Any kitchen from a mid-sized one to a large one can be indeed opened up with a modern kitchen island.
However, no matter how modern and well designed is a kitchen island it cannot be conceived without an adequate lighting. Moreover, a kitchen island needs diversified artificial lighting, even if your kitchen has plenty of natural light.
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Therefore, choosing the proper light fixtures for your kitchen is extremely important. Let’s see together some tips and considerations regarding the lighting of a kitchen island.
SEVERAL TIPS FOR A PROPER LIGHTING
1) First of all, any lighting project should be designed to meet the most inadequate conditions such as lighting at night, when your kitchen does not benefit from natural light.
2) Secondly, it is a good idea to use dimmers for your kitchen light fixtures. In this way, the light can be adjusted according to your needs or according to the intensity of natural light.
HANGING PENDANT LIGHTS
Pendant lights are becoming increasingly popular and can be found in almost all modern kitchens. In fact, these kind of light fixtures are today in high demand for their great look.
Choosing a proper pendant light for your kitchen island can be a quite difficult task, because there are a wide range of designs and types to choose from. How can you choose from so many designs, colors, shapes and sizes? What is the right type for your kitchen island?
I will try to answer to these questions in the below lines.
HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT PENDANT LIGHT
1) Use only fluorescent, halogen or LED pendant fixtures lights instead to fixtures with incandescent light bulbs.
2) Your light fixtures dimensions should be proportional to the size of the kitchen island. However, if you intend to highlight a larger island or an outstanding island, then you can choose larger pendant fixtures with bold shapes. I would like to mention here that do not be afraid of these larger pendants. After all they can be in scale with your kitchen cabinetry.
3) You should hang your pendant light fixtures at least 30 to 36 inches above the island countertop. It is known that a standard kitchen countertop is approximately 3 feet tall, which put the bottom of your light fixture somewhere between 5 feet and 6 feet high. However, you still should adjust the length of your pendant, so as to have proper lighting of the countertop surface.
4) For kitchen islands that have multi-level counter heights or are L-shaped, consider hanging a set of pendant light fixtures at varying heights for a more practice and dramatic effect.
5) Coloured glass pendants is another thing to consider especially when you change the colours of the cabinets or of the kitchen walls. Coloured glass pendants light fixtures are indeed amazingly beautiful, but their colour has to match with the overall look of your kitchen. But do not despair. You can easily change the pendant glass globes.
RECESSED “CAN” LIGHTS AND CHANDELIERS
Chandelier and recessed “can” lights are another option for lighting your kitchen island.
A chandelier should be installed at least 6 feet and 6 inches from the kitchen floor. A chandelier, requires a certain style luxurious and yet classic. It improves the look of your kitchen and generally the look of your home.
However, you must have a sense of proportion when choosing a chandelier for your kitchen. If it is too massive will overpower the space and if it is too small in size its role will be greatly diminished, and it would seem inappropriate for the room.
Let’s see what you should take in consideration when you choose the right chandelier for your kitchen.
- a) The kitchen ceiling high;
- b) How large is your kitchen;
- c) The shape and size of the kitchen island;
- d) The type of the chandelier (size, shape and design)
Although there are not decorative light fixtures, recessed lights are practical and can fully illuminate a kitchen area. However, do not place recessed light fixtures in the middle of the kitchen island. They will look much better to the edge of the island especially if the countertop surface is highly reflective. After all, recessed lights work very well in combination with a set of pendant light fixtures.
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