Choosing the right lighting is a crucial part of home decorating. Lighting can affect the look and ambiance of a room in so many ways. The right lighting is necessary to carry out the every day functions of the different rooms of your home. Striking this balance is especially important in the kitchen where a lot of light is needed for cooking and cleaning. Here are a few kitchen lighting ideas to get you started.  

General Indirect Light. Recessed lighting is a great way to provide your kitchen with neat general lighting. It is a modern alternative to general overhead kitchen lighting that is much more efficient and doesn’t involve any annoying dangling cords, lightbulbs or lampshades. Recessed light fixtures, bulbs and wiriting are all installed inside the ceiling and turned on through a switch. They are a wonderful way to add indirect, discreet general light to your kitchen.

Direct Light. Pendant lights are one of my favorite room decorating ideas. There are a few reasons for this. First of all, they literally bring light down from the ceiling to just about head level. They can also be used to spotlight a specific area like around the stove over a kitchen island. It might be best to combine pendant lights with general overhead kitchen lighting so that you can illuminate the space in general while allowing specific areas to be highlighted. What is the best thing about pendant light? The fixtures come in gorgeous designs!

Targeted Lighting. A common problem with lighting in the kitchen is that it might not be where you need it. Maybe you have a lot of light over the sink, but none near the stove. A lot of kitchen have dark patches which can be very annoying when trying to prepare food or clean properly. If you are having trouble seeing properly while chopping veggies, try placing lights under your cabinets. Low-voltage xenon bulbs give off beautiful golden light and will glow under your cabinets. Although they are a bit warmer than fluorescent lights, they are cooler than halogen and incandescent bulbs. Xenon light strips can be set to high or low and have removable light covers for easy cleaning.

Hidden Spaces. It is true that most people won’t go looking through your cabinets, but keeping them neat and organized will help you find things easier and feel better about your kitchen in general. That’s why one of my favorite kitchen lighting ideas is putting lights inside your cupboards! Many people have dark cupboards in their kitchen that gets messy and cluttered because it’s impossible to properly see things in it- especially all the way to the back. A solution to this problem is so simple. For only a few dollars you can purchase a battery-operated light that can be stuck onto a wall. This way you don’t even have to install a new light fixure or deal with wires. Just don’t forget to turn it off when you close the cupboard to avoid killing the batteries!

These are just a few kitchen lighting ideas.  Did you implement any creative lighting solutions in your kitchen?