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Kitchen Lighting Ideas

As one of the most frequently used and functional rooms in the home, our kitchens are important to us. Over the years, kitchens have become a living space, rather than just a food preparation area. Every part needs to be working towards creating the perfect environment.

If you’re looking at our website, you no doubt have an interest in choosing the best kitchen cabinets and worktop for your home, but it is also important to choose the right lighting for your kitchen.

Common Kitchen Lighting Mistakes

There are plenty of options when it comes to kitchen lighting with variations in colour temperature, shape and style. Before choosing your perfect bulbs though, don’t make one of these common mistakes.

Many people try to light the room using a single fixture of a fixed grid of lamps. This can create uneven light distribution and cast shadows on the work surface. By having multiple lights across the room you can bring brightness to every part of the worktop space.

Consider having task lighting, which would include under-cupboard lighting above work surfaces. This can helps reduce the amount of shadows in important places and enables clear vision of what you are doing.

A great way of lighting the work surface below cabinets is to use a linear light source such as the LED Contour strip. This provides a continuous lighting effect which is ideal for today’s contemporary kitchens.

Unusual solutions can involve back-lighting a glass splash back which could change colour.

Keep Your Kitchen Lighting Flexible

Kitchen lighting needs to have the most flexible lighting scheme in the home to reflect the wide range of functions which kitchens are now used for.

Your kitchen lighting will need to adapt from a bright, general light for the day, especially in dark kitchens as a supplement to daylight, to children’s tea and home work at dusk, to an intimate light for dining in the evening. Dimmer switches add much needed flexibility, with the ability to use brighter lighting at night and moodier, more intimate lighting for your evening meal.

In a kitchen with high ceilings, look at visually lowering the sense of scale by adding low hanging pendants over the island. Kitchen cabinets can also be used for uplighters for general light and this will also reduce the number of downlights required.

As kitchen lights tend to be on for much longer than other lights in the house, you should seriously consider upgrading to LED as they are more energy-efficient than traditional incandescent bulbs.

Colour Temperature

When choosing the colour temperature of your bulbs, think about the uses of that area. For a communal seating area, a warmer, golden light can help create a welcoming atmosphere, but for increased visibility of your food, consider a horizon daylight bulb.

Colour temperature

Think about using daylight bulbs around the areas where you will be working- specifically the worktops. Here you will want to clearly see what you are doing, and you will want to see the true colour of the food you are preparing.

For the communal areas, like dining tables, you may prefer a softer, more orangey light. This could be a 3000k horizon daylight bulb or even a 1800K sunset white. For a full guide, read this article on colour temperature and light bulbs by Elesi.

If you choose a light fitting or a floor lamp on which the bulb is the central feature, you may prefer an Edison style LED bulb. Vintage Edison style bulbs provide ambience and a more orangey glow, but are unsuitable for task areas such as worktops and sinks.

Design is right at the heart of Kettle Co Kitchens. Our MD, Dale Williams, studied design before founding the business, and our team all have expertise in not just planning and fitting kitchens but also in ensuring every kitchen matches the individual needs of our customers.  

During our time as kitchen designers and fitters we’ve been asked to work with our customers on all sorts of kitchen design ideas but here are a few tips to consider.

Unique to you

It’s not just about ensuring that your dream kitchen looks gorgeous; there are some important factors to consider in terms of layout too.  After all you want to make sure that your new kitchen fits your lifestyle, reflects who you are – and that there’s easy (and safe) access to all the bits and pieces you need when you’re preparing meals for family and friends.

Spaced out…

Is everything where you need it? We’re all so busy these days that the last thing we want is to waste time searching for equipment or where we put our favourite paring knife, serving dish or food product. So, in an ideal kitchen, for example, breakfast bowls and cereals ideally should be near your table, breakfast bar or kitchen island.

