Vintage Kitchen Lighting Ideas: From School House Lights to Chandeliers

It’s all in the details. When it comes to designing a room, it’s crazy how much you need to plan and how pretty much every piece in the room needs to be hand selected to set the style you want to go for.

There are quite a few options when it comes to vintage kitchen lighting ideas. In this post I have broken I’ve broken it down into different sections, to make it easier to select the right light fixtures for your vintage kitchen.

The Different Vintage Light Fixture Styles

There is the pancake style light fixture, seen in the kitchens in pictures (1) and (2).
There is the more industrial style lights (3). Search for nautical light fixtures or industrial guard. These can be found as hanging ceiling lights or wall lights.
There are also the traditional school house light fixtures, seen in picture (4). You can get more colorful decorative bands – like mint, or baby blue, creating a more vintage style in the kitchen.
Gooseneck lights are ideal if you need to hang up wall lights. You can find these in the pancake style, seen in picture (5). Or there are more industrial, barn style gooseneck light fixtures.
And if you want to create a bit more of a refined vintage look in your kitchen, then use more modern light fixtures. Just look for ones with brass fittings.

Framing Your Lights

Ceiling medallions use to be a symbol of secrecy. These days they are used to decorate the ceilings of rooms. They can be used to frame chandeliers, pendant lights, or even modern recessed lights. Have a look at my post for ideas and pictures of them being in use: Design Ideas for Decorative Ceiling Medallions.

Decorating the Kitchen With Hanging Lights

Pendant lights are used to bring light closer down from the ceiling onto countertops and work areas – making it easier to see what you are doing. Some of these areas include:

Kitchen island lighting
Over a kitchen table (Style Guide: 10 Vintage Kitchen Table Ideas and Designs).
Over countertops, a cooker, or a sink.

Some go to styles here include pancake pendant lights, or school house lighting.

Or how about hanging up an iron chandelier, or a glass crystal one – just like the chandelier in the kitchen in picture (6).

Adding A Table Lamp: A table lamp can be useful on a countertop or kitchen island to add light closer to the work surfaces. Go with a pastel lampshade, or a more traditional curved lamp shade. Have a look at my post here for some examples and ideas: Style Guide: Vintage Lighting Ideas.

Here are some more vintage mood board posts where you can find more ideas and inspiration:

image credits 1/2/3/4/5/6