10 Top Simple Tips To Improve Kitchen Lighting
10 Top Tips for Kitchen Lighting
Kitchen lighting can make such a big difference to the feel of your kitchen space and is an integral part of your kitchen designers spec. Here we explore our top tips for kitchen lighting, having a look at our recent projects and how the natural and artificial lighting in the kitchen have transformed our customers space.
Improve the natural light in your kitchen by removing a wall.
The natural light in a kitchen can be massively improved by enlarging the kitchen area, creating more open space and flow. In recent years we have seen a huge increase in customers removing a dividing wall between their kitchen and dining room and either adding seating to the kitchen island or including a dining table or comfy kitchen sofa into the kitchen.
Removing a wall isn’t as difficult as it may seem. If the wall is load bearing you will need a builder to fit a new steel, structural calculations and a building notice, however if there is no support you can remove the wall without any professional support. You may need a plumber and electrician to help if there’s any pipework or electrics within the wall you are removing.
Put simply a bigger space = increased natural kitchen lighting.

Kitchen before wall removal

Kitchen before wall removal

Kitchen following wall removal of two internal walls

Kitchen following wall removal of two internal walls, Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire
Include a bi-folding or French patio doors to increase the light into your kitchen
Another way to bring masses of natural light into your kitchen is to transform a kitchen window into a door. You will need a fairly large space to change your kitchen window to a door without taking away from much needed kitchen storage. Including a door in your kitchen works well alongside a wall removal project to open up the space. When selecting a door, large plain glass panes are best. Bi-folds are a popular choice as they can tuck out of the way when open and merge the outside and indoor space within your home.
We love how this kitchen fitted in Oakley, Bedfordshire provides floods of natural light into the kitchen and brings the beautiful garden views as a backdrop while eating breakfast at their T-shaped island.
Add a kitchen skylight or ceiling lantern to bring more kitchen lighting from above
Bringing light into the kitchen from above, is sometimes overlooked, but it’s a great way to flood the room with natural light. There are lots of variations of kitchen skylights and ceiling lanterns, with bespoke sizes available for larger roof spaces. Just remember that if you are planning on a larger than average glass panel skylight or ceiling lantern for your kitchen, you may need a crane to lift it into place, so there will need to be access for a crane at your property.
This project fitted in Wellingborough, included adding a ceiling lantern to their new kitchen. The kitchen designer created a small island to sit in line with the kitchen ceiling lantern, giving the customers added natural light from above, whilst catching up.

Natural kitchen lighting improved by installing a ceiling lantern, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire
Expand an existing window to increase the area of natural kitchen lighting
It can seem like a lot of work for not much difference, but if you have the space in your kitchen to expand the size of your kitchen window, it can really improve the light and feel or the space. We would also recommend a single glazed panel, providing you have the ventilation elsewhere.
In this kitchen fitted in Bedford, it’s such a difference to see how the expanded kitchen window makes the kitchen space so much brighter. The clear large, glazed panel of the window makes the garden through the kitchen look like a tranquil picture.

Expanding the window in this kitchen in Bedford to improve the natural kitchen lighting
Add feature lighting to your kitchen
Is there an area of your kitchen that you would like to draw attention to? This is where your kitchen designer can use feature lighting to showcase a section of your new kitchen. Kitchen feature lighting works well inside glazed cabinets, to showcase your beautiful glasses, or show pieces.

feature kitchen lighting inside glazed cabinets, Biddenham, Bedfordshire
Create a party kitchen with LED kitchen lighting
Today, we all love to hang out in the kitchen during a house party. LED strip lights are a simple addition to your kitchen. They can be used at the top of wall cabinets, on the pelmet under the wall cabinets, on the plinths, under the rim of your worktop and inside a cabinet. The most popular choice of kitchen LED strip lights are the colour changing version. This way you can keep the kitchen lighting plain and simple but then move it to a party feel with the colour setting of your choice at the flick of a button.
Add feature pendants over your kitchen seating area
If you have an island or dining table within your kitchen, there are so many kitchen pendant options on the market to choose from. A feature kitchen pendant in your kitchen can be used to tie in with your cabinet handle colours and tap finish, or you can choose a pendant that pops a splash of colour into your kitchen. We really love the ranges available at industville and as we are a trade supplier, we are able to offer our customers their items with a nice little discount!
We couldn’t choose just one kitchen with pendants to share with you. Below are some of our favourite kitchen pendants. They all add something different and are equally as impressive in their own way.

Colourful pendant kitchen lighting Felmersham, Bedfordshire

Circular kitchen pendants on kitchen island, Oakley, Bedfordshire

Triangle pendant kitchen lighting, Luton Bedfordshire

Feature pendant kitchen lighting, Bedford, Bedfordshire
Warm kitchen spotlights vs cool kitchen spotlights
Almost every kitchen we fit has LED ceiling spotlights to brighten the space. LED spotlights in a kitchen are simple, clean and unimposing. They can easily be sectioned off to be controlled in zones and certainly are a popular choice. You can choose a surround to suit your fixtures and fittings. White is the most selected LED surround finish as it blends into the ceiling, however stainless and brushed steel and copper are also used. These finishes will usually match the kitchen handles.
As with all artificial kitchen lighting, you have the option to choose warm or cold lighting. The warm lighting used to be a very yellow glow of light from the blub, but as times have changed the warm light bulbs have become more of a softer light, without creating a yellow room. Cool lights have more of a blue tone to them and can create a brighter light. There is no fixed rule about when to use warm and cool lights, although warm light is more often used for traditional painted and wooden kitchens and cool lights used on a modern slab or handless style kitchens.

Warm vs Cool lighting
Motion sensor kitchen lighting
Motion sensor kitchen lighting is popular for feature cabinets. Imagine, in the evening when your eyes become a little hazy and you head to the drinks cabinet for a night cap. As you open the cabinet doors, on pops the motion sensor lighting inside the cabinet and your hazy eyes are enthralled by the options available, highlighted beautifully. This scenario is where motion sensor lighting can be a great hidden feature within the kitchen. You can also fit motion sensors in certain areas to avoid having to switch on the main kitchen lights at night. We would definitely recommend a warm light for these!

Motion sensor kitchen lighting, Bedford, Bedfordshire
Include some wall kitchen lighting
Wall lights seemed to be a thing of the past, but they are making a comeback, so we couldn’t leave them off our list. There are some stylish wall light fittings available on the market, that can offer a soft backlight to your kitchen space. Kitchen wall lights are more suited to kitchen diners. In a smaller kitchen the focus must be on storage and maximising the space with cabinets and shelving.

wall kitchen lighting
We hope you have enjoyed our 10 top tips for kitchen lighting. If you would like to talk through how natural and artificial kitchen lighting will affect your project, or to see your new kitchen space through our virtual reality system, use our contact form to arrange a no obligation design meeting with one of our kitchen designers, or call us on 01234 589136.