Lighting for the Kitchen...
From elegant to comfy, the kitchen in your home is often the busiest. You need lighting that is task oriented as well as adding personality and defining your space. Kitchen lighting is often created in layers. Ambient lighting includes recessed and surface mounted lighting that lights the room. Task lighting will spot light into a certain area and can be dimmed to provide a warm accent when you are not working in the space. Accent lighting decorates, enhancing architectural or design elements in the room OR giving a room a design element that wasn't there before.
Does your kitchen have a stand-alone bench or bench top? Does you kitchen have high ceilings? Pendant lighting fixtures are ideal for these situations. Different pendants offer different features. For instance, a glass pendant will illuminate the room as well as the bench or counter top below. A spun metal pendant will create a pool of light below, perfect for tasks or as an accent to your room.
Typically, a kitchen includes more than one type of lighting: pendants for over a bench, sink or counter; under cabinet or over cabinet strip lighting to accent areas in the kitchen, and ambient lighting (either flush mount, track or recessed lighting) to provide general lighting for the entire room. Just give us a call and Lightscene will help design the lighting for your kitchen.
Typically, a kitchen includes more than one type of lighting: pendants for over a bench, sink or counter; under cabinet or over cabinet strip lighting to accent areas in the kitchen, and ambient lighting (either flush mount, track or recessed lighting) to provide general lighting for the entire room. Just give us a call and Lightscene will help design the lighting for your kitchen.
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Pendants for Kitchen Spaces
A group of pendants or a singular island pendant is ideal for islands and breakfast bars, with smaller fixtures generally hung in odd numbers, and larger pendants in pairs. Keep in mind that the pendants should not prohibit those standing around the island from seeing one another. Every space is different, so heights will vary, but pendants should typically be hung with the bottom of the fixture 710mm - 860mm from the counter top. Pendants can also replace ceiling lighting fixtures in rooms with high ceilings in which recessed lights or flush mounted fixtures won't allow the light from the fixture to reach the floor. (See Hinkley's Fletcher to the right.) |
Argo by Hinkley Lighting
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Fletcher by Hinkley Lighting
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HINT: If you are employing layers of light in your kitchen, it's a good idea to be sure that each lighting apparatus is on different switching. You might want to light each layer separately so you can control lights during different activities. For instance, under cabinet lighting provides great light for prepping dinner. Put the same under cabinet lighting on a dimmer switch and your counter tops can be softly accented.
Angelo by Feiss Lighting
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The Right Pendant!
There are pendants in every design, size and type, not to mention finish or glass type. There are pendants in very modern designs, like Seagull's Industrial Modern Pratt Street (see above). Modern lighting also comes in different looks, like the Nuance collection by Kelly Wearstler. The Argo pendant by Hinkley Lighting provides task lighting for the bench top below. Put this pendant on a dimmer switch and it will provide both ambient and accent lighting for your kitchen in a minimal design. |
AMBIENT LIGHTING: Lighting to provide the area with overall or general illumination. This lighting can be recessed or decorative.
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TASK LIGHTING: Adds brightness to a specific area. Can be dimmed for accent lighting.
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ACCENT LIGHTING: Highlight features with decorative lighting fixtures. SHOWN: Tabby by Feiss
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How to Make the Kitchen Elegant
Chandeliers are used in kitchens as well as dining rooms and entries. Placing two large pendants or a chandelier over a bench top will add instant sophistication and turn your kitchen into an entertainment area. To add instant "glam slam" to your kitchen, call Lightscene for ideas. |
Monroe by Hinkley Lighting
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HINT: LED LIGHTING. Some of your decorator lighting can be made with LED components. Or, use an LED light bulb in a medium base socket or in a G9 socket. Choosing an LED light bulb gives you the opportunity to choose your own LED temperature, allowing you to adjust the bulb's colour to your personal taste. LIGHTSCENE will help select the best option for your requirements.
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Going Contemporary with LED pendants
American lighting designers are redefining modern with LED pendants. For instance, the Folio (at left) whispers sophisticated elegance. The collection is designed by Lisa McDennon for Hinkley Lighting. Inspired by the idea of structure combined with movement, Folio is composed of framed, illuminated LED panels that rotate to create diverse angles, infusing a space with crisp modernity. |
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Decorating with Light!
You can choose a lighting collection and add an aesthetic to your kitchen. Since a kitchen is often surrounded by family and entertaining areas, decorating your kitchen with lighting allows you to keep your walls free for cabinetry and counters uncluttered. Lighting can also allow you to take a plain room and add instant pizzazz. Hinkley's Somerset collection (at right) is a modernised traditional European orb with ribbed glass domes. The structure is clean and simple, but adds elegance in a Heritage Brass, Buckeye Bronze or Brushed Nickel finish. |
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Influenced by both rustic and industrial design, Feiss' Angelo chandelier is very Italian.
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Generation's Atlantic collection is a traditional Mid-Century look with an elegant twist.
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Hubbardton Forge's Fizz collection with clear bubble glass and a spun brass collar.
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Hinkley's Argo is brilliantly basic in design but has all the right details. The smooth lines of the Satin Black or Polished White dome feature brass accents.
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Hinkley's Amelia collection. Lots of different sizes in spun and finished metal shades, glass shades in a variety of metal finish options.
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Hubbardton Forge's Erlenmeyer collection. Custom made with your choice of thick glass styles and metal finishes in a variety of combinations.
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Feiss' Hobson collection. Pendants in many sizes, multi-pendant combinations in metal and glass shades. There are several finish options.
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Schoolhouse sensibilities meld with neoclassical spirit, in Hubbardton Forge's Atlas collection. The large sphere is available in opal or clear glass.
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Vermont Modern's Hook, Vine and Sinker pendant trio ... perfect for a kitchenette. Choices of colorful cords and finish options. (Well trained dogs not included!)
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Seagull Lighting's Pratt Street collection. Pratt Street is a very industrial modern design, in glass and metal shades in choices of finish colours.
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Tech Lighting's Mini Mason pendant is a modern twist on an iconic shape. The mason jar becomes chic lighting that is sure to create a warm, modern aesthetic in any space.
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Tech Lighting's Zhane suspension is ultra-modern in design and boasts hard and soft lines that converge into a simply elegant silhouette.
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For more ideas from our international designers...
HINKLEY I HUBBARDTON FORGE I GENERATION LIGHTING I FEISS I SEA GULL LIGHTING I TECH LIGHTING I ALLEGRI
HINKLEY I HUBBARDTON FORGE I GENERATION LIGHTING I FEISS I SEA GULL LIGHTING I TECH LIGHTING I ALLEGRI