Crockery storage and your bin should be near the dishwasher, which in turn, should be near the sink. You might also want your mugs, cups and saucers, teas and coffees close to where you plan to plug in your kettle or have a boiling water tap.

If you are planning on incorporating your hob on a kitchen island, then you might want to include a small prep sink, so that you don’t have to walk across your kitchen with pans of boiling water to reach your main sink.  This is also very useful if there’s more than one of you working in the kitchen at the same time.

From a safety aspect, it’s important to ensure that your cooking area isn’t the main thoroughfare in your kitchen, especially if it leads out to the garden. Obviously, you don’t want anyone, especially children, catching pan handles as they pass by. Neither do you want to have to keep moving out of the way to allow people to get past you.

Kitchen Design Ideas: Choosing the right kitchen layout

Colour me beautiful…

We all have our favourite colours and ideas for colour schemes but when choosing these for your new kitchen, you’ll want to ensure the end result gives the right ‘feel’. This is sometimes difficult to quantify but natural light plays an important part in this – and looking at how this works with your kitchen is a good guide.

For example, if you have a kitchen diner that opens onto the garden, with your dining area near the door and your kitchen further into the room, light coloured kitchen cabinets will reflect the light, making the space feel larger. If you have a large bright kitchen, then darker colours can make the room feel cosier.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that if your kitchen has similar colour themes to the rest of your home, it will make the flow of your home more cohesive. This can be done very simply, with lighting, areas of colour and cabinetry that reflect colours in other rooms, matching tone flooring, tiles or splashbacks -and soft furnishings such as chairs, sofas thrown and cushions, if you have a chill out area in your kitchen.

Kitchen Design Ideas: Choosing the right colour

To gloss or not to gloss…

High gloss kitchens have been popular in recent years but new finishes, such as Matte or Super Matte are hotly tipped by designers for combining sheer good looks with practicability. Super Matte is anti-fingerprint, so is perfect for a busy, family kitchen, and both look fabulous with metallic, concrete/stone or wood effect finishes.

If you are still yearning for that sleek, glossy look, then natural wood can be used very effectively within the design to create texture and warmth, such as flooring, worktops or other elements. This can be highlighted with chunky wooden chopping boards or fruit bowls, driftwood artwork, wooden picture frames or wooden pot plants.

Kitchen Design Ideas: Gloss or Matt Kitchens

Mind the gap…

We’ll take care of all the details when planning your kitchen but sometimes there are some minor, but nonetheless important, details to take into consideration. You might have a small gap to fill, which could be turned into a useful and handy place to store trays. 

Also, think about the height of your upper cabinets, if there is to be a gap between the top of these and your ceiling then it needs to be large enough for you to be able to get to in order to clean them. Alternatively, you might opt for cabinets that fit from floor to ceiling to avoid this chore and also to make the most of storage space.

Another point to consider is to ensure everything is at the right height. If you are opting for stacking fitting ovens, then they’ll obviously need to be at the correct height for safely removing hot dishes. If you have children, then you might want to incorporate a low cupboard for their cups and bowls so that they can easily reach them if they want to. This avoids the risk of them climbing onto worktops to reach what they need.

Also make sure to discuss how many electrical points you might need and where you’d like them to go. If you’re planning on having a kitchen island, don’t forget that you might need some there too, especially if you are incorporating a hob or fridge. If you want to keep your phone or tablet nearby when you’re in your kitchen then you’ll find it useful to have at least one electrical point that includes a USB port for your charger.

Kitchen Design Ideas: Colour temperature

Light up…

Planning your kitchen lighting needs to be done early on. Lighting under or in cabinets are important for when you are cooking but don’t forget about ambient lighting. You might want to include dimmer switches and there are hundreds of styles of light fittings, from pendants to wall lights and recessed spotlights.

A great personality…

Yes, even a kitchen has a personality and you can decide what you want that to be! Whether that’s choosing kitchen wall paint colours, creating a gallery wall or placing small decorative items, pots of herbs or holiday memorabilia on your window ledges.

