How Can Lighting Enhance the Ambiance of An Open Kitchen-Living Room?
Lighting plays a key role in illuminating a space, setting the right mood, and creating the right ambiance, be it at home or in a restaurant. It became an instant hit among designers and homeowners due to the feel of the vastness it creates and also because it allows a free flow of light and air. Further, it allows socializing from one part of the house to another.
The open kitchen living room ideas were born in American homes but are now prevalent in many European and Asian countries.
So, if you are wondering what kinds of lights you should use in your open kitchen living room, here is a guide for you.
Lighting Options for Your Open Plan Kitchen Cum Living Room
Among a myriad of options, you could opt for the following modern options for your open-plan kitchen and living room.
1. Install Modern Chandeliers
You can get a centerpiece chandelier for your open kitchen to illuminate the space. You could opt for a modern and minimal design instead of a crystal chandelier for the perfect kitchen lighting.
2. Employ Dimmers
How about having some ceiling lights fitted with dimmers? If your dining area is within the kitchen, you could opt for such lighting provisions to set the right mood while dining. This kind of lighting would also offer the flexibility to focus on cooking and entertaining in the living room as per the needs.
3. Illuminate the Cabinets
You can’t ignore cabinet lighting if you have a modular kitchen. It highly improves the functionality of the space and can modulate the ambiance effectively. Cabinet lighting is inexpensive and simple to install. It also helps to enhance the usable space.
4. Hang Some Pendant Lights
Pendant lights are not simply decorative elements, but they also increase the functionality of available space. Highly suited for modern kitchens, a set of matching pendant lights can be added above the island or bar to create a balanced and absorbing atmosphere.
5. Go with Industrial Lighting
Industrial interiors are quite popular and involve using exposed materials in the house along with employing neutral shades to create a rustic and minimalist look. So, you could opt for such lighting systems such as exposed bulbs and track lights to resonate with the industrial interiors.
6. Love the Traditional Lanterns
If your house is designed in a traditional Indian style or uses rustic themes, you could then decorate the open kitchen cum living room with traditional hanging lamps. These kinds of lighting fixtures are easy to install, aren’t flashy or harsh, and add a beautiful ambiance to your space.
7. Wall Sconces and Wall-Mounted Lights
Wall-mounted lights and wall sconces are similar to wall-mounted lights except that the former is mounted on the walls and the latter from the ceiling. These lights can be placed on walls beside breakfast counters and tabletops to create extra lighting. These lights are beautiful to look at and also illuminate the walls.
8. Recessed Kitchen Lights
If you are not a big fan of hanging lights or wall-mounted lights, recessed kitchen lights are your next best option. They remain concealed in the ceiling and provide ample lighting to the whole area. This kind of lighting system is best for small and moderate-sized open kitchens.
9. Task Lights
Designated task lights are installed with the purpose of illuminating specific areas of the kitchen, like countertops and tables. This is useful, particularly when you have ambient lighting systems that can make things shadowy when you stand and work in front of tables.
10. LED Strips
For illuminating small kitchen areas, you could use LED strips across the walls and ceilings. These are eco-friendly, consume less energy, and have longer lifespans than other lighting systems.
11. Accent Lighting
Primarily, accent lighting is used for decorative purposes and is used in addition to the basic lighting system of the kitchen area. These are stylish and suit modern kitchens. They can be placed anywhere and are used to create a soft focus on certain areas.
12. Under Cabinet Lights
Under-cabinet lights can be extremely useful for illuminating countertops and brightening dull corners. LED strip lights can be used under the cabinets to eliminate shadows that cabinets create on tabletops.
Guidelines to Choose the Best Lighting System for Open Kitchen
So, we have a couple of guiding rules you must remember before choosing the lighting for your open-plan kitchen cum living room.
- Identify the key areas that are depleted of natural light and install the lighting fixtures accordingly.
- Employ task lights above the island.
- The center of the kitchen must always have ambient lighting provisions.
- Always select proper controls for your lights, including manual, dimmer switches, occupancy sensors, and the ones that can be controlled with voice control.
- Mix up your fixtures and go with vintage lighting systems.
- Choose lights as per your furniture and finishes.
- Match your cabinetry with industrial kitchen lights.
Concluding Thoughts
Hopefully, after going through our list of different lighting opinions that you can have for your kitchen, you feel much sorted with your choices. Always choose your lighting according to your furniture, the amount of natural light available, and the number of dull corners you have.
Remember that warm white lights always work best with most kitchen lights, and the best type of fixtures are flush-mount ceiling lights. Experts and interior designers also recommend creating layered lighting plans using ambient, track, and task lights.
Furthermore, don’t forget to set a budget aside for this. If you have a budget, you can go for chandeliers and pendant lights, but if you are on a shoestring budget, you could go for other opinions. The size of the kitchen and the quality of the lights also impact the budget.
