The times when a single ceiling light, often consisting of strip lights, adorned the kitchen and provided the room with often stark light, while leaving some areas insufficiently lit, have long since disappeared.
Today’s kitchen utilises a whole range of innovative lighting ideas to ensure all areas are sufficiently lit, while at the same time creating a warm and welcoming ambience. Today’s kitchen is not only an area for cooking, but one in which a family gathers more than any other room of the house.
Combining under-cabinet or under-counter task lighting with coloured glass back splashes and reflective surfaces provides beauty and a depth that has rarely be seen in kitchens before (the attractive ‘Luciente’ finishes in the Quarella worktops range are a perfect example of this.) This effect is further enhanced by interior lighting which highlights the contents of glass cabinets, wall lighting and pendant light fittings to match or compliment the colour of back splashes, or perhaps colours incorporated in worktops.
Vibrant finishes like the Amarillo Dream or Rojo Vital, both available in the range of Silestone worktops, will add a splash of colour to a kitchen that can be further accentuated through the use of light fittings in complementary or matching colours. Many of the finishes available in Caesarstone worktops would also without a doubt benefit from the use of the currently very popular elongated light fittings in muted earth tones, weathered bronze, brushed nickel or chrome finishes.
Frequently, smaller kitchens are now fitted with breakfast counters, as opposed to trying to squeeze a large dining table into the room. Such an area can be easily defined and accentuated with the use of track lighting, as can more traditional dining areas.
As a whole, the current trend in lighting for kitchens and bathrooms alike is a shift from bulky incandescent fittings to the much smaller and certainly more energy efficient fixtures and bulbs of LED technology. Combined with dimmer switches, LED lighting is able to provide an ambience suitable for any mood and occasion, as well as saving around 75 per cent on lighting costs.
