Ingenious Kitchen Cabinet Lighting Solutions

Kitchen Cabinet Lighting

There are many types of kitchen lighting that can improve its total look. One of the factors that are able to have a huge impact on the interior design is kitchen cabinet lighting. The ways of installing these lights may vary. There are three main options - under cabinet lighting, over cabinet lighting, and installing lights right into the kitchen cabinets. You can use only one of these options or combine them to achieve more impressive visual effect.

Under Cabinet Kitchen Lighting

under kitchen cabinet lighting

There are a few main types of under cabinet kitchen light fixtures:

• Under cabinet recessed lights. These downlights are practical and beautiful, but need a professional installation. The light is uneven and not always perfect to illuminate the working area.
• Under cabinet LED strip lighting. This is beautiful and practical type of lighting. It is cost-effective and extremely easy to install with the double sided tape. It ensures bright and even illumination of working area. It is not visible for the user when installed properly. A perfect choice for kitchen under cabinet lighting!
• Light bars. These light fixtures have much in common with strip LED lights. They are also easy to install, but they usually have a standard length while LED strips can be installed throughout the length of all kitchen cabinets. Light bars are a bit larger in size, so they can be visible for the user.

It's up to you which type of under cabinet kitchen lighting to choose. The basic rule is to remember about the safety of lighting. The water with electricity causes a short circuit, so it's vital to choose the waterproof light fixtures. Learn the IP rating of a light fixture or strip that you are about to buy. IP65 means water jet proof, IP66 refers to powerful water jet proof, IP67 means watertight, and IP68 � pressure watertight. Don't even look at fixtures which have no IP rating, or the second number is 4 or lower. Apart from the lights themselves you should think about sealing the cord from coming into contact with water. This can be done by covering the wires with plastic tape.

Over Cabinet Kitchen Lighting

over cabinet kitchen lighting

This is a relatively new trend in the interior design. This is an easy and affordable way to enhance your kitchen lighting scheme and make your kitchen more bright, airy and sophisticated. Over cabinet lighting can be used not only in kitchen, but anywhere in the house where there are cabinets or closets - in bathroom, living room, bedroom, etc. Usually LED strip lights or fluorescent light bars are used for over cabinet lighting. The lights are installed at the top of the cabinets and may be used as accent lighting or even as a main source of lighting (if the light rope or bar is bright enough). Sometimes spotlights can be used for this purpose, but to be honest it's not the best solution in terms of interior design since such lights can cast sharp shadows and leave some spaces and corners dark. Anyway, the choice is up to you. And of course it is no such a strict necessity to stick to the IP rating, as water in not likely to get to the top of the cabinet.

Inside Cabinet Kitchen Lighting

inside cabinet kitchen lighting

You can add a lighting right inside your kitchen cabinets. Well, again, this works great not only for kitchen, but for any other room in the house. This type of lighting is good to highlight any valuable objects or just a beautiful crockery inside the cabinets. You can illuminate the whole cabinet or emphasize certain objects via a spotlight with a highly concentrated light beam. This wonderful accent lighting can bring the cabinets' interiors to life and really transform the look of a whole kitchen. The soft glowing of your valuable things is the best way to represent the kitchen in a favorable light.