Gorgeous scented candles, glass bowls of pebbles or glass buttons, family photos or maybe a shelf of colourful (or vintage) cookery books – whatever you choose, your personal touches will turn your kitchen from a purely functioning room to a place where you, your family and friends will love to gather.

How Much Value Does a New Kitchen Add To Your Home?

Imagine looking at a home you are interested in buying. The front garden looks great, the front door is clean and sturdy, the hallway and living room are newly decorated, clean and tidy, the dining room is a great size and in great condition, but as soon as you step foot into the kitchen, you can see that it is old, unclean and hasn't been updated in a long time.

A bad kitchen can easily put prospective buyers off making an offer on a property.

A high quality kitchen creates a great first impression

Now, imagine you step into the kitchen and you see a high quality, sturdy and beautiful kitchen that makes great use of the space and fits in well with the design of the rest of the house. A new, high quality kitchen can make a house so much more desirable than an old, outdated kitchen.

Kitchens are becoming the heart of every home

Many expert articles talk about how updating your kitchen can add value to your home, especially as open plan kitchen and dining areas have risen in popularity in recent years, making the kitchen much more of a focal point in the house than it was before. No longer is the kitchen just a place to cook food and clean dishes, it is a place to socialise, watch TV, eat, drink, so for families or anyone who ever entertains guests, a good kitchen is hugely important.

How much value does a new kitchen add to your home?

According to figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) a new kitchen can add as much as 4% to the value of your house. Which? research found that a new kitchen could and could add 6% (average £18,000) in value to the home.

Many experts do, however mention that you should consider the overall value of your home. For example, if you live in a home worth £80,000 and you spend £100,000 on the kitchen, that alone is unlikely to push the value up to £180,000. And similarly, if you live in a property worth £800,000, a £8,000 kitchen is unlikely to add significant value.

A new kitchen, however also enhances your experience of living in your home, before selling, so the added value shouldn't be the only consideration when deciding whether to purchase. You can tie the home together well by choosing a style that fits perfectly with the rest of the house, be it contemporary, modern or traditional.

By choosing the right kitchen for your house and making sure you go for one that is well made and well fitted, you reduce the chances of potential buyers leaving with a bad impression. In fact, you may just convince them to put in an offer.

Beautiful shaker style kitchen

We love to exceed customer expectations and are thrilled to share what one of our latest customers had to say about their new kitchen and working with Kettle Co.

This beautiful new shaker style kitchen was painted in Farrow & Ball Strong White and offers a timeless classic look that opens up the kitchen and creates a sense of space. The kitchen island offers a practical worktop and dining space and is painted in Lava to match the cooker and tie in beautifully with the home’s window frames.

The kitchen island offers a practical worktop and dining space

We pride ourselves on attention to detail and this can be seen throughout with intricate beading on the door frames, a custom made open plate rack with painted veneered panels and solid wood feet on the island rather than standard legs & plinths.

The double door walk-in pantry provides massive storage space for the family

Practicality and functionality is always at the front of our thinking and this can be seen with the double door walk-in pantry in the corner of the kitchen which provides massive storage space for the family.

A close up of the colour matched range cooker

It’s no surprise that our customer was absolutely thrilled with the new kitchen and rated us as excellent on Trustpilot. They had this to say.

“What is it about buying a kitchen in the UK, I have NEVER heard from anyone who did not have never-ending stressful issues from start to finish. Well, Kettle sure know how to do it and we are over the moon with the service and fit from start to finish.”

They were also impressed with how smoothly the whole process went, from initial design consultation through to the final installation.

“From first contact in store with Simon and then all the final touches with Alex and Luke made the whole process a pleasure and fun. We have recommended them to many others who in turn have found them as good as it gets. No hard sell, they keep their word and follow through…Can't praise them enough, Thank you.”

Kettle Co Kitchens - Kitchens in Devon & Cornwall
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