Kitchen Design
The Best Lighting Ideas For Maximum Kitchen Visibility
Plus, ideas for keeping the mood warm and inviting.
Shopping for light bulbs can be as simple or complex as you make it. My roommate and I, who spend an inordinate amount of money at the nearby corner store (because it's right there!), tend to suffer through whatever light bulbs they've got in stock—more often than not they're soft white 60-watt incandescents. I realize I should be embarrassed.
But in our living room, where there are four to five lamps lighting a space barely larger than a dog house, these hazy bulbs create a warm, layered blanket of light that we love in the evenings. In the kitchen, however, where we try to use them in lieu of our fluorescent ceiling fixture, they fail—in the kitchen, it turns out, you actually need to be able to see.
What every kitchen needs, as much as a sharp knife or a mixing bowl, is great light. The lighting experts at Batteries Plus Bulbs—specifically Jori Gohsman, one of their Senior Category Managers—were kind enough to set me straight:
Here's what kind of light bulbs are good for your kitchen, and how to get plenty of cozy vibes while still lighting it up right. I won't be offended if you skip to the end for their suggestions, but what follows is how we got there.
The first thing you need to know is that Kelvin is actually more important than wattage when it comes to selecting a light bulb; that's what will tell you the color temperature of your bulb on a spectrum of cool (indicated by a higher Kelvin) to warm (lower Kelvin).
Cooler bulbs are easier to see by, so that's what you want to rely on in the kitchen—whereas warmer bulbs give off that cozy, casual vibe that makes lounges and restaurants so inviting. Besides affecting visibility, the color of a bulb can also change the dynamic of a space just as any other element of decor can.
Here are the different options you can shop for, starting with the most kitchen-friendly:
- Daylight (5000K): With a white, almost bluish light, daylight bulbs are meant to "resemble noon on a cloudless day" (I'm thinking this is what my fluorescents must be). Rather than using them everywhere in a kitchen, spring for them as accents where you do food prep or read recipes, for example. (Reading, Jori tells me, has actually been proven to be easier under daylight bulbs than any other.) Style-wise, they'll make cool-colored decorations pop but will muddy any orangey decor.
- Cool White (4100K): A great workhorse bulb for your kitchen and bathrooms (or for any room where the decor is blue or green rather than reddish in color), cool whites are crisp without feeling overly so.
And on the other end of the spectrum, best for rooms where knife work isn't required, are the warmer options:
- Soft White (2700 to 3000K): This is what classic incandescents emit: a gentle, yellowish, familiar light that's warmer than a cool white bulb would give off. It will pull out the reds and oranges in your decor, so relegate them to rooms that aren't too blue.
- Warm White (2400K): The warmest color temperature, warm white bulbs more closely resemble candle light than a bulb at all. They're all ambiance—so they do their best work in the living room, dining room, and bedroom.
I am sure that many of you froze in your seats when I mentioned traditional incandescents, which are known not just for their warmth (2700K) but for being known energy hogs (they put out more heat than light, according to National Geographic!). There are, fortunately, more energy-efficient and longer-lasting alternatives:
- Halogens, which are available exclusively in a relatively warm 3000K, show 100% true color—something that a jeweler, for instance, might care about, and they're inexpensive. But they're now considered an old technology, and will actually dim as they warm.
- CFL's, which can be spiral-shaped as in the one pictured below, are basically mini-fluorescents meaning they can require some time to "warm up." But while they can last ten times longer than traditional incandescents (I have one that I haven't changed in three years!) and are available in any color temperature, they contain a small amount of mercury—so if you break one, the extensive cleanup required makes them less than convenient.
- LEDs, which initially were known for their higher price point, have the lowest energy cost and are available in increasingly affordable and flexible technology. You can choose from directional, semi-directional, or omni-directional styles—the latter being the most diffused, best for lamps, and directional being best for spotlighting—and almost any color temperature. New warm LEDs (around 2400K) would be great for a chandelier or moodier lighting, and you can even find vintage-inspired Edison-style versions (2000K), if you're hoping to add (efficient) ambiance to a living room.
But with so many ups and downs to each, the bulb style you choose is a personal (or even political) choice as much as an aesthetic one.
I asked Jori if layering decorative bulbs, with their warm amber glow, in space that's already outfitted with cool whites and daylights (like a kitchen) would ever be a good idea. "You can get away with having both," she said—and I cheered!—but recommended instead installing a dimmer for more control over brightness, or even opting for color-changing LEDs so you can control the temperature (as you dim them, they'll cool all the way from 3,000 to 2,200 Kelvin).
So the tiny lamp with a soft white bulb in my kitchen, which emits a soothing yellow light we simply cannot see by? It can stay! Plus, writes Alyssa Longobucco in her manifesto for kitchen table lamps, “in a room that typically only ever boasts overhead lighting, small-scale countertop lamps can be a great way to play around with scale and add charm. Not to mention, they’re an ideal way to upgrade the style of your space without spending a ton of money like you would have to with overhead fixtures.” Done.
