Getting the lighting just right in your kitchen can be a hurdle. And finding that balance between a dingy, low lit space and an overly bright and glaring kitchen is not always easy. So today we have with us lighting designer and expert Clare Pendarves to help us out with her inside advice.  

1. The importance of light zoning for open plan kitchens

>>image<< Question: What is your opinion on Kitchen lighting? What is your professional input on how best to light a kitchen? We know it can be very different depending on your kitchen but if you can give us your rules of thumb that you always stick by?   Claire: Well they are very different and nowadays you’ll find that kitchens are part of the main living area as well, so it is very important to have zoning. If you’ve got your kitchen and then it goes through into the dining area and then there’s a seating area you’ve got to have a good number of circuits there. Link: [The Savoy Collection Brushed Brass Period 10A 6 Gang 2 Way Switch with Black Insert] So I would say in an open plan area like that you really seriously have to think of some home automaton system, because otherwise you’re going to have too many switches. And I know a lot of people will say, a lot of clients will say, not so many nowadays actually, will say "oh but it’s so complicated" and I say "no, it’s not complicated". You don’t have to think about that. It’s the technician who thinks about it, you just have to come on. You’ve got three or four switches and you can have your moods and you can zone.  

2. Lighting up your Kitchen Counter

  Claire: So if we’re just looking at the kitchen you want to have a good amount of light on your work surface. I like to have a little light that’s going down onto the sink and down onto one other little side work surface as well. Link: [Wardour Industrial Bay Pendant Light French Grey] That can often be under some wall units if you’ve got those. So that when you’re entertaining people aren’t seeing all the mess that always piles up on that island or whatever so you’ve got little separate one that is just low lighting there.  

3. Where to hold back on lighting?

  Claire: You really don’t need to illuminate every square inch of your kitchen. Because sometimes if you get just an electrician maybe who does offices as a standard, he’ll work out the lux, he’ll put ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, pepper the ceiling with downlights. But that’s not going to give you the mood and it’s not going to give you that facility to change the ambiance and the light. >>image<< So focus on the working areas and then have the ambient areas that you would want maybe on when you’re in the other part of the open plan area.  

4. Brighten up those Gloomy Days

  Claire: I will build in one other circuit that is for really upping the light on a gloomy day because strangely you need more light on a gloomy day then you do at night. Because it’s to do with the contrast, you’ve got even on a gloomy day there’s an awful lot of light, but it looks gray and horrible. Link: [Romilly Edison Industrial Clear Glass Step Pendant Light] You want to really feel really alive and awake and so you want to up that light, so you need to do that. And then you need to do that for cleaning and things like that, but you don’t necessarily need it on all the time.  

5. Avoid Glare with Dimmers

  Claire: Always dimmers. Always dimmers, and ideally not glary, you’ve got to think about no glary, you don’t want to be you know working at the work surface and feel that you’re dazzled. Link: [The Lombard Collection Brushed Chrome Luxury 4 Gang 2 Way Trailing Edge Dimmer] Question: And how do you prevent glare with lighting? Claire: well I will see some designs where they’ve literally got the light directly over the person whose working and the work surface. You don’t want that, you want it directed onto the work surface. >>image<< Thank you so much Clare for clearing up all our questions on how best to light up our kitchens. Now they’ll be spaces that can be enjoyed without the worry of over straining eyes in a gloomy kitchen or squinting past the glare of a thousand downlights.  As the hub of the home, the importance of a well-lit kitchen cannot be overlooked. Now time to get cooking on these light bites!