Try these kitchen cabinet lighting ideas to illuminate your space’s storage and create accent lighting for your design.
A kitchen design should consider including ideas for kitchen cabinet lighting. They can be included in the layers of lighting that not only make a kitchen a practical space for food preparation but also enable a change in atmosphere for dining and entertaining guests.
In light of this, we searched through our favorite kitchen brands for the best illustrations of how to apply kitchen cabinet lighting ideas in your area.
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11 Kitchen Cabinet Lighting Ideas
Here are some good kitchen cabinet lighting ideas you can use for a fantastic kitchen.
1. LED Strips Are Perfectly Suited for Kitchen Cabinet Lighting Ideas
LED strip lighting is a great option if you’re looking for kitchen cabinet lighting ideas for inside of your cabinets or underneath of your wall-mounted units. It can be more useful than downlights and cast an even light along the length of your cabinets or shelves.
Shadows under cabinets can be minimized with linear LED lighting. To increase light levels where they are needed, under cabinet lighting is useful. However, it should be hidden and have no visible dots.
For all of your kitchen lighting ideas, LED lighting should ideally be dimmable, allowing you to adjust the brightness so it can be used for task lighting during the day and softer, ambient lighting at night.
2. Kitchen Cabinet Lighting is Super Effective in Glass Fronted and Open Units
When combined with glass-fronted cabinets or open storage, lighting up the inside of your kitchen cabinets not only makes it easier to find what you’re looking for but also makes a stunning visual display.
When using glass fronted cabinets in a kitchen design, you’re reliant on having neatly styled contents to keep your kitchen looking its best, and lighting only goes to highlight your perfectly curated shelves.
In this situation, it’s imperative that your lighting be hardwired into your kitchen from the start and managed by an accessible switch.
In this Wren Kitchens(opens in new tab) design, three open unit sections at the top are lit simply with three downlights, which are also placed on the worktop.
3. Put Cabinet Lighting on a Separate Switch
How much light does my kitchen need?’, it’s really worth considering that not all lights need to be on at the same time – and that your needs will change, depending on how you are using your kitchen. In order to enable changes in atmosphere when the space is being used for different purposes, it is crucial to ensure kitchen cabinetry lighting can be operated independently of other lighting in the room.
Put the cabinetry lights on their own switch so you can turn off the ceiling lights while maintaining a lovely, warm glow inside the cabinets. Lighting from above washing down a dresser unit is something to think about if there are any items on the shelves that you want to highlight.
4. Motion Sensor Vs Switch Operated Kitchen Cabinet Lighting
Think about the purpose of your kitchen cabinet lighting to decide which mode of operation is best suited. Choose a switch-operated style for cabinets with glass fronts, open shelving, or under cabinets, but a PIR motion sensor light will work best inside cabinets because it will ensure that the lights come on when you open the cabinet door.
If opting for mains-wired kitchen cabinet lighting, think about the location of your switch too. Make sure the light switches are simple to find upon entering the space and easy to reach without obstructing the kitchen’s working space.
5. Or Opt for Smart Connectivity Kitchen Cabinet Lighting
A different option to take for even more seamless control is kitchen cabinet lighting with Wi-fi connectivity. The likes of Philips Hue light strips, which are offered by John Lewis & Partners(opens in new tab), can be managed by an app, either wirelessly with the Hue Bridge hub installed or wirelessly without it.
Or you could try this new Rotpunkt kitchen, which has kitchen cabinet lighting hardwired into the shelves and is ready for smart homes and has the ability to be controlled by Wi-Fi and smart assistants like Alexa.
6. Add Lighting in a Pantry Unit
To make your pantry convenient to use and to keep in good condition, kitchen cabinet lighting is a crucial pantry idea. Because pantry shelves are typically shorter than the depth of the cabinet, one strategically placed, sufficiently bright light at the top-front may be sufficient, or you may want to add lights to each shelf.
Good candidates for motion-activated lighting that turns on and off when you open and close doors are pantries.
7. Use Spotlights to Highlight Kitchen Cabinets
When choosing between spotlights or downlights, it tends to be downlights that are more commonly used for kitchen cabinet lighting ideas; however, you can also make a feature of your kitchen cabinetry using spotlights too.
This innovative lighting setup makes sure that the spotlights’ light is just as useful for the room when the doors are closed as when they are open, making the room generally well-lit.
8. Incorporate Lighting to Highlight Open Cabinets
If you add lighting to the small open spaces in your kitchen cabinetry, they become even more appealing as design elements.
Consider installing a single downlight in a tiny recess to highlight an item in the cabinet. This will create a focal light that will be an effective way to draw attention to it.
9. Retrofit Kitchen Cabinet Lighting With Battery-Powered Or Rechargeable Styles
There are many DIY lighting options available, whether you want to add kitchen cabinet lighting to an already-existing kitchen or an off-the-shelf kitchen design. The best kitchen lighting for this are lights powered by batteries or are re-chargeable that can simply be stuck into your cabinets.
For a cleaner finish, you might want to consider hiding these lights in your final design since they frequently come with hefty battery packs.
10. Choose Dimmable, Colour Changing Lights
LED strips with app control can frequently change the color of the lighting as well as its brightness and opacity. You can adjust the brightness and color of the light depending on what you’re doing by using color-changing smart bulbs or smart LED strip lighting, whether you want warm, cozy interior tones when you’re eating or cool blue interior hues to perfectly illuminate worktops while you’re cooking.
“Additionally, using smart lighting, you can quickly add color to white kitchens to create some lovely looks, adding warmth and texture to even the most bare walls.”
11. Consider Switches for Kitchen Cabinet Lighting
Having more than three light switches on a wall will, in all likelihood, make it difficult for users to determine the best lighting arrangement, so it’s critical to simplify your kitchen lighting plan.
Instead of having each light in your kitchen controlled separately, think about whether the cabinet lighting can be controlled by the same switch as another light fixture.
While it’s likely best that all lighting is controlled by switches near the entry door, you might consider relocating switches for accent lighting elsewhere, or opt for lighting with built-in switches for under cabinet lighting.
Related Post: Best Under Cabinet Lighting
How Do You Light Inside a Cabinet?
LED light strips or puck lights are both excellent options to use inside a cabinet. Puck lights are small spotlights which can be mounted on a surface or recessed. They can be a good option for accent lighting, highlighting a collection of glasses or prized china, for instance. Strip lighting can perform the same task, but it’s also an excellent way to illuminate the interior of a cabinet to allow you to locate items easily.
To ensure a seamless finish, kitchen cabinet lighting should ideally be hardwired. An alternative is to consider battery-powered designs, which could be fitted without the need to call in a professional electrician.
Read More: How to Install Under Cabinet Lighting?
Final Words on Kitchen Cabinet Lighting Ideas
Lighting kitchen cabinets can be a practical solution so it is easy to locate items when preparing and cooking food, but they can also make a display of items such as stemware or china in glass-fronted cabinets, so they’re always worth considering as an element of your kitchen ideas.
In every room of the house, lighting is a crucial component, but the kitchen is where it really matters.
After reading this guide, do you have any ideas? Leave your comments and share with us.
FAQs
What Type of Lighting is Best for under Cabinet?
LED lights are the most suitable for installing under cabinets.
How Do I Choose LED Lights for under Cabinets?
For best results, choose a finish that closely resembles your cabinets. Use light bars that closely match the width of your cabinets to ensure even lighting across the counter.
Do LED under Cabinet Lights Get Hot?
LED under cabinet lighting is a great option as it is a very energy efficient light source that doesn’t give off a lot of heat.
