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4 kitchen lighting goals and how to achieve them

By Olivia Shead โ€ข Leave a Comment

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The kitchenย is the heart of the home, so every design element needs to be thought out. Lighting is a key component of smart design; it affects the way you use the space but also how it feels. When designing your kitchen, it’s important to have a number of goals in mind. This will help you take a balanced approach that meets every need, instead of ending up with lights that are perfect in one area but let you down in others. The team behind Lighting Lighting Lightingย share their top tips for lighting your kitchen.

Goal 1: Accessoriseย with lighting

Lights need to look good during the day as well as at night. When choosing light fittings you want them to be both decorative and functional. Beautiful light fittings should be eye-catching even when theyโ€™re not lit. Usually this is one of the easiest goals to achieve, if a light is ugly youโ€™re probably not even going to consider buying it. The trick is to make sure you can fulfill this goal without losing sight of others.

How to make it happen: Pendant lights are the jewellery of the home, drawing the eye in and adding style. Whether you want your kitchen to have a sleek, industrial feel or to be an inviting, vintage space, pendants are an effective way to achieve a particular look. Pendant lights also have the benefit of being very easy to change compared with built-in fittings, so you can keep up to date with your home styling.

Goal 2: Provide task lighting

Your kitchen is where a lot of important household tasks are accomplished: from chopping veggies and cooking dinner to signing permission slips and helping kids with their homework. The lighting in your room needs to facilitate all of that by providing clear, direct light right where you need it. You donโ€™t want to be working in your own shadow or struggling to read a label, but you also donโ€™t want to be squinting because of glare.

How to make it happen: Directional lighting navigates light downwards, creating intense light in one spot. This is perfect for task lighting, when you need the intensity to see things clearly. Pendant lights are a great way of adding directional light to your kitchen island, dropping the light low enough to prevent glare and shadows. In addition to pendants, you might use carefully positioned down lights for task lighting in the kitchen or a suspended LED profile. Whatever lighting solution you choose be careful to select bulbs that are bright enough to properly light the area but do not distort the colour with overly warm light.

Goal 3: Be spatially aware

Choosing the right lights for your kitchen requires you to be spatially aware, make sure you know the space and its dimensions so you can plan accordingly. This lets you decide how many lights you need in a space, what size and type and how you should arrange them. You should always consider the height of your ceiling and the dimensions of your room when choosing lights, especially a pendant.

How to make it happen:ย The bottom of your pendant light should hang no lower than 1.8 metres from the floor, just above eye level. With the average ceiling height in Australia ranging from 2.5-to-2.7 metres, that doesnโ€™t leave a lot of room to play with. A huge feature pendant might look amazing online, but if there is not enough cord it can look silly. Mini pendants can be the best choice allowing for a longer cord so that everything is in proportion. In addition to the length of your pendants you should consider the configuration of your lights based on the length and width of your benchtop or island.

Goal 4: Keep the room practical

In addition to providing light and looking beautiful, lights need to be practical and make your life easy. Itโ€™s a kitchen so that means they need to be resistant to smoke, resistant to moisture from steam and easy to clean. Itโ€™s also a good idea to make sure lights in such a high use area are energy efficient.

How to make it happen: When choosing kitchen pendant lights avoid using fabric as they will absorb smells and moisture and may be prone to mildew. Itโ€™s best to stick to materials that are easy to clean such as metal and glass. The choice of bulb also impacts the practicality of a space, each type has a difference in light distribution and power consumption so be mindful of your choice.

By keeping these four goals in mind when planning lighting for your kitchen you set yourself up for success. With some thought ahead of time you can create a kitchen that is beautiful, functional and well lit.

More on Lightingย Lightingย Lighting | Kitchen inspo

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September 12, 2017

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Comment your fave: 1, 2 or 3? Just 3 of the kitch Comment your fave: 1, 2 or 3?

Just 3 of the kitchens in the @duluxaus Colour Awards 2023 shortlist which will give you some serious inspiration!

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Projects by @studio__bright @kaiko_design and Georgie Shepherd Interior Design. Pix by @arorygardiner @fiona_susanto and @christophermorrisphoto 

#duluxcolour #duluxpaint #duluxaus #duluxcolourawards #duluxcolourawards2023 #moodykitchen #allwhitekitchen #designerkitchen #sagekitchen #boldkitchen #colourfulkitchen #colouredkitchen #theinteriorsaddict #interiorsaddict #jenbishop #heartyourhome #interiorsblog #interiorsaccount
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Nineties townhouse in Lennox Head or villa in Greece? You decide! All up it cost $2000 including all materials and she did the work herself.

Read all about it via link in bio now.

Love your work @twin_palms_lennox

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Wallpaper in every single room! What do you recko Wallpaper in every single room!

What do you reckon? You'd think it would be overkill but it isn't because so many of the designs are subtle yet still impactful.

