Lighting in a dark kitchen

[allnewname]

Planning our new kitchen, and need help with thinking about the lighting … it’s a pretty dark room and the current lighting is not great. Will be maximising the light with paint colour, work surfaces, cabinets etc, but would love your recommendations for successful lighting solutions in dingy kitchens. Thank you!

Under cabinet lights, we have a strip light under them all which is great. Then lights over the cooker, work prep surfaces & table. Basically anywhere where you’d need to be doing something make sure it’s properly lit.

We've just renovated what had been a derelict property, so not one we'd lived in before.

-Our previous home was a flat with a single light in the centre of the kitchen. Despite buying a 3 way light, when I was washing the dishes, the sink was in a shadow because the light was behind my head
-Get more lights than you think but have them on separate switches so you can zone off areas.

-We have spotlights in the new kitchen- but they can be ALL on, the middle row, the ones over the sink and cook top etc.
-We also have a hanging light (well 3) over the peninsular part
-Completely non essential, we also have plinth lights and ones under the wall cupboards. DH gets up very early when its dark and prefers to put these lights on rather than the overhead ones
-Again, non essential but DH is a techy wizz and installed a home assist system. All our lights can be switched on/off via the computer or app, plus they can all be dimmed.

We have the same problem, so are interested in the responses. In our current kitchen there are ceiling spotlights about every metre in the ceiling, which is great when it's dark outside if a bit like an operating theatre. But lots of natural light in the daytime. New house has dark kitchen, so first thought was spotlights but might be a bit much all the time. So thinking lots of mood lighting plus ceiling spots when want it really bright

Double up the under counter lights - one strip at the front, one at the back, controllable separately. Made a massive difference to my kitchen

I think it's more about the placement and the flexibility.
Our kitchen is two rooms knocked together, with the main worktop under the old wall/steel beam. There were a few spotlights in the two ceilings each side but you were always in your own shadow, it was just awful.

We have taken all the spotlights out and added three 30W diffused LED lights right over the sink/ worktops, plus independent cabinet lights. On the dining side is a Phillips smart LED fitting that can be dimmed or warmed to change the mood.

Lots to think about here, thank you so much, keep the ideas coming.

we have a north facing kitchen and have warm cream gloss units which don’t quite reach the ceiling. One Christmas I decided to put fairy lights on top of the cabinets and it was so beautiful that we replaced the fairy lights permanently with LED strip lights on top - it was lovely in the evenings as the lights would turn themselves on using an app timer plus we could change the colours to suit task/mood.

I found them far more lovely than the ones I’ve had in other kitchens under the cupboards.

In addition to the above, we have lights added to open shelving units around the fridge freezer and inside the glass cabinets. We also have uplights set into the stone tiles to light up statement plants.

A nice way to make your kitchen lighter is to have shelving and no wall units. Just get some beefy base units to replace lost storage and some pan drawers to hold plates.

Yes was about to post this. I have designed my new kitchen with zero wall cupboards but loads of base unit drawers. I don't like spotlights so am having copper and glass wall lights and a pair of large copper pendants, one over the peninsula and one over the kitchen table. It suits the style of the kitchen. There is a light in the ceiling extractor too, so hopefully that will be enough.

Can you tell me more about these lights? Are they easy to install?

We've got cable track across apex roof , leds under higher cupboards, led strips on top of cupboards and over roof blinds plus a lamp in corner. Husband installed most of the LED stuff