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DESIGN (/DESIGN)

The Right Way to Light a Kitchen

It turns out that old-school lighting theory doesn’t work so well in
practice. Here are some more effective kitchen lighting solutions

BY DOUG WALTER, AIA | February 15, 2016

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All illustrations: Doug Walter

For too many years, the advice about kitchen lighting given by people who should know better has
been to place the can lights out in the aisles of the kitchen. This looks nice on the plans, but it keeps
the people working in the kitchen in the dark.

I prefer to locate can lights closer to the upper cabinets, where they deliver three or four times as
many foot-candles to the work surface. That’s not a guess—I’ve measured it both ways. 

Unfortunately, the old theories are still being taught these days. But now you know there’s a better
way.  
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A: A great idea ... 

Just last year I attended an industry event
at a lighting showroom where a
representative from a major lighting
manufacturer recommended lighting
kitchens based on a sketch like the one at
right. The reasoning here is that the
overhead light should not hit the upper
cabinets (horrors!), but should neatly fall
just below them, where it joins with the
undercabinet lighting to bathe the
counter with a workable number of foot-
candles (fc).

 
  
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B. ... Until you add

people
It’s a great idea … until you add people.
Standing at the counter, the back of the
cook’s head gets 100 foot-candles while
he or she works in his or her own shadow.
This scheme also assumes that the
kitchen is equipped with undercabinet
lights and that you always use them—
maybe even as primary task lighting. But
that’s not how most of my clients use
their undercabinet lights. Often the only
lights they turn on are the ceiling can
lights.

C. A better way

Most kitchen lighting plans locate ceiling can lights near the middle of the walkways between
counters (see “Traditional—But Impractical—Lighting Plan,” below). As we’ve seen, this means
working in your shadow at the counter. 

For years I’ve advocated placing ceiling cans 24 to 26 inches out from the wall, which puts the
center of the beam right over the edge of the countertop. Yes, it creates scallops of light on the
upper cabinets, but if you’re making such a serious investment in cabinets, I think it’s nice to be able
to see them.

 
  
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 D. Fewer lights, more light 
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With cans placed closer to the uppers, not only is there more direct task light on the counter, there’s
less need for cans in the walkways because light bouncing from the work surfaces will be more than
enough (see “Better Lighting Plan,” below). 

In fact, with kitchen lighting, you’re not after uniform light levels such as you’d design for an open
office plan. You want effective task and decorative ambient lighting. Don’t be afraid of dark areas;
they make the light areas that much more effective.

Properly layered kitchen lighting includes not only recessed can and undercabinet task lighting, but
some decorative pendants or a chandelier as well. You may also consider including indirect up-
lighting on top of the upper cabinets or in a ceiling cove. These options give the homeowner the
ability to choose from a number of lighting effects, depending on mood and activity.

How Much Light Is Enough?

The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (http://ies.org/education) (IESNA) issues
recommended lighting levels for various rooms and activities. For food prep tasks—so-called
“common visual tasks,” defined as “visual tasks of high contrast and small size, or ... low contrast and
large size”—IESNA

recommends 50 foot-candles, and twice that for users older than 65.
 Most kitchens offer far less than these recommended levels, partly because of where the task
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lighting is located, but more often
online due to use of the wrong lamp in the fixture. Most bulb packaging
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lists lumens, which is a measure of bulb capacity; foot-candles measure the actual amount of light
the bulb delivers. That isn’t listed on the packaging, but you can look up the values on manufacturer
websites.

Better yet, use a light-metering app on your smartphone to measure actual foot-candles at various
locations in a room. A number of free and paid apps are available for both iOS and Android
devices. If you use an app or meter that measures lux, just divide by 10 to get foot-candles.

Click here to download a PDF of this article as it appeared in the February issue
(https://www.proremodeler.com/sites/proremodeler/files/Kitchen%20Lighting%20Done%20Right_PR0216.pdf)

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Doug Walter, of Doug Walter Architects (http://www.dougwalterarchitects.com/),

in Denver, has specialized in residential remodeling for 25 years. He has a long
history with Universal Design and aging in place. He helped write the NAHB’s
Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist curriculum
(http://www.nahb.org/en/learn/designations/certified-aging-in-place-
specialist/how-to-earn-caps.aspx) and holds an ICC Certificate as an Accessibility Inspector.