Head over to the blog to see how @grafico_walls transformed this blank canvas Melbourne townhouse with their products, which you've probably seen on The Block over the years. And read how Damian Corney has grown this Melbourne business with wife Adele and a growing team. There's also a look inside the very cool Motley Hotel which has used a whopping 4km of their wallpaper throughout!

You can also watch a video tour with Bec Douros as the house featured on Open Homes Australia over the weekend.

Via link in bio now.

#wallpapergoals #wallpaperdesign #australianwallart #australianwallpaper #wallmurals #wallpapermural #wallpapermurals #wallpapereddoor #digitalwallpaper #digitallyprintedwallpaper #customwallpaper #wallpaperaesthetic #wallpapertrends #wallpaperaustralia #grafico #graficowallcoverings #melbournebusiness #melbournesmallbusiness #openhomesaustralia #theblock #becdouros
Kids and fluffy chickens. Does it get any cuter?! Kids and fluffy chickens. Does it get any cuter?! 

Braved the rain second morning in a row to feed the animals at @edenfarmescape because life's too short to worry about a bit of mud and drizzle!

Feeling relaxed ๐Ÿฅฐ
Did you see this cracking little transformation on Did you see this cracking little transformation on @sellinghousesaus last night?

We have all the finer details on the blog today via link in bio. Particularly love the kitchen refresh using the existing blue cupboards which really weren't doing anything for me before ๐Ÿ˜‚

#sellinghouses #sellinghousesaustralia #beforeandafterkitchen #beforeandafterrenovation #beforeandafterlivingroom #renoshow #realreno #interiorsblog #interiorsaccount #interiorsaddict #theinteriorsaddict #jenbishop #heartyourhome #bluekitchen #budgetkitchenmakeover #budgetdiy #budgetmakeover
How's this for a compact back yard TRANSFORMATION? How's this for a compact back yard TRANSFORMATION?!

Our friends at @mintdesignau have done it again!

Homeowner Briony Marsh says: Itโ€™s totally changed our home lifestyle now we can sit outside on the lounge in the sun or shade, be in the pool, spa, sauna or cooking pizzas and hanging out with friends. It sounds cliched but it really feels like we are on holiday at home!โ€

Head over to the blog to see the finer details, including a sauna and a seriously good looking copper pizza oven. There's a lot packed into this space!

#backyards #smallpools #smallpool #homesauna #pizzaovens #outdoorpizzaoven #landscapedesigner #mintdesign #holidayathome #resortstylehomes #landscapeartist #backyard #exteriorinspiration #exteriormakeover #exteriordesigns #pergoladesign #interiorsaddict #theinteriorsaddict #jenbishop #heartyourhome
Swipe for before & afters of today's real reno. L Swipe for before & afters of today's real reno.

Located inside a 1912 sandstone villa in Adelaideโ€™s Kensington, this bathroom makeover combines classic and contemporary elements that complement the homeโ€™s original, period features. 

Designed by the homeโ€™s owner @designby_Tahirih, who is a property stylist too, the renovation came sooner than expected after water ingress made the makeover of their only bathroom an urgent necessity!

The whole project cost an impressive $20k, project managed herself.

Read all about it via link in bio now.

#realrenovations #realhomes #realreno #heartyourhome #renoaddict #freestandingbath #classicbathroom #classiccontemporary #classiccontemporaryinteriors #theinteriorsaddict  #interiorsaddict #jenbishop #homestaging #laundrymakeover #bathroomrenovations #bathroomremodels
Maybe it's an antidote to the grey weather but we Maybe it's an antidote to the grey weather but we find some of the most colourful interiors from my motherland, the UK!

This beautiful lilac kitchen is found in a renovated apartment by @llidesign in a grand mansion block in London's Bloomsbury. You can tour the rest of it on the blog now, via link in bio.

#londonapartment #bloomsbury
#bloomsburylondon #luxuryapartment #westendlondon #lilackitchen #colourfulkitchen #londonhome #londonhomes #londoninteriordesigner #londoninteriors #interiorsaddict #theinteriorsdaddict #jenbishop #heartyourhome #kitchenshelf #kitchenshelves #kitchenshelfie #openshelves #openshelvingkitchen
I remember the chair being such a key purchase whe I remember the chair being such a key purchase when I put together my first ever baby room for Seb. I spent many an evening relaxing on mine while pregnant as I tried to get my head around impending motherhood! Not only are glider recliners like the Chelsea fromย @iltuttoย the most comfortable chairs EVER for those many hours spent feeding and settling, why shouldn't they look this good too, am I right?!

Did you love your nursery chair? Did it look this good?!

See more on the Il Tutto Chelsea Glider Recliner Chair via link in bio now.

#feedingchair #nurserychair #nursingchair #reclinerchair #nurseryroomdecor #nursery #nurserygoals #nurserydesign #babyroomdecoration #babyrooms #babyroominspo #interiorsaddict #theinteriorsaddict #jenbishop #heartyourhome #iltutto #newmumlife
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About Olivia Shead

When she's not writing for Interiors Addict, Olivia is now a TV and radio news producer. She's a journalism graduate of UTS Sydney.

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