Lighting as Architecture in the Modern Kitchen

Rather than downlights and pendants, light is increasingly recessed into shelf undersides, plinths, niches and the underside of wall units. The source disappears and only the effect remains, which is what makes a kitchen look resolved at night.

Integrated lighting only works if it can be controlled independently. Task lighting on the working runs, accent lighting in niches and shelving, and a low plinth layer for the evening should each switch separately.

Use the same colour temperature throughout, around 3000K, and a high colour rendering index. Mixing warm and cool LED strips in one room is the most common and most visible lighting error we are asked to fix.

Integrated lighting needs channels routed, drivers housed and cables run inside the carcasses. All of that is decided before anything is made, which is why lighting has to be designed alongside the joinery rather than after it.