The kitchen is the heart of the home where families cook, eat, and gather together. Good lighting is crucial in the kitchen because it enables us to safely and efficiently perform essential kitchen tasks. Proper kitchen lighting also makes the space more inviting and sets the mood for conversations to unfold.
You don’t want a kitchen that’s too dark or too bright. Good kitchen lighting finds the right balance. In this article, we showcase incredible kitchen remodel illuminated by spectacular lighting. Below you’ll find kitchens with lighting approaches ranging from subtle to striking.
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12 Best Kitchen Lighting Ideas
The lighting fixtures in your kitchen should do both jobs well – decorate and illuminate. We searched high and low to find great ways to brightly yet beautifully light up kitchen spaces.
1. Track Ceiling Lights
Utilizing track lighting in the ceiling can provide flexible, adjustable task and accent lighting in the kitchen. Featuring long tracks mounted directly to the ceiling, these systems allow you to freely reposition diverse additional spotlights and directional lamps along the track. This makes it easy to redirect light as needed over prep zones or dining spaces as you update your layout.
Track ceiling lights deliver a clean, contemporary visual and the linear formations greatly enhance your task lighting scheme with focused beams. Best of all, you can emphasize decorative displays, artwork, or architectural details by highlighting them with adjustable track lighting.
2. Modern Pendant Lighting
Hanging pendant lights over kitchen islands, sinks, and dining areas enable targeted illumination from above while also contributing gorgeous globes or futuristic formations that become artistic statements. Pendants make a simple and relatively inexpensive lighting solution to brighten up food preparation surfaces with direct light.
Suspending pendants at varying heights adds visual intrigue and good contrast lighting – perfect for lighting a small specific area like around an eat-in table. From dramatic chandelier-inspired LED pendant fixtures to sleek Edison-style filament bulbs in smooth round casings, modern pendant lights infuse kitchens with eye-catching style and useful directional lighting.
3. Countertop Lighting
One way to guarantee adequate illumination along your kitchen work area is by installing countertop lighting options like built-in strip lighting or even portable tabletop lamps. Under cabinet lighting often uses efficient LEDs or xenon halogen spotlights to direct floodlight-style illumination over the whole countertop work zone rather than just the backsplash area.
Countertop lighting solutions like this are hard-wearing and durable to stand up to steam, grease, and moisture while also being easily accessible when you need to change bulbs or lighting elements. For moveable supplemental lighting, having stylish tabletop lamps with weighted circular bases can provide portable pools of LED illumination for handling detailed work like decorating cakes or mixing ingredients in bowls.
4. Vintage Industrial Lamps
There’s just something about a vintage-style Edison bulb that feels nostalgic while still being fresh and current. Industrial-inspired pendants, flush mounts, or table lamps with visible filaments add gorgeous ambiance and sophistication to all sorts of kitchen aesthetics from industrial to farmhouse.
We especially love using turn-of-the-century-inspired utility lighting to add cozy contrast in modern, transitional, or rustic spaces. Their metallic utilitarian forms meld functionality with chicness to enhance any kitchen.
5. Kitchen Wall Lamps
Strategically placed wall lighting casts vibrant illumination perfect for highlighting display shelving, artwork, or architectural focal points around the kitchen. Sconces also bring handy directional lighting near appliances or prep zones when placed appropriately.
We adore the look of decorative wall lamps flanking a kitchen hood or lining a hallway. Their ambient glow makes kitchen tasks safer while also showcasing your flawless design sensibilities!
6. Under-Cabinet Lighting
Discreetly fitted underneath upper cabinets, slim LED under-cabinet lighting strips provide the perfect hassle-free dose of illumination for the kitchen countertop workspace. Unlike harsh overhead lighting, under-cabinet lighting angles illumination exactly where you need it most to handle meal preparation duties or kitchen clean up safely.
The lighting elements themselves tuck away unseen leaving only a fabulous countertop glow. Under-cabinet lighting offers ideal task lighting without causing uncomfortable glare in your eyes. It’s one of our favorite recommendations for a functionally bright and beautiful kitchen lighting plan!
