Lighting a kitchen doesn’t seem that complicated, does it? Just make sure there’s enough light to see what you’re cooking, and you’re done. Right? Not so fast. A lot more goes on in the kitchen these days than meal preparation.

In contemporary homes, the kitchen serves as the main hub, where not only do meals get eaten, but also where homework gets done, bills get paid, and family and guests alike tend to gather. A good kitchen lighting plan takes all of these different uses into account, as well as the architectural aesthetics of the room.

Rather than relying on a single bright, glaring light mounted on the ceiling to illuminate the entire kitchen, experts suggest adding light in layers, combining four different types of lighting, each with its own purpose. These types of lighting are:

• Task lighting is the main lighting that allows you to see what you’re doing. Good task lighting illuminates your work area without casting shadows over your work. Range lights over the stove and under cabinet lighting make excellent kitchen task lighting.
• Accent lighting is used to highlight a specific object, such as a china collection or artwork hanging in the kitchen, or an architectural detail such as a recessed ceiling. Cabinet display lighting, or lighting used to illuminate decorative objects on top of cabinets in a kitchen with high ceilings, are good examples. Good accent lighting is typically adjustable and/or portable, so that it can be moved to shine on other objects as your decorative tastes evolve.
• Decorative lighting is what lighting expert Randall Whitehead refers to as “architectural jewelry.” It is just that—decoration. This is where chandeliers and designer light fixtures come in. Although decorative lighting adds to the overall light in a room, it should not be the primary source. Its main job is simply to look pretty.
• Ambient lighting, also known as mood lighting, is soft, indirect light that infuses the room with a warm glow. Think wall sconces, indirectly hung pendant lamps, and simulated candlelight. Ambient lighting’s main job is to make YOU look pretty, and to make you and your guests feel cozy as they gather ’round the table or kitchen island.

For further control over your lighting options, and for increased efficiency and longer bulb life, consider adding dimmer switches for each light source. With dimmers, you can prevent your task lighting from being too bright and your mood lighting from being too dark—or vice versa; and you’ll have the added benefits of saving on your electric bill and ensuring that your lighting plan is up to code in every state.

Although it’s not as simple as you might have initially thought, it’s really not that complicated, either. Just keep these four types of lighting, along with their individual purposes, in mind as you select new lighting for your kitchen, and you’ll be sitting – and eating – pretty once everything is in place.

Whether you are lighting a new kitchen or redecorating your present one, the best advice is: think about lighting early in the process. We call it the “too little, too late too dark”syndrome. Customers appear close to the end of the project—and the end of their budget—wanting, but unable to determine clearly, lighting to “go with” their other decisions.

Surprisingly, in the store’s view, this was not just a matter of money. The salesman explained that, because so many elements of a kitchen occupy a permanent place, lighting needs to be thought out ahead of time. (Anyone who has ever turned on the range-hood light to view the contents of the freezer would agree.) If Kitchen lighting decisions are left to the last, results may be less satisfactory and more expensive than early decision would allow.

Like bathrooms, kitchens need good, bright light for a variety of tasks. New kitchen designs, like those for bathrooms, feature increased and creative uses of daylight which must be taken into consideration when planning for lighting.

One of the important features of kitchen-planning is accommodating good traffic-flow; and this is the stage at which lighting should be planned. If the kitchen is eat-in, how does one light the room so that the food-preparation area is less visible during the meal? If you’re washing lettuce, how close is the counter to dry it on? If guests always gather in the kitchen, can you still get to the oven without trampling them? Do boots and coats compete with more intentional decorating? Lighting can be used to attract people to certain areas and away from others, more in the kitchen than in any other room.

What kinds of lighting? A wonderful abundance. In these eclectic times, kitchens allow the combination of all kinds of lighting. Large fluorescent ceiling fixtures still provide reliable room-wide ambient light, although pendant and other area-lighting fixtures show great popularity, sometimes as the major light-source and most often over the family table.

Recessed or ready-to-mount spotlights and pin-point track-lighting seem made just for kitchens. On the ceiling, in soffits or installed under cupboards, they allow for just about any situation in which you really need to see what you are doing. Good lighting transforms counters into self-contained work-stations, making your counter-space functional in a greater variety of ways.

Incorporating lighting decisions into overall kitchen planning lets you spend less on lighting and spend less as you use it. Deciding traffic flow and establishing what work will be done on counters or an island lets you light more selectively and use more diffuse lighting less. When the task is over, the specialty lighting goes off, using less energy.

The Department of Energy’s “Energy Star” program reminds consumers that replacing incandescent light bulbs with more efficient kinds in our most-used rooms will save substantial amounts of energy. Looking at your kitchen in terms of area-lighting eases the energy-burden in this frequently-occupied room, often the busiest in your home.

Flexibility, focus, and functionality in today’s lighting all contribute to lighting kitchens in productive and economical ways. Incorporating lighting decisions early in your decorating plans can help make the busiest room in your house an even happier place for you and your family to spend time.