kitchen lighting

The kitchen spaces in most homes in India today are definitely becoming more than just places to cook and eat. They also serve as the administrative and the social center of the Indian homes. The kitchen is the place in most Indian homes where the activity begins much before dawn and closes long after sunset; and this is precisely the reason why the kitchen uses a lot of energy for lighting. The magnitude of activity in the kitchen makes it an important place where use of efficient lighting is required. And, if you are setting up a new kitchen or remodeling an existing one then you have the perfect opportunity to create a highly efficient kitchen lighting system.

It is also very important to ensure that you provide for good kitchen lighting not only from an aesthetic standpoint, but also from a functional standpoint. Therefore you have to make sure that you incorporate both ambient and task lighting. This method of layering the light is important for achieving positive results.

In the task of kitchen lighting it is best to use bright, shadowless light. Fluorescent tubes are particularly well suited for this because of their large surface area and high lumens per watt.

Ambient light is also very important for your kitchen, as it is the general, overall light that fills in shadows, reduces contrast, and lights vertical surfaces to give the space a brighter feel. Ambient light is what you need for casual activities in your kitchen.
In case your kitchen has light colored surfaces and lots of windows then you would desire to have plenty of natural ambient light during the day. But most of the kitchens in India are used from before dawn until after midnight and under such circumstances it is not possible to rely on windows and skylights.

Therefore in such cases, fluorescent tubes are well suited to the job of providing ambient light. In order to ensure efficient kitchen lighting, you can put the tubes in a central fixture but you may want to try some other strategies, like placing them on top of the upper cabinets to indirectly reflect off a light colored ceiling.

Author D.S.Pai. copyright data 2005 Indianchild.com