Kitchen lighting

Features of the kitchen is that It is usually small, but multifunctional: few people in the house have a dining room, so the kitchenused for cooking, and as a canteen. Yes, and friendly gatherings in the kitchen - not uncommon. Therefore, the lighting of the kitchen should take into account all these moments.

Planning the lighting of the kitchen needs at the very beginningrepair, determining the design of the kitchen and thinking about the location of furniture. Previously, over the issue of lighting the kitchen did not really think: just hung in the middle of the ceiling one chandelier - and it's ready! But just for the kitchen vertical lighting, forming a shadow, is not the best choice. Ideal - when each functional area of ​​the kitchen is lighted separately. Therefore, it is most effective to combine different types of lighting: general, local and decorative.

In the daytime, the kitchen usually has plenty of natural light. But there are some tricks that will help improve the natural lighting of the kitchen. So, for the decoration of walls and ceiling is bestUse light tones that reflect light and thereby enhance natural light. Visually increase the size of the kitchen and remove the sharp border between light and shadow will help glossy surfaces. Well, do not forget to wash windows: dirty windows can hold up to 30% of natural light. But in the evening you still need artificial lighting.

The general lighting of the kitchen is intended for,to maintain the level of illumination of the room in the dark. This type of lighting should be bright, but at the same time rather soft, without light contrasts and sharp shadows. General lighting should be evenly distributed throughout the kitchen.

The general light should be as natural as possible, color fixtures do not useit is recommended: they will distort the color of the dishes you cooked. Therefore, it is advised to give preference to fluorescent lamps. The sources of the total light can be built-in ceiling lights or chandelier. But all the same it is preferable to use several point ceiling lights, than one chandelier in the middle of the ceiling.

Note that the common light can not replace the lighting of functional areas. Therefore it is important that the area for cookingfood and dining area were lighted separately. If you have hanging cabinets, it is best to place the local lighting for the cooking area underneath them. This color, on the one hand, will illuminate the working surface well, on the other hand it will not strike the eye. It is convenient to use elongated lamps, then the light will be evenly distributed along the entire working surface. And for kitchens without hanging cabinets, stand-alone lamps are perfect.

And over the dining table you can hang one ortwo sconces, fixing them about a meter above the countertop. If the dining table is in the center of the room, being a kind of accent, you can use as a source of lighting a high table lamp or chandelier, located directly above the table. The lower the lamp hangs, the more intimate the situation will be (you can try the ceiling lamp on an elongated cord, the length of which can be adjusted).

To illuminate the tabletop, you need a direct directional light stream, so it's better if the lampshade or lampshade of the lamp orchandeliers will open only from the bottom. The lighting device should not be too powerful: a bright color creates sharp shadows that ugly distort the face and objects. The light circle must grasp the whole table top, so that there are no boundaries of light and shadow on the dining table.

By the way, in a very small or vice versa, a very large kitchen can do with one local lighting, the general lighting of the kitchen in these cases is notcertainly. In a small kitchen, fixtures in functional areas are able to replace general lighting, and in a large "inactive" zone at the moment it will simply not be illuminated.

Decorative kitchen lighting plan according to your taste - here already, as they say, the owner - the master. A very interesting detail, say, can be lit from the inside cabinets with translucent doors. The main thing is that the decorative lighting harmoniously combined with the main and local. You can use dimmers (rheostats) to adjust the intensity of lighting and, accordingly, the atmosphere in the kitchen.

Lighting the kitchen should be harmonious and balanced. Planning it, start from the kitchen interior, because the universal lighting scheme is not: in every kitchen, it will certainly be individual.