6-Bulb Sputnik Chandelier, $63
A sputnik-style chandelier (though it might not come immediately to mind when thinking about kitchen lighting) is actually a great option for a kitchen that’s low on junction boxes, since it funnels light into six separate bulbs.
Handmade MIMA Lamp, $175
Similar to a wall-mounted globe light in brightness, but gentle like a table lamp with a shade, this little handmade guy is the best of both lighting worlds.
Swing-Arm Sconce, $129
Sconces are another great option for adding extra kitchen light. When mounted above a counter or stove, they provide maximum visibility for chopping, seasoning, and checking on a proper sear.
Aretha Flush Mount, $698
This stunning light fixture might scream “dining room!” but for a grand kitchen, it’ll look right at home and provide plenty of overhead light.
Clear Shade Farmhouse Lamp, $38
If you’re working with multiple junction boxes, you can definitely get away with one-bulb flush mount lights, like these. They’re kind of like an upgraded boob lamp, and the clear glass ensures the most light from the bulb shines through onto your work surface.
Rattan Globe Pendant, $200
Who says the lighting over your kitchen table can't spill into the work area? This pendant lamp provides warmth from the natural fibers, moodiness over the dining area, and the added benefit of more kitchen light. Win-win-win.
Cosmos 6-Point Star Light, $250
This guy’s not as imposing as a sputnik, but just as many bulbs.
Written by: Amanda Sims
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The best way to improve one’s kitchen lighting would be to add task lighting, such as under cabinet lights. The DoE has a report on high performance residential lighting by room: https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy12osti/53467.pdf#page46
Personally, I've grown quite fond of CFLs- I find the modern ones quite efficient and pleasant to use, and they can often be had at very good prices- so far I've kept LEDs to a few flashlights due to the price, but it is improving.
In fact, it was commonplace to use tungsten-balanced film for environments that had that sort of light or daylight-balanced film for those environments. If you used the wrong film in the wrong setting, you'd get weird results, but there were various color correction filters/films to get the image to what the photographer envisioned.
The lighting industry uses CRI (color rendering index), but fluorescent lights don't have the same spectrum output as incandescents. Fluorescent lights pump out huge amounts of light in the green wavelength which is why old color film photographs taken in fluorescent lit scenes had a noticeable sickly greenish cast. Fluorescent bulbs also pump out a bunch of UV.
From a color output perspective, CFLs are still terrible compared to the alternatives.
In my mind, CFLs are a total sham. The earliest ones only came in cool white so every room looked like a coroner's walk-in refrigerator. Years later, bulbs with better color temperatures arrived, but that didn't fix any of the other shortcomings with CFLs.
The longevity numbers for CFLs are a joke. They are based on how long the bulb would last if it is never turned off. Turns out that in real world usage (lots of switching on and off), the electronic ballasts are usually the parts that fail, not the lighting elements.
Next problem, CFLs buzz. I could hear them. Fine for a noisy shop/industrial environment when they are twenty or thirty feet up, not so pleasant in a standard home with eight foot ceilings.
Worse, the light output of CFLs steadily drops over time. Over the course of a CFL bulb's predicted lifetime, at the end it will emit about half of the light that it put out brand new. Yup, that 100W equivalent CFL might be feebly putting out about 60W equivalent in three years.
CFLs are also poor performers, taking several minutes to reach peak light output and perform poorly in colder environments. They can be used in outdoor fixtures in warmer climates (like California, Hawaii, etc.), but aren't good for many other places.
When LEDs arrived, I removed all the CFL bulbs, stuck most of them in a bag by the recycling bin with a sign that said "Working bulbs. Free!" and they were gone in an hour. I kept 2-3 CFLs which I've been using in my outdoor patio light.
Based on my personal experience, CFLs are complete garbage as home lighting technology.
Even many of the ones labeled as dimmable have poor dimming performance. Trust me, I tried several of these dimmable bulbs and they all ultimately ended up in non-dimming light fixtures after weeks/months of frustrating poor dimming performance.
Maybe some of the new CFLs are better, but the technology was brought to the consumer marketplace before manufacturers were capable of putting out a decent product and with the widespread emergence of good LED lighting options, CFL's ship has sailed.
For sure, LED isn't perfect (pricing is still high and there's still the fact that the way light manufacturers measure longevity isn't the way people use light bulbs), but LED is miles better than CFL.
Just a reminder too that anyone upgrading lighting in their kitchen should check with your city or town's office that handles permits for residential electrical work. In CA there are strict laws on energy efficiency that will probably affect your choices - though with more high efficiency options these days, meeting the requirements should be easier now than it used to be. (And yes, get a permit and signed inspection. When you sell your house, you may be required to disclose any non-permitted work done.) ;o)
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