Layers of Lighting: How to Get the Best Kitchen Lighting Design
At Wipliance, we’re excited to share the latest technology that’s transforming how homeowners experience their everyday lives. In today’s world, no technology is more impactful than advanced LED lighting.
Our Layers of Lighting Series explores different rooms and how to make them come alive using this innovative lighting system. In the first of our series, we’re starting with the heart of the home: the place where friends and family congregate to break bread, share a conversation, and toast to tomorrow.
Let’s see how to transform your kitchen into a masterpiece with light.
Layered Lighting Defined
Layers of light refer to using different types of fixtures to create varying levels of illumination. Ambient, task, and accent lighting work together to create a space filled with textures, dimensions, and intrigue. Today’s LED lighting has added another element, enabling you to change the color, intensity, and hue with one touch.
When having friends over for the big game, illuminate the kitchen in your team’s colors. When creating a relaxing atmosphere for wine tasting and appetizers, press ‘Natural Light,’ a feature that aligns your interior lighting with the light outside, creating a warm and cozy atmosphere in the evening.
Illuminating Kitchen Cabinets
Improper lighting in open cabinets can result in glare and discomfort. Pointing the lights below eye-level downward and above eye-level upward keeps the light from shining directly in your eyes. Dimming this light to a warm, golden hue creates a sense of serenity and drama.
Spotlights on the shelves can highlight specific items, like vases, hand-made bowls, and blown glass. Undercabinet lighting pulls out the countertop and chases the shadows away. Direct lighting on closed kitchen cabinet surfaces brings the texture out, the wavy grain that brings wood to life. This same lighting on doors also highlights the grain and can make a space feel larger.
Decorative and Functional
Decorative pendants over the island enhance your kitchen’s design, adding sophistication and visual interest. Brightening these lights with the touch of a button creates the ideal illumination for preparing meals or helping the kids do homework. This type of lighting also lets you see the grain in the stone.
Dimming the lights and setting them to a soft amber glow creates a relaxing mood, the ideal ambiance for a backdrop, and a beautiful space for people to come in and make a drink or grab a snack during halftime or mid-movie break.
Lighting fixtures in vogue include sleek pendants and minimalist chandeliers. The quiet ceiling, another popular fixture in the “less is more” philosophy, incorporates small aperture recessed lighting that dims to a warm glow, similar to a sunset.
Unseen Light
Today’s LED lighting strips installed under the island counter create an inviting atmosphere. Toe kick lighting at the bottom of the island and lower cabinets are ideal as nightlights while helping improve one’s balance by illustrating exactly where the counters start.
Daylight Imagined
LED skylights provide an optical illusion, looking much the same as real skylights. These simulate the warmth and beauty of natural light, even on cloudy days or after dusk.
The ideal kitchen lighting does more than illuminate. It tells a story revealed in its changing color and alignment with the natural light outside. How do you know when your kitchen lighting is just right? You can feel it.
Today’s lighting design can truly change how you enjoy your home. To learn more about various trends in the latest technology, check out Wipliance news or fill out our contact form for more information.