Whether yours is an open plan kitchen or a smaller room, we all have areas in our kitchen from islands to units to corner cupboards that suffer from poor lighting. Fortunately with the enormous range of solutions on the market there is an answer for every lighting issue.
A very clever and reasonably priced solution, especially for those kitchens whose dark spots change with the weather and time of day, is to introduce flexible spotlights. From spot lights with shades that rotate 90 degrees each side to clamp-on, moveable spotlights with long, flexible, scissor arms that can follow the darkness around, perhaps on a seasonal basis, such lighting options represent a great, flexible and inexpensive option.
As open plan kitchens have prevailed as our kitchen of choice, so the question has arisen as to what constitutes the best lighting for such a room. It may be that generalised ceiling spotlighting provides the main light to the room and other options fill in the gaps. Recessed halogen spotlights are unobtrusive and efficient and can be spread evenly across the ceiling giving good universal coverage. However there will likely still be areas that need augmenting.
In larger kitchens a centrepiece hanging light feature like a chandelier or pendant light for a more modern touch, above the island, breakfast bar or dining table can look great and provide character as well as a welcome mood-lighting option. In larger kitchens benefiting from a nice dresser against a wall, perhaps a gorgeous free standing period table lamp could be the answer – with a wall-mounted mirror above the dresser this can be a real coup.
For the more modern kitchen, LED is an option that cannot be ignored for its potential to add real panache. When incorporated below the kickboards of your kitchen units, waterproof, self-adhesive LED tape or strips can be a wonderful addition to a 21st century kitchen. Whether they are applied below the kickboards, in the recesses of handle-less kitchen drawer fascia or above large cabinets, these fun, low energy lights are a superb option. LED tape is also available with colour changing for the more adventurous among us.
What often infuriates me is searching around in the back of those hard to reach corner cupboards for the one thing that I need that has happened to fall down the back and it is impossible to see where. To avoid this frustration, for the gadget lovers amongst us, motion sensitive surface mounted lights can be placed inside the cupboard and only activate as we open it. What makes these nifty gadgets even cooler is that as they run out of battery you simply remove them and charge them via a USB cable with your laptop or PC!
Never has there been a better time to shed some light on the darker recesses of your kitchen spaces and the kitchen refurbishment Leicestershire team are more than happy to show you the way.