Kitchen lighting: worktop, kitchen island and under-cabinet lighting

How much light do you need on the worktop?

Licht.de, the information platform of the German lighting industry, gives 500 to 650 lux on the work surfaces of a kitchen, and at least 500 lux. Lux is the amount of light falling on a surface. The reason is practical: you work with knives, hot pans and small differences in colour and doneness, and that calls for about as much light as a desk.

Those 500 lux are not needed in the whole kitchen. The floor and the walkway are fine with general light; the high value belongs on the worktop, the hob and the sink. That is why a kitchen works with two kinds of light: general light from the ceiling and directed task light on the worktop. How many lumens you need for the general light can be worked out with the lumen calculator.

Why does the ceiling light cast a shadow on the worktop?

At the worktop you stand with your back to the room and your face to the wall. A light in the middle of the ceiling therefore hangs behind you, and your head and shoulders cast a shadow exactly where you are cutting. A brighter light in the same place does not solve this: the shadow stays where it is.

The task light therefore has to come from above and in front of you. There are two ways:

• Under the wall cabinets: light fittings or LED strips on the underside of the wall cabinets light the worktop from close by, without shadows.
• Spotlights in the ceiling above the front edge of the worktop: in a kitchen without wall cabinets, place a row of spotlights above the front of the worktop, not above the walkway. That way the light falls on the worktop in front of you.

For the general light, licht.de recommends at least two separate ceiling lights or distributed downlights, or a cable, rod or track system, instead of one light in the middle.

Under-cabinet lighting: where to mount it and what to look out for

Under-cabinet lighting is the most efficient task light in a kitchen: close by, free of shadows and often low in wattage. A few points make the difference between good and annoying.

• Shielding towards the front. Licht.de stresses that under-cabinet light fittings must be shielded towards the front, so that their light does not dazzle. Mount them against the front of the cabinet base, behind the edge of the cabinet, or choose a profile with an upstand.
• A diffuser against dots. A glossy worktop or a tiled wall reflects every LED as a row of dots. An LED strip in an aluminium profile with an opal cover gives an even line of light. Which strip to choose is explained in choosing an LED strip.
• The full length. Let the lighting run along as much of the worktop as possible. A short light fitting above one section leaves the rest of the worktop in semi-darkness.
• Easy to clean. Licht.de recommends a smooth cover of glass or plastic; in a kitchen, grease ends up on everything.
• Switched separately. Task light is independent of the general light, with a switch at the worktop or on the light fitting.

A kitchen has no separate zoning like the bathroom, but above the sink and the hob a closed light fitting with a cover is practical: moisture and grease stay out.

How high do you hang lights above a kitchen island?

That depends on what you do at the island. If you eat there on bar stools, the same rules apply as above a dining table: for a breakfast bar, licht.de also gives about 60 cm between the top and the underside of the light, and up to 75 cm works well. If you mainly stand and work there, in practice the lights hang a little higher, 70 to 85 cm above the top. That way you can look across the island into the room while standing, and nobody bumps their head when leaning over the worktop.

Because an island is usually 90 to 95 cm high, the underside of the light then ends up at around 160 to 180 cm above the floor, roughly at the eye level of someone standing. So choose lights that shield the light source: a closed shade, a deep cylinder or an opal diffuser. A bare bulb in clear glass stares you straight in the face there.

How many lights and at what distance?

The layout follows the same logic as above a long dining table. Let the lights together cover about two thirds of the length of the island and keep at least 30 cm free at each end. Above an island, smaller shades with a little more space between them usually work better than above a dining table: allow 30 to 40 cm between the shades and a diameter of no more than 35 cm, and never more than half the depth of the island. A single bar of about two thirds of the length is the alternative and gives the most even task light.

If there is a hob in the island with a ceiling extractor above it, the pendant lights stay out of the steam and grease zone above the hob. Spread them over the part of the island where you work or eat, and let the extractor with built-in lighting light the hob.

Which colour rendering and colour temperature do you choose in the kitchen?

In the kitchen colour rendering counts for more, because you judge food by its colour. Licht.de asks for at least Ra 80, and preferably Ra 90 or more, so that food looks natural and appetising. With low colour rendering it is harder to see whether chicken is cooked or an avocado is ripe, and tomatoes look brown. On the packaging it is shown as Ra or CRI. More on this in colour rendering (CRI) explained.

For the task light, 3000 K is a widely used colour temperature: white enough to work clearly, warm enough not to look clinical next to a living or dining room. In an open-plan kitchen that adjoins the living area, 2700 K for the general light and the pendant lights above the island is a good match. Mixing is possible, but keep lights you see together in the same colour. See also choosing a colour temperature.

How do you distribute the general light and the cabinet lighting?

The general light makes the kitchen safe to walk around in and easy to keep clean. Spread it across the ceiling instead of one light in the middle; in a long, narrow kitchen a track or a row of downlights works well. If you want spotlights, first read planning spotlights, because a grid above the walkway does not help the worktop.

Cabinet lighting is the layer that makes the kitchen soft in the evening: an LED strip in a display cabinet or under open shelves. Keep it on its own switch, so that after cooking you can switch off the task light and leave only the cabinets and the island on.

Which mistakes do you see most often in the kitchen?

1. A single ceiling light that casts your own shadow on the worktop.
2. Spotlights above the walkway instead of above the front edge of the worktop.
3. Under-cabinet lighting without shielding, so that you look into the LEDs from the table.
4. Visible LED dots that reflect in a glossy worktop.
5. Low colour rendering or cool light that makes food look grey.
6. Pendant lights too low above an island where you stand, or too high above a bar where you sit.