different tones and shades included within your kitchen design. However, these lights are unfit for performing intricate tasks like chopping meat and vegetables, since they easily cast the sort of shadows that can affect vision. Whilst this is clearly impractical, inadequate lighting can also be a serious hazard, since accidents during food preparation increase as a result of poor lighting.

The key to improving visibility isn't, as you might expect, the amount of light in the room, but rather the contrast in light throughout the room. Here are a few tips to improve the task lighting in your kitchen:

Spotlights directed above the kitchen worktop upon which you use your chopping board provide a great way to improve the contrast of light in your room and could even improve your chopping skills. Fluorescent under cabinet lighting and energy efficient halogen bulbs are ideal for creating small pockets of light which are suitable for the kitchen environment and can even save you cash through lower electricity usage. The number of styles and shades of under cabinet lighting available these days is staggering compared to the range on offer even 10 or 15 years ago. From a garish blue tone to a relaxed cream shade, pick a colour that suits the mood and atmosphere in your kitchen.

Underhood lighting for your oven is another wise choice that won't set you back too much money but will make a massive difference with regards to how easy and safe it is to cook food and take heavy pots out of boiling hot ovens.

• Any adjustable light fittings in the ceiling are perfect as you can direct the illumination as and when you need it, no matter what task you’re performing in the kitchen. Track lighting is great for this purpose as you can easily direct the lights towards you or away from you depending upon your needs and can also be another energy-efficient way to illuminate such a crucial room. Make sure you get hold of a free kitchen planner online to help you visualise where you should install your lights on your ceiling.



• There are many different styles of modern lamp which, if you don’t mind them on your kitchen worktops, can add adjustable light to the room.



• By adding these pockets of light you can make the busiest room in your home much safer and more efficient for both yourself and your family.
   

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