The kitchen is often the center of activity in the home, whether the kids are getting an afternoon snack or you’re getting dinner ready during the week or breakfast ready on the weekends. The kitchen is also where people gather when you have company, since that’s where the food and drinks are often served. At Dulles Electric Supply in Sterling, we’ve helped many homeowners find the perfect kitchen lighting, providing outstanding fixtures that transform their kitchen into what they’ve always wanted it to be.
If you’re building a new home in the greater D.C. area, or you’re planning to renovate your kitchen in the near future, let our team help you find the ideal lighting trends and styles. We can sit down with you and go over your blueprints, as well as take any design ideas you have and turn them into reality. Above all, we want you to feel confident that you’re going to end up with the best-looking kitchen possible.
Ambient Lights
When it comes to ambient lighting in the kitchen, there are many ways you can go. Depending on the size of the room and the height of the ceiling, you may only need one ambient fixture, or you may need several. Many homeowners opt for recessed lighting to provide ambient illumination, but these shouldn’t be the only fixtures you choose. A central ambient light can help create a focal point for the space, and you can plan all of your other lighting choices around this fixture.
If the ceiling in your kitchen is high enough, such as 10 feet and above, you could go with a small chandelier for the central light. While this chandelier doesn’t have to be as large or as grand as the one in your foyer or entryway, it can still be big enough to light the entire kitchen. Since you’ll be adding island lights and other fixtures, the central fixture doesn’t have to be overly bright, but it will still create a wonderful focal point in the kitchen. If your ceiling is 8 or 9 feet high, you can go with flush or semi-flush fixtures that also provide plenty of light, as well as the perfect design touches. Our staff can help you determine how many ambient light fixtures you’ll need, from the central light to the recessed fixtures around the perimeter of the kitchen.
Kitchen Island Lights
Your kitchen island is used for many things — it’s where the kids do their homework, where you have your morning coffee, and where the family eats breakfast on weekend mornings. The island may also be where you serve drinks and appetizers when you have guests, and it works as a buffet area during big holiday family gatherings.
Island lights can provide all three types of lighting — ambient, accent, and task. It adds to the ambient lighting that helps you see when you’re in the kitchen, it accents the design of your island countertop, and it helps when you’re doing tasks such as preparing food or helping the kids with their homework assignments. As for styles of lighting, the most popular choice for islands is pendant lighting. You can have individual pendants hanging from the ceiling above the island, or you can go with one fixture that has multiple bulbs. It’s often best to install pendants in odd numbers, such as three or five, and the size of your island will determine how many you need.
Under Cabinet Lights
When thinking about the task lighting you need in your new kitchen, no choice is more important than under cabinet lighting. These fixtures can be installed under your kitchen cabinets and will provide exceptional lighting when you’re chopping ingredients for a meal or mixing something together for dessert.
Modern under cabinet lights feature LED technology that make them both bright and energy efficient. You can install either modular ballasts that fit under your cupboards, or go with LED tape that can be secured to the underside of any cabinet. These lights are meant to be hidden and discreet while illuminating your countertops for any task.
If you’re unsure which option is right for your home, we’ll gladly help however we can. Under cabinet lighting can also function as the perfect low-level ambient lighting during the evening, when none of the other lights are on, or as a “night” light when you come down for that late-night snack after everyone’s gone to bed.
Dine-In or Breakfast Nook Lights
If you have a dine-in kitchen or a breakfast nook nestled into the corner, then it’s important to have the right lighting for these areas as well. You can add the same or similar pendant above the kitchen table as you do above the island, or you can go with a small chandelier. Since the dine-in area tends to be away from the wall, a hanging light is likely your best option.
As for the breakfast nook, which is often against the wall, you can go with a hanging fixture as well, or you can opt for wall sconces on either side of the seating area. Be sure to install these sconces high enough so that no one has to worry about bumping into them when they sit down or stand up from the nook.
Kitchen Lighting Controls
Once you’ve chosen your new kitchen light fixtures, you’ll need to decide how you want to control them. It’s not ideal to have one switch that controls both the overhead lights and the island lights, so you’ll need to think about where you want to install a switch for each set of fixtures. You can put them in the same switch panel, but you’ll enjoy your new kitchen much better by having individual controls for each light or set of lights.
You can add a dimmer switch for your recessed lights so that you can control how bright they are based on the time of day or how much natural light the kitchen gets on a regular basis. Your under cabinet lights will be controlled by their own switches, and there are dimming options for these as well, as long as they’re wired properly. As for your dine-in seating or breakfast nook, it’s best to have the switch for those lights near that area of the room.
Find Your New Kitchen Lighting Today
No matter how long you’ve lived in your home, there are changes you’d like to make to certain rooms. If the kitchen is one of those rooms, we’d love to help you find the perfect lighting for it. You can visit our showroom in Sterling and speak with a member of our team, or you can browse through our online catalog to find ideas and inspiration for your kitchen. You can purchase your new light fixtures online or create a list that we can reference when you come to our showroom.
We carry lights from the world’s leading brands and manufacturers, including Capital, Quoizel, and Kichler. You can rest assured that your new fixtures will be of the highest quality, and that they’ll last for years to come. We can answer any questions you have about style, installation, and much more.
