Lighting in the kitchen

7-step guide to choosing lighting in the kitchen

If your kitchen needs renewal or if you are faced with a total renovation of your kitchen - here is a guide to what you should pay attention to in relation to the placement of lights in the kitchen. Lamps are usually the last thing to be bought and installed when you are planning to build a new kitchen. It may also be time to spruce up your kitchen a bit with new lighting. But what should you pay attention to when buying your new lamps? Below is our 7-step guide that will make it easier for you to make the right decision. Lighting and the choice of lamps is a whole chapter in itself and there is a considerable difference between buying a new cutting board for the kitchen and changing the lamps. The cutting board serves the same purpose in the daytime as it does in the dark hours – while the lighting goes from being an aesthetic element in your interior design to becoming an essential element for optimal orientation in the kitchen.

1. What is the function of the room?
2. What is the significance of your kitchen's color and choice of materials?
3. Placement of light in the kitchen?
4. What is the importance of the distribution of light?
5. Color reproduction - why is it relevant?
6. Why is the brightness important?
7. What is the importance of the lamp type?

1. What is the function of the room?

One of the most important things when decorating with light is to think about something as simple as the function of the room. This means that you must make it clear which primary and secondary functions the giving space has. If we talk about the kitchen, the primary task is most often cooking - here you must focus on creating light that helps with cooking. And which tasks are thus linked to cooking? This could be cutting and rinsing vegetables, frying, baking etc. Common to all these tasks is that they are carried out on the kitchen tabletop. This means that you must ensure that there is enough lighting above your kitchen table. The function of the room is therefore of great importance for everything from the light's specifications to the light's distribution.

2. What is the significance of your kitchen's color and choice of materials?

What does the surface of your kitchen worktop or the general choice of materials and colors in your kitchen have to do with the lighting in the kitchen? Everything from your kitchen's wall color to the material and color of the worktop affects the light - it is therefore important to pay attention to the kitchen's materials and colors to create the right effect and amount of light. For example, a dark tabletop will absorb part of the light, so more lighting will be needed in your kitchen than if you had a light tabletop. A light tabletop, on the other hand, will reflect some of the light, so here it is a good idea to use a lower brightness. The material is important, if you have, for example, a marble tabletop, its glossy surface will have a reflective effect on the light. Whereas a matte wooden tabletop will reflect less of the light back – less glare. Reflections can be irritating to the eyes, which is an individual consideration of how much or little, before you feel bothered by the light's reflection. Glossy surfaces such as glass, marble and steel give more reflection than matte surfaces such as raw wood or slate.

3. Placement of light in the kitchen?

The position of the lamp is important for how the light falls and is distributed, as well as how much light lands on the surfaces. If you hang the lamp too high up, you will find that less light falls on the tabletop itself, and if you hang the lamp too low, a lot of light will fall on the tabletop. There are also other challenges with a low-hanging lamp, for example it can obstruct your field of vision and be a nuisance to your work.

4. What is the importance of the distribution of light?

It is a good idea to think about the distribution of the light on various surfaces when purchasing or hanging the lamp. The design of the lamp affects the distribution of the light – the design defines the direction of the light and how much will fall on the surface. If it is a narrow lamp, the amount of light will be smaller on the tabletop. It is also a good idea to think about the material your lamp is made of, as this influences the spread, direction, and distribution of the light. A lamp can either provide

• Direct light - A lamp made of a light-proof material that shines downwards towards the tabletop, such as our Vera pendant.
• Indirect light – A lamp made of a light-proof material that shines upwards or towards a wall, such as our Saga wall lamp.
• Combined direct and indirect light – A lamp made of a light-proof material that shines both upwards and downwards towards the tabletop.
• 360-degree light – A glass pendant such as our Dagny or Drop pendant.

Think about where and how you would like the light to fall when you decide on the placement of lights in the kitchen. This makes your lamp hunt much easier and the surprise less, if the lamp does not give the light you expected.

5. Color reproduction - why is it relevant?

The color rendering is particularly important when you are cooking, a good CRI/Ra (color rendering index) is important for how you experience your ingredients. The scale goes from 0-100, where 100 is the best color reproduction. If you find a light source/light bulb with a CRI/Ra value of 80+, you will experience good color reproduction. If you have a light source/light bulb with poor color reproduction, your vegetables will look old and unappetizing. A green cucumber will appear yellowish in comparison if you have chosen a light source with a good color reproduction. To sum up: the light's CRI / Ra value is important as it indicates the light's ability to reproduce the color that the object would have in daylight.

6. Why is the brightness important?

Another question that often arises is how many lumens in the kitchen? The brightness also plays an important role in choosing the light for your kitchen. When you have now gone out and invested in new lamps for the kitchen, it would be nice to be able to see what you are doing in the kitchen. Underlit worktops creates a poor working environment. Over lit worktops and or rooms also create a poor working environment, as there will be far too much light and nothing for the eye to rest on. The light intensity is measured in lux (lx) and for professional chefs there are standards for how the light's specifications must be. In private homes, these standards are not used - however, it is a good idea to follow the chefs' standards a bit, if you want good lighting. Professional chefs have, for example, 500 lx on the worktop, while private homes can easily make do with 250-300 lx on the worktop.

7. What is the importance of the lamp type?

There are many different types of lamps, such as floor lamps, ceiling lamps, wall lamps etc. But which lamp type is the most optimal for a kitchen? The most typical types of lamps in the kitchen are spots, wall lamps and pendants (ceiling lamps). Spots are a type of lamp that is either mounted in the ceiling or under the upper cabinets. When a spot is placed in the ceiling, it creates a good even light in the kitchen, if they are mounted on the underside of the upper cabinets, they provide good direct light on the worktop. Wall lamps, as the name suggests, are mounted on the wall and provide either a direct light downwards, towards the tabletop or the ceiling, but a wall lamp can also provide a diffused light if the lamp provides a 360- degree lighting. Wall lamps can also provide indirect light, which means that they shine towards the wall and ceiling, it is also possible that your wall lamp can provide direct and indirect light at the same time. Some types of wall lamps can be turned, so that you have a say in how the light should come out of your lamp. The wall lamp's lighting options are the same as for ceiling lamps, they can also provide direct light, indirect light, a combination of both direct and indirect light, as well as 360-degree diffused light.

We hope that this guide has helped you with lighting in your kitchen and has answered questions about the placement of lights in the kitchen, how many lumens in the kitchen and how much light in the kitchen?