If you’re looking for a way to make your kitchen stand out, cabinet lighting is a great place to start. Changing your light fixtures can give your kitchen an entirely new look and add some welcome ambiance to your space. Plus, this is an upgrade you won’t have to break the bank on.  

Still trying to figure out where to start? Don’t worry – you’re not alone.

In this blog, we’ll discuss our designers’ favorite ways to add warmth with cabinet lighting and how to choose the right options for your space. 

4 Smart Reasons to Add Cabinet Lighting 

Good lighting makes your home feel warm and welcoming. Of course, kitchen lighting is no different. When you install custom cabinet lighting, you’ll enjoy the following benefits:

• Better quality of light. The kitchen is a busy place, and cabinet lighting increases the quality of light in your space. Because cabinet lighting can be focused or diffused, it provides light exactly the way you need it. Working under overhead lighting alone just doesn’t provide the same benefit.

• More pleasant work environment. Nobody wants to use a sharp knife in a dull, dark kitchen. Fortunately, cabinet lighting creates a sense of warmth in the kitchen, making the space easier (and safer) to work in.

• Cost savings. While there’s an upfront cost associated with adding cabinet lighting, you may actually save money on your energy bill in the long run. The reason is simple: instead of turning on the overhead lights and brightening your entire room, you can light up select workspaces only. Also, most modern solutions for lighting are LED.
• Increased home value. A well-lit kitchen can increase the value of your home. Currently, homeowners can expect to recoup 68% of the cost of significant kitchen remodeling projects. The percentage increases as the market gets hotter. With this in mind, adding small, inexpensive details like high-quality cabinet lighting is an excellent way to improve your home’s value and boost your ROI (return on investment) for your remodel.

How to Use Different Types of Cabinet Lighting

When it comes to cabinet lighting, you’ve got a few different options. Some of the most popular types of cabinet lighting include light bars, puck lights, lighting strips, tape lights, and more. 

Here’s a quick breakdown of how to use each:

Light Bars: Best for Providing Smooth, Modern Light

As their name suggests, light bars offer a linear configuration ideal for illuminating open shelving and counters or emphasizing decorative elements in your kitchen. 

These are also great task lighting options for illuminating features like bars or islands with smooth and uniform light.

Puck Lights: Best for Targeted, Directed Light

If you’re looking for a way to illuminate a specific workspace, puck lights are a great choice. 

Puck lights get their name from their shape: they resemble round hockey pucks and are mounted inside cupboards or under cabinets, where they work to illuminate particular spaces. 

If you’d like to illuminate the contents of a glass-fronted cabinet or show off an architectural feature in your kitchen, puck lights are a wise choice. 

We recommend installing one light for every 12” to 18” of cabinet space for best results. This creates even, continuous light on the surfaces below.

Light Strips: Perfect for Elevating Your Design + Providing Welcoming Warmth

Like light bars, light strips provide consistent illumination. Unlike light bars, which are ideal for open shelving and counters, light strips are best suited for nooks in your kitchen. 

In fact, many designers like to use them to eliminate the shadows that upper cabinets cast on lower work spaces.  

 

Tape Lights: Best for Inexpensive Kitchen Design Upgrades

Want to add cabinet lighting without breaking the bank? Look no further than tape lighting, which can be fixed under cabinets and other surfaces to eliminate shadows, provide muted task lighting, and more. 

The best part about tape lights? You can typically install them without any cutting or retrofitting for your cabinets. 

 

How to Curate the Best Cabinet Lighting for Your Space

In a large kitchen with numerous areas, such as countertops, an island, and a workspace, different cabinet lighting can (and should) work together to brighten the space, bring attention to unique details, and provide buildable illumination.

We recommend mixing different types of lighting, including puck and bar lighting, pendant lights, and overhead lights as needed, to ensure a beautiful, welcoming space. 

As you choose lights for your space, be sure to keep the following factors in mind:

• Paint color

Lights come in different temperatures, and you want to be sure they match the paint color in your kitchen. 

For example, if your kitchen is painted a crisp white, that paint color will replicate light and make any lighting you install look brighter. This means you could reduce the wattage and number of your fixtures without sacrificing illumination. Keep in mind you can also use a dimmable light in case you ever change your paint colors.

• Cabinet colors

Presumably, your kitchen cabinets are a different color or material than your walls. In recent years, bright kitchen cabinets have been on-trend, as have those made from moody, natural materials. 

As such, it’s essential to choose cabinet lighting that enhances and amplifies the beauty of your cabinets. If you have dark wood cabinets, they’ll require more light than lighter-colored wood or white cabinets. 

Generally, the darker your cabinets, the more light sources you’ll want to illuminate your space. With this in mind, consider the surface of your cabinets as you choose your cabinet lighting. 

• Function

Last, consider the function you want your cabinet lighting to perform. Lighting for gathering and social spaces is best accomplished by adding light bars, while architectural highlights are perfect for puck lights. 

If you’re unsure how to make your kitchen’s various features pop with lights, work with our skilled kitchen designers to bring it all together. 

Cabinet Depot: Here to Help you Design Your Dream Kitchen

The right cabinet lighting can create ambiance and warmth in your kitchen while also increasing the value of your home. Our team is here for you if it’s time for a kitchen upgrade in your Pensacola or Gulf Breeze home. 

Contact us today to learn more about our services or how we can help you design and install beautiful cabinets and lighting.