COMMENTS

Shadows (/comment/9650#comment-9650)
Corner lights (/comment/2042#comment-2042)
Kitchen (/comment/1462#comment-1462)
remodel (/comment/1461#comment-1461)
Lighting (/comment/806#comment-806)

 
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 Comments
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The right way to light a kitchen (/comment/651#comment-651)

Permalink (/comment/651#comment-651) Submitted by kathy (not verified) on Wed, 02/17/2016 -
07:02

thanks

reply (/comment/reply/35881/651)

remodel (/comment/1461#comment-1461)
Permalink (/comment/1461#comment-1461) Submitted by Dayna (not verified) on Sat,
02/17/2018 - 16:29

I wanted to remodel my small condo kitchen and get rid of the CFL which are out dated and well
unattractive, I very much agree with the light plans put forward in this article. There is a sort of
transition area from the hall into the kitchen which when I looked at it really was a sort of hallway so
I was happy to read that its ok to mix fixtures with some hanging fixtures then can lights for the
more traditional work area.thanks for this helpful article.

reply (/comment/reply/35881/1461)

kitchen lighting for people with autism (/comment/721#comment-

721)
Permalink (/comment/721#comment-721) Submitted by Flip Schrameijer (not verified) on Tue,
03/15/2016 - 12:01

I was so enthusiastic about this piece that I changed my recommendations around to incorporate
this one here: http://goo.gl/nEyUjY  (http://goo.gl/nEyUjY )

reply (/comment/reply/35881/721)

Kitchen lighting for people with autism (/comment/736#comment-

736)
Permalink (/comment/736#comment-736) Submitted by NAME Doug Walter (not verified) on Tue,
03/15/2016 - 21:18

Thank you, Flip, for referring to the article on your site.  That is my greatest pleasure, to have people
get something out of it they can use in their practice or their own lives.

reply (/comment/reply/35881/736)

Lighting (/comment/806#comment-806)
 Permalink (/comment/806#comment-806) Submitted by Rick Hjelm (not verified) on Thu,
We Use Cookies! And, you should know how your personal data is being used and by whom. That's why we are providing you with new data controls to manage your content giving you a better
03/31/2016 - 23:15 online experience! Manage Decline All

I agree 100 percent. We've been doing this for years and never had a complaint about light on the
cabinets. With the new LED tapes, we now install all of our undercabinet lighting to the front edge
of the uppers. By using thin LV wiring, we can add spacers and an additional 1/4" bottom to the
uppers to hide the wires. By using the LED cans or retro trims, we can also pick lights from the color
spectrum that best fit the finishes.

reply (/comment/reply/35881/806)

Kitchen (/comment/1462#comment-1462)
Permalink (/comment/1462#comment-1462) Submitted by Dayna (not verified) on Sat,
02/17/2018 - 18:08

Thanks for this article it solved several problems for me one of which is it ok to mix fixtures. So on
the strength of this I am working on a ceiling plan. I also agree setting the lighting closer to the
cabinets is a good idea.

reply (/comment/reply/35881/1462)

Corner lights (/comment/2042#comment-2042)

Permalink (/comment/2042#comment-2042) Submitted by Bill Rycraft (not verified) on Wed,
09/12/2018 - 21:10

I have a corner upper cabinet with cabinets on each side (only 1 actually), where would be best place
to put a overhead light? Right in the corner where the south and west countertop meet? I say only 1
cabinet on each side because on the south wall next comes a oven with a range hood that is lighted
so basically 1 cabinet then the corner cabinet. On the West wall is one cabinet then a wall oven
cabinet, so I was placing a light in front of the oven but that also sicks out the total depth of the
counters. So I am left with a corner of 3 cabinets, one on the left center and right. I thought 3 lights
in front of each cabinet seemed overkill, or 1 over each side cabinet and leave the center alone? Just
trying to light this properly and looking for advise. Also any help on the degree of spread the lights
should shine?

Thanks Bill

reply (/comment/reply/35881/2042)

Shadows (/comment/9650#comment-9650)
Permalink (/comment/9650#comment-9650) Submitted by Michael (not verified) on Fri,
03/26/2021 - 07:58

I superimposed your cook over the second picture and it appears, between the uppers and the
chef's shadows only a sliver of light will reach the countertop. This is very important to me right
now as I have been asked to provide a lighting plan for our new house which is under construction.
 Please help. What am I missing?
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reply (/comment/reply/35881/9650)

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