Kitchen Lighting Ideas Mood Board and Inspiration

Here are the specific areas of the kitchen that need lighting and the types of lights to use.

Over The Sink: The sink area is one place where lighting is often overlooked. Which lighting design ideas and options to use will depend on what you have around the sink. If there are any cabinets overhead then under cabinet lighting will work (see below). The most common solution would be to have ceiling track lights nearby. Since you can angle these lights, have one angled towards the sink. Other ideas include having a pendant light hang down close by as seen in picture (1), and for the daytime a window will bring in sunlight.

Stoves: Most hoods will have lights built into them (2) (3). If there aren’t any an alternative would be to once again angle a track light towards the area. You’ll want the light shining down so that the person cooking doesn’t cast a shadow over the stove.

Cabinet Lighting Ideas: There are under cabinet lights and display lights. Most cabinets will be hung over countertops. So you’ll definitely want to have under cabinet lights – not only to make the kitchen look great, but they light up the counters making it easier to prepare food (4).

Then there are display lights. These are puck lights that are attached to the underside of the shelves inside of the cabinets. These will require wiring, but a quick fix is to have motion sensor battery powered puck lights (found on Amazon), which will turn on when you are looking for things inside of the cabinet.

The Kitchen Island: For specific ideas on this area have a look at our post here (Beautiful Spaces: Kitchen Island Lighting Ideas).

Over the Dinner Table: A great way of lighting up a dinner table would be to have a pendant light hanging down from the ceiling right above the table. A stylish option would be to use a drum light (5).

Kitchen Bar: Here, just like a lot of the areas in a kitchen, you’ll want to bring the light close down to the countertop. Pendant lights would be the best choice (6). You can even find adjustable pendant lights – you pull them down when you want to use them. Take a look at pendant light adapters if you don’t want to do any wiring and electrical work. These are pendant lights that screw into and hang from a normal ceiling light socket (7). An alternative to pendant lighting for a kitchen bar would be to use adjustable track lights.

General Kitchen Lighting Ideas: The ideas above are great for providing localized and focused lighting to areas in the kitchen. For more general and ambient lighting, recessed lights would be the best way to go. These can be used alongside pendant lights, chandeliers, and track lights (8).

Added Features: Dimmer switches would be a great feature to have in a kitchen. You can instantly transform the space from a functional bright work area to a romantic dinner setting.

For a beginner’s guide to home lighting design, have a look at my post here: The Simple Guide: Home Lighting Design Basics.