How to choose and organize lighting in the kitchen above the work surface

The quality of lighting affects human health: mood, concentration, fatigue, nervous system and vision. For this reason, even at the stage of creating the project, you need to take care of lighting the working area in the kitchen and in the entire apartment.

Why do you need lighting in the kitchen above the worktop

Illumination of the working area in the kitchen facilitates the work of the hostess

Typically, the kitchen is the main room in the whole house or apartment, because here:

• The hostess spends a lot of time.
• The family gathers during breakfast, lunch and dinner.
• If guests come to the house, most often they are placed in the kitchen.
• If the family is large and the living space is small, the workspace is often organized in the kitchen.

As a result, the room must combine comfort and functionality. Additional sources of lighting will facilitate the work of the hostess in cooking, as well as make the room more comfortable.

Principles and Requirements

Illumination is highly dependent on the location of the fixtures

The lighting of the kitchen area has a list of principles and requirements, especially for the area intended for cooking.

• Light is moderate, not too bright. Otherwise, it will blind your eyes and "get on your nerves."
• It is necessary, at the stage of repair, to select the required number of lamps with the obligatory consideration of their power.
• The backlight should not create shadow from objects.
• When choosing the brightness of the bulbs, the color of the walls, furniture and curtains, the interior as a whole are taken into account.
• Each lighting fixture should be combined with each other.
• When buying lamps, it is better to give preference to energy-saving varieties.

The minimum distance from the sink to the lighting fixtures is 1.5 meters.

Highlighting the work area in the kitchen

A large assortment of work area lights is presented in construction stores. Before acquiring a specific variety, familiarize themselves with the features, advantages and disadvantages of each.

• LED backlighting is one of the most common. This is due to a large number of advantages, namely, economical energy consumption, soft warm light, used for decoration, because it has different colors. There is no difficulty in the installation - it is glued to any surface with a sticky base. This type of lighting is considered the most suitable for the kitchen, because it is not afraid of dirt and humidity. The tapes just wash, they tolerate power surges and temperature changes well.
• Fluorescent lamps are also in great demand, due to the ease of installation, reasonable price, low power consumption and a large assortment in stores. It is also worth mentioning separately about the long service life with proper installation and careful attitude. There are two types of organization of such lights: installation of ordinary fluorescent lamps and installation of specialized lighting devices. At a cost, the first option is more acceptable. However, this method has one significant drawback - in order to hide the lighting fixtures, special trims should be provided in the cabinets.
• Halogen lighting is often used to give a decorative look, since more often they are found in non-standard colors. With such an unusual approach, the room will look cozy and mysterious, and if you provide for a periodic change in the color of lighting during installation, this will create a sense of celebration.Halogen lamps are often installed to illuminate suspended and suspended ceilings, but in kitchen sets they look very interesting.
• Spotlights are most often mounted in the form of a main source or to highlight a certain accent, for example, to illuminate a countertop located in a prominent place in the room where the whole family gathers. Spot lighting is divided into modular, overhead and built-in. The peculiarity of these devices is that the light is scattered to a distance of not more than 2 meters. They can be easily applied in any interior, as they come in different sizes, shapes and colors.
• Incandescent lamps in the design of the kitchen are used less and less, due to this a large number of shortcomings in comparison with modern lighting devices. Perhaps the only advantage of incandescent lamps is the low price.

Analyzing all the pros and cons, you can choose the appropriate types of lighting in a particular case.

If we talk about the existing backlight modes, it is better to give preference to combined lighting. This is due to tangible energy savings, as well as ease of use. For example, you can turn on the light in the whole room or its separate area. Experts recommend in the kitchen to create more than one light zone with different levels of illumination: from low to bright.

How to choose lighting fixtures

The lighting in the room is thought through even before the start of the repair, since with correctly placed accents the appearance of the kitchen can radically change. With the help of lighting, you can recreate an atmosphere of relaxation, work and romance.

When choosing lighting devices, the general light in the room is taken into account, when lighting, the illumination should be as follows:

• LED lamps - 4 watts / 1 sq.m.
• Incandescent lamps - 26 watts / 1 sq.m.
• Fluorescent lamps - 9 watts / 1 sq.m.
• Halogen lamps - 30 watts / 1 sq.m.

Illuminated kitchen apron

When choosing lighting fixtures for lighting, you should pay attention to the advice and recommendations of specialists:

• So that the color of products and surrounding interior items does not change, they prefer warm white light lamps.
• When zoning a room, it is preferable to install colored lights.
• If the kitchen is renovated in modern design styles, for example, high-tech, it is better to give preference to silver color.
• It is recommended that the backlight is additionally equipped with a brightness control button.
• If the kitchen has wooden sets, it is better to choose warm lighting, for example, in soft yellow or warm white colors.

The backlight is installed not only on wall cabinets and walls, but also on the work surface. In such cases, LED panels are used. Their advantage is that they illuminate the space and have an attractive appearance - two glasses with drawings depicted on them. Glass has a high degree of tempering, so it is impossible to break it. The only disadvantages of LED panels are the high price. Install them must master with special skills and tools.