7. Artistic Kitchen Chandelier
There’s no better showstopping statement in an elegant kitchen than a stunning central chandelier casting its ambient glow from on high. Nothing spreads gorgeous ambient lighting through the whole space quite as beautifully.
An artistic chandelier crafted from gorgeous materials like shimmering crystals or cascading wood and metal becomes the visual centerpiece that ties your whole kitchen design together. We adore the look of a jaw-dropping light sculpture dripping from vaulted ceilings. The visual impact paired with the soft overall illumination is chef’s kiss perfection!
8. Adjustable Task Lighting
For kitchens blessed with soaring two-story ceilings, adjustable task lighting provides the most functional way to channel focused beams exactly where you need them. Our design team often customizes multi-arm fixtures over key workstations. Think movable spotlights over sinks and islands that you can redirect as needed for food prep tasks or highlighting serveware displays.
With the ability to angle, rotate, and dim each individual arm, these adjustable task lights maximize visibility and usefulness through focused lighting. Island pendants and dining chandeliers can be paired with these adjustable fixtures to blend both focused and ambient illumination.
9. Traditional Brass Lanterns
There’s just something about the warm, welcoming glow from a classic brass pendant light that feels timeless, elegant, and inviting. We love incorporating lantern-like brass pendants floating above kitchen islands or lining hallways and staircases.
The sophisticated brass finish pairs perfectly with traditional design elements like antique white cabinetry, marble counters, or butcher block islands. Allow us the honor of helping select the ideal brass-finished pendant fixtures to infuse kitchens with a lasting graceful beauty. Their flame-like bulbs emit not only lovely illumination but also lots of style.
10. Cage Pendants
Cage pendants, like captured layers of suspended candlelight, create dynamic glow raindrops in kitchens. From single-bulb pendants and caged candle-style chandeliers to vertical multi-bulb stairwell fixtures, cage lighting fixtures shield bulbs in protective gorgeous housings.
Metal mesh, brass, tinted glass, and woven wire options furnish various shapes, sizes, and material variations. We can’t get enough of the multi-dimensional shadowing cage pendants project on walls and kitchen spaces!
11. Dimmable LED Lights
Cleaner, greener, and brighter – the LED lighting revolutionized kitchen illumination and efficiency. LED pendants, strips, recessed, and under-cabinet options provide the same glistening luminosity as their predecessors at a fraction of the energy consumption. Minimizing your carbon footprint is a great side benefit! Plus they operate on a budget and far outlast traditional bulbs.
As a company dedicated to eco-conscious design, we’re thrilled to be able to offer homeowners visually striking and supremely long-lasting, cost-effective illumination. The addition of dimmer switches also empowers further control over ambiance and mood in your LED-lit kitchen. Dimmable LED lights are truly kitchen game-changers!
12. Multi-Colored Kitchen Lighting Design
Why settle for all white? We are huge proponents of incorporating splashes of vibrant colors into kitchen lighting, especially if the rest of the space features a neutral foundation. Whether you fancy accent walls in bold fuchsia or sky-blue cabinets, matching colorful glass pendants tie it all together into one perfect palette.
Even without brightly-hued paint or cabinetry, multicolored glass pendants add an instant rainbow-hued pop of pizzazz over islands and dining tables. Allow us to help select the perfect punchy pendant colors and styles to reflect your personal flair. Everyone can always use a little more color in their lives, and your lighting fixtures are the ultimate place to start in the kitchen!
Let Your Kitchen Design Shine
We hope these kitchen lighting ideas sparked inspiration for your upcoming remodel or design project. Ready to bring your kitchen design dreams to life? Our team at W Kitchen and Bath can’t wait to collaborate with you on making your ideal kitchen a reality. Our expert interior designers are here to help every step of the way.
Schedule a Free W Kitchen and Bath Interior Design Consultation today, and let’s create the kitchen you’ve always envisioned!