Two Kitchens, Four Lighting Ideas

Upgrading the under cabinet lighting in a kitchen with LED lights is a practical solution that has gained notoriety on and offline, from discussions on blogs and website stores like the one here at Elemental LED, to packaged solutions in hardware stores. And it’s no wonder—LEDs offer bright light output, a long life and an incredible amount of energy savings. Plus, their compact nature makes them perfect for discreet locations.

But did you know that LED lighting can enhance your kitchen in several other ways, as well? Read on to find out how you can improve the task, area and ambient lighting in your kitchen by adding LED lights under the cabinets, in the toe kick, on the ceiling, and inside the cabinets. We’ll walk you through two kitchen upgrades to show you how.

Kitchen One: LED Strip Lights and Replacement Bulbs

Kitchen with LED Strip Lights

The owners of this kitchen started out by adding under cabinet lighting for clear and bright food prep illumination. They used High Density LED Strip Light because of the high light output that it provides evenly across the entire length of each cabinet segment. LED strip light offered this kitchen owner several other benefits, as well: The incredibly low-profile design allowed for a discreet application that stayed hidden from view beneath the cabinets. The 3M adhesive backing allowed for quick and easy application. The customizable length meant that the owners could cut the strip light themselves to the exact lengths they needed.

But the owners wanted more ambient lighting for their kitchen. So, they added lighting to the toe kick area. Toe kick lighting adds a soft, ambient glow without causing any glare. Evening dwellers and snack scavengers can find their way more easily without the need to turn on bright overhead lights. The owners used Softview Mist Resist LED Strip Light, which boasts all the same great features of the strip light under their cabinets, including the low-profile, adhesive backing and custom length, but also offers several other features perfect for toe kick lighting, including a soft, low light output and a protective covering that can be wiped clean with a cloth or mop.

To complete the lighting in their kitchen, the owners of Kitchen One installed Tess LED Light Bulbs in their overhead fixtures. These replacement bulbs offer the equivalent light output of a 75W incandescent bulb. Unlike their energy-efficient CFL counterparts, these LED bulbs offer a warm white light similar to incandescent bulbs, stay cool, and require no warming up when you turn them on.

The three layers of lighting in this kitchen, from the ceiling all the way to the floor, created a finished look that made it a comfortable space, no matter what time of day and no matter what the task or event at hand.

Kitchen Two: LED Puck Lights

Kitchen with LED Puck Lights

Like Kitchen One, the owners of Kitchen Two began their lighting upgrade by adding LED lights under their cabinets. But instead of strip lights, these owners decided to go a different direction. They liked the idea of finding a compact lighting fixture that was nice to look at and didn’t require much power. They found their solution with the LED Puck Lights from ledstripbars LED. The sleek, brushed aluminum housing of the fixture could be shown off and integrated seamlessly into the color-scheme of their kitchen. The top of the line Cree LED chips offered very little energy consumption and superior brightness when compared with other puck lights on the market.

To dim the lights, the owners installed a Reign LED Dimmer Switch on the backsplash. This 12V dimmer connects directly to the lights and a 12V power source with full 0-100% dimming and no buzz or flicker. It’s the perfect solution for a finished LED lighting installation.

In addition to under cabinet lighting, the owners wanted to add some splashes of color inside their glass-paned cabinets. There wasn’t a more perfect way to achieve this than with Color-Changing LED Puck Lights. These lights offer the same compact, sleek aluminum housing of the pucks under their cabinets, but with RGB color-changing chips. The full-color puck lights were recessed into the tops of the cabinets and connected to a controller so that these owners could change the color of their lights whenever mood struck.

The colorful light emanating from the cabinets, along with the under cabinet lighting that is dimmed to the perfect level depending on the time of day, created a polished and professional look to this kitchen that left all their visitors in awe.