Thoughtful lighting in the kitchen works wonders, creating the best atmosphere for cooking, eating and communicating with loved ones. The correct selection of fixtures allows you to achieve the creation of the most comfortable conditions.
Currently, many effective lighting solutions are available to consumers for arranging premises of various purposes. Let's figure out how to choose a lamp for the kitchen, consider mistakes in placing accents.
Common kitchen options
There are several popular options for organizing lighting in the kitchen. Each of them can be effectively used in combination with each other or separately. So, what elements are most often used as the main, basic light source:
- Spot recessed luminaires.
- Tire lamps.
- Surface fixtures.
- LED backlight.
- Chandeliers or pendant lights.
How to choose lamps for the kitchen? The photo of the solutions presented in this material will help you navigate the issue. ATIn general, when planning lighting, it is important to ensure that the general lighting has the function of switching on in parts. Having this option will allow you to use the right amount of light depending on the situation, which will affect the reduction in energy consumption.
Cooking area
Immediately it is worth noting that the brightest lamps for the kitchen are selected here, which will not force you to peer into the pots when cooking. The main requirement for lighting elements in this work area is easy cleaning from fat deposits, soot, resistance to moisture and high temperatures.
It is rational to place fluorescent lamps for the kitchen of an oblong shape or an abundance of sufficiently powerful point light sources with halogen lamps. Installation can be carried out directly under the body of hanging furniture or above the working apron.
For the convenience of cooking, it is also desirable to equip the hood with bright lights. With the onset of the evening, such lighting allows you to save on energy consumption when working at the stove.
Dining area
The kitchen table is often placed close to the window. Therefore, in the main part of the day, the need for artificial lighting is reduced. However, at least a few lighting elements are still required here.
The lower the ceiling lamp in the kitchen is located above the table, the more comfortable the household members feel during the meal. Accommodationlighting fixture closer to the ceiling creates a more solemn atmosphere. However, whichever option is chosen, the lighting must necessarily cover the entire countertop.
If the dining table is installed close to the wall, a sconce with a cloth or matte light diffuser is hung above it at about 1-1.5 m height.
Transit zone
With a fairly cramped kitchen, the allocation of the so-called transit zone looks superfluous. It is enough to focus on the workspace and the dining table. However, the only ceiling lamp in the kitchen does not allow you to create comfortable conditions for being in a large room with a non-standard layout. Here we have to look for solutions for lighting passageways.
The above task is implemented by installing stretch ceilings that contain built-in spotlights to illuminate the kitchen or by installing additional ceiling chandeliers.
An interesting effect when illuminating the transition zone can be created by LED elements located around the entire perimeter of the ceiling. At the same time, the height of the walls visually increases, which looks like an important point for owners of small-sized housing.
When equipping the passage area, it is advisable to select LED lamps for the kitchen, the design of which matches the design of other lighting fixtures and does not conflict with the interior solutions used.
Decorative lighting
BesidesThe practical purpose of lighting, when dividing the kitchen space into separate areas, designers are increasingly paying attention to decorative lighting, which plays the role of decoration, creates a special mood and positive atmosphere.
Separate accents highlight interior elements: carved surfaces, columns, engraving, furniture details. Especially popular are decorative LED lamps for the kitchen in classic sets.
Lighting profiles located along the edge of the tabletop or along the bottom of the hanging furniture look spectacular. Decorative ceiling lighting is most often organized by installing LED strips, installing colored neon tubes, oblong fluorescent lamps or duralight.
Interior furniture lighting
It is enough to choose a lamp in the kitchen that can be placed in drawers, wall cabinets, and indoor work will be greatly simplified. This solution looks especially attractive in the presence of furniture with stained glass or frosted glass inserts.
How to choose a lamp for the kitchen to illuminate the cabinets from the inside? The best solution here is the installation of LED elements. The latter do not heat up and are therefore absolutely safe. By choosing a lamp for the kitchen with LED for interior lighting of furniture, you can significantly reduce energy consumption.
Such lighting can be turned on when pulling out drawers, opening locker doors, or it can work all the time. In all cases, its organization will allow you to quickly find the necessary items in the kitchen.without activating the main light sources.
Common mistakes
One of the main mistakes of the owner when arranging kitchen lighting is the development of a layout before choosing a headset. What exactly will be the fixtures on the ceiling in the kitchen, you need to decide before performing repairs, during which the room will be divided into separate functional areas. The use of this approach will allow you to place lighting devices exactly in those places where they are really needed and will be useful.
Many homeowners believe that to illuminate the kitchen it is enough to place one lamp in the central part of the ceiling. This solution is quite acceptable for tight spaces. However, it has several disadvantages. Performing work at the stove or preparing the ingredients of dishes on the surface of the headset, the person is located with his back to the light source. Thus, the countertop remains in the shade, which in practice is not very convenient. As a result, the ceiling lamp brings almost no benefit, because important functional areas remain shaded.
It is advisable to install spotlights in the kitchen, which make it possible to adjust the brightness of the lighting. For this reason, it is worth giving preference to switches with a rheostat, which allows you to change the saturation of the light flux depending on the conditions of the work performed, needs and mood. As a result, during a quiet dinner with the family, it will be possible to dim the lights andto relax. On the contrary, during cooking - make the lighting brighter. In this case, you should not save on the purchase of a rheostat. Cheap appliances break down pretty quickly with regular use.
Warm and cold light
All lighting has its own color cast. Based on this, it is recommended to select lamps that do not distort natural light. Looking through the lamps in the kitchen, photos of suitable models, you should once again take an interest in their color rendering index. The indicator affects how natural the look of food, kitchen utensils, and interior details will be in artificial light. The index is denoted by the marking Ra. The optimal value for most rooms is about 90-100 Ra.
Ideal as the main light source in the kitchen - a lamp that produces a glow of a yellowish soft hue. This is the radiation produced by halogen cells and incandescent lamps.
Cool shades of the light spectrum darken the room. In particular, you should not install lamps in the kitchen that emit a greenish, purple and blue glow. In cold light, foods look the least appetizing.
Project cost
As practice shows, to create high-quality lighting in the kitchen with the division of the room into separate zones, you have to spend about 10-15% of the budget for repairs. Half of this amount will be spent on the purchase of lighting fixtures and switches directly. Restwill pay for installation. Naturally, you can save a little if you can install the fixtures yourself.
In conclusion
Which lamp is better to choose for the kitchen? In the presence of a room of modest size with a standard layout, finding the answer to the question presented is not so difficult. Usually it is enough to install one or more light sources here.
To facilitate the choice of lighting elements for a large kitchen, it is worth dividing its area into several functional zones. The best option for the work area is bright local lighting. As for the dining area, several solutions can be considered here, for example, the installation of adjustable lights that can create both romantic twilight and reproduce bright enough light.
