As the days get shorter and the nights become longer, the time spent in your home can feel a little dim without the right lighting, especially in your kitchen. You want your home to feel cosy and warm in the bleak of winter, whilst maximising the light available to brighten up your rooms, such as the kitchen. Get the best out of your experience with artezia.com. Our kitchen design specialists have crafted plans to suit the lifestyles of our clients, so there’s no need to rush.
Everyone’s kitchen means something different to them. The place you gather after work and talk about your day, where you sit and help the kids with their homework or where you have a drink after a long week. Whatever your dream kitchen’s purpose, you want it to be welcomingly lit for your family and guests.
The golden rule for any excellent kitchen designer, when designing and installing kitchens, is to consider lighting. Especially in the bleak winter, you need all the help you can get to shed some light on your home. To light your kitchen up in this dark and dim season.
Where Windows Work
Now it’s no secret that windows are the biggest source of natural light in your kitchen, so it’s important to know where to place them when designing your quality kitchen. One tiny window backing on to the side of another houses’ brick wall may not be enough to make your kitchen gleam, so make them big and place them tactically. The more windows, the more natural light – as obvious as it may seem.
Skylights can add the extra touch of light to your kitchen, to maximise the daylight that enters your home. Whilst some say windows should ‘traditionally’ be over the sink, when it comes to design, you innovate and work around what works for you and your home. Use a designer with years of expertise behind them and one that has created countless beautiful, well-lit and bespoke kitchens. But one that keeps up with trends. Your kitchen, your rules.
Soft and Light
When your brand-new kitchen is designed and installed, decorating comes next. To maximise light in your redesigned kitchen, think soft and light. When it comes to paints and surface colours, it’s always tricky to find one that’s just right and sometimes can cause many disagreements in design. However, in terms of lighting, softer and lighter colours complement the fading light outside in the winter season.
Lighter paint colours will capture the light and spread it into the room around. Utilise the décor in your kitchen in the same way, using soft colours such as whites, creams etc to really capture light and beam it back into your kitchen.
Shelf and Surface space
We’re all guilty of a little bit of hoarding sometimes. However, by removing some of the clutter from your kitchen, you will not only see a growth of space and openness, but a greater chance to reflect light from surfaces and walls. Making room on your shelves and counter tops compliments the natural light that floods in. Cluttered kitchens can look messy and untidy. Keeping essential items and using light décor can maximise lighting in your stunning kitchen.
The Right Stuff
The materials you use in your kitchen can have a massive impact on the light in your kitchen. Whilst marble looks beautiful, a dark colour won’t bounce the light around your kitchen as much as a white surface might. Although, you don’t want to blind visitors with shimmering white throughout your whole kitchen, so it’s essential to use it in moderation. White surfaces paired with wooden floors and cupboards can do wonders to help your home shine.
Featured colours, like furniture or other dressings can balance out the shimmering white, try bold and dark colours to absorb some light. Glossy paints/surfaces can do wonders for brightening up dark cabinets. If you’ve chosen to have darker colours for fittings, use lighter and softer colours on walls to help with the illumination of your home.
Know your Lighting
When you enter the pitch black of the early evening of winter, and early morning, you find yourself in need of some light to brighten up your mornings and dark evenings. With so many choices of light fixtures that can point in every conceivable direction, it’s important to envision what you have in mind for your kitchen. Make sure to think about this at the design stage, as fitting light fixtures after the design is finished proves challenging.
It’s crucial to know the different types of lighting you’ll need around the when daylight ends. In food prep areas, consider task lighting – brighter lights that illuminate your hob, sink etc. In contrast, in areas where you want to sit and relax, you’ll need to consider the idea of mood and accent lighting – softer lights to unwind with.
A brighter kitchen is a better kitchen. Always consider the darker months of the year when redesigning your stunning kitchen – get all the lighting right, artificial and natural, at the design stage. Your can shine all year round, with light that makes it feel more spacious.