Whether natural sunlight or artificial light sources, successful kitchen lighting requires careful planning and creative ideas. What do you need to bear in mind and how do you create a lighting concept that transforms the room into a place of wellbeing? We’ll show you all you need to know about kitchen lighting.
Light sources play a functional, emotive and aesthetic role, even in the kitchen. This applies to both basic lighting, such as that provided by dimmable spotlights on the ceiling, and to accent lighting.
In the form of functional lighting, good lighting in the kitchen is required when you want to focus on your tasks and cook in a relaxed atmosphere. It is especially essential when you are handling knives and other sharp implements.
In an adjoining dining area, lighting is an emotive feature that creates a pleasant atmosphere. Here, subtle ambient lighting solutions take precedence over ones that light up every detail.
To ensure a high level of functionality and a homely atmosphere, you need more than one kind of lighting in the kitchen. The options at a glance:
If the kitchen has an adjoining dining area, the dining table lighting also plays an important role. A pendant light is generally used there to provide direct light. This performs two tasks: it acts as a functional light when you are dining and it makes the dining or kitchen table stand out in the room. What’s more, pendant lights in the kitchen can be used to light both worktops with no wall units above them and kitchen islands.
The artificial light sources in the kitchen are accompanied by natural light. It is advisable to bear this in mind during the planning stage. The light coming in through the window (and the view to the outside) can, for instance, be important when arranging the work area.
What technology is recommended for kitchen lighting? That’s not really a question that we ask anymore. LED light bulbs have come out on top. The earlier alternatives of halogen and energy-saving bulbs are to a large extent no longer permitted in the EU. Only remaining stock can still be sold.
This means that we automatically opt for LED lighting in the kitchen, but this does not pose any disadvantages. The light quality is now very good and the energy efficiency is excellent. Modern, high-quality LED light bulbs use up to about 85% less energy than halogen lights of a similar brightness. Even so-called energy-saving bulbs no longer live up to their name by comparison: LEDs save up to around 45% more energy.
Two light sources in a linear pendant light.
Variable pendant light system for the kitchen.
Lights that perfectly combine function and design.
With kitchen lighting, we all too quickly get lost in the details, such as bulb and lamp design. Although this is important, the first step is to establish different areas in the kitchen with different lighting requirements. These include:
The second step is to establish what and how many light sources you need and how bright they should be. This includes the basic lighting, which should ideally light up all areas relatively evenly. Once you have defined the basic lighting concept, you can choose suitable kitchen lights and bulbs.
Kitchen lighting has a lot in common with that of other rooms, but also a few differences.
So, if the kitchen island is also used as a dining area with bar stools, height-adjustable lighting makes sense.
To work in a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere, an interplay of basic, functional and accent lighting is essential. This can be achieved by using direct and indirect lighting in the kitchen as well as different light colours.
Functional worktop lighting should generally be neutral to cold white. This corresponds to a colour temperature ranging from 3300 to 5300 K (kelvin). For homely accents, for instance, in the dining area, and the basic lighting, warm white light at 2700 to 3000 K is a great option.
This depends on the individual circumstances. What’s important is to create even lighting in the kitchen with no bothersome shadows and with sufficient brightness, especially over work surfaces.
To illuminate a simple kitchen or cooking island, neutral to cold white light at 3300 to 5300 K (kelvin) comes into play. If there is an adjoining bar counter or work surface that is used as a dining area, warm white light at 2700 to 3000 K is recommended.
If you use ceiling spotlights as basic lighting, to guarantee even lighting they should not be too far apart. What’s more, it is best to space them out so that the light beam falls about three-quarters of the way up the wall. The exact distances depend on the beam angle of the spotlights.
For basic lighting, the individual spotlight output depends on the number of spotlights and the size of the room. In general, basic lighting at 300 lm (lumen) per square metre is recommended in the kitchen. Example: if the kitchen measures 15 m2, the basic lighting should be 4500 lm. If there are nine LED spotlights on the ceiling, each spotlight should generate 500 lm – this corresponds to around 5 W (watts).
For basic lighting, a light intensity of 300 lm (lumen) per square metre is recommended. To illuminate kitchen work surfaces, 500 lm per square metre is a reasonable amount.
