kitchen ceiling lighting ideas designed to flatter any space

Out of all the lighting decisions you'll need to make for a new kitchen, your kitchen ceiling lighting ideas will be the big hitters for effectively illuminating your space. After all, ceiling lighting encompasses everything from feature pendant lighting to the nuts-and-bolts, functional lighting that creates your kitchen's ambient and task lighting.

There are different requirements for kitchen lighting ideas to other rooms in your home, and the weight of these practical considerations largely falls on getting your ceiling lighting right.

'Kitchens require a lot of unobstructed task lighting, such as spotlights or strip lights,' says architect Ester Corti of Mitchell + Corti, 'whereas feature pendants, although arguably more decorative and beautiful, are more appropriate for islands or dining areas.

This balancing act between the pretty and the practical is where a kitchen lighting scheme can truly succeed or fail, so consider these 12 kitchen ceiling lighting ideas during your project's design phase to make sure you straddle the divide perfectly.

KITCHEN CEILING LIGHTING IDEAS – HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT DESIGNS
Your kitchen's overhead lighting also needs to be considered in relation to the overall lighting mix in the space, including any light sources from kitchen cabinetry and wall sconces.

Layering different lighting treatments is the key to having an adaptable space that can be used flexibly throughout the day to meet the different demands of a modern kitchen, from having a bright space to prep food to posing as a serene backdrop for an open plan living space. Your ceiling lighting really will play different roles in your kitchen at different times of the day.

With that in mind, you should also start out by considering your kitchen's natural light, and its limitations, so that ceiling lighting is considered for daytime kitchen use too, says New York-based interior designer Ahmad AbouZanat of Project AZ. 'To create an effective lighting scheme, you need to understand the natural light that comes into the space at different times of the day. This way, you can assess if there’s a need for artificial light during the daytime too.'

1. CHOOSE THE RIGHT LIGHTING FOR VAULTED KITCHEN CEILINGS
Kitchens with vaulted ceilings, whether they be pitched or just double-height spaces, deserve a lighting design that flatters and accentuates this feature. Traditional kitchen ceiling lighting ideas may need to be adapted to work for vaulted ceilings, and there may be a greater reliance on low-level lighting for these spaces.

This kitchen idea by LA-based architecture studio Laney LA offers so insight into an alternative approach for lighting vaulted ceilings. 'In the HT Residence, we avoided placing recessed lighting in the vaulted ceiling,' explains founding partner Anthony Laney. 'Our intention was to create an uninterrupted moment of calm. The soaring wood ceiling stands in contrast to the activity in the great room below. A suspended light, from Allied Maker, is all that punctuates the space above the kitchen island.'

Uplighting a feature roof, especially one with lofty proportions, is another tactic to try that ensures its character can be appreciated during darker hours too. 'On other projects, we will carefully uplight the vaulted ceiling, allowing the light to reflect back down on the spaces below,' says Anthony.

2. USE LED LIGHTING TO CREATE A FEATURE CEILING

LED strip lighting is one of the biggest lighting trends for kitchens right now, offering a way to bring extra levels to a lighting scheme without cluttering your space with extraneous fittings.

The beauty of this kind of lighting is in its versatility too. 'LED lighting can be used as a form of task-lighting and can also be used to create an ambient atmosphere,' says Sofia Bune Strandh, CEO of Sola Kitchens.

Its applications as a design feature are what makes it a particularly exciting option for kitchen ceilings too. 'In this kitchen, the use of LED lighting successfully emphasizes the high of the ceiling ensuring the olive tree stands out,' says Sofia.

While this ceiling lighting design is very site specific, there are plenty of other ways to use this style of recessed kitchen lighting overhead to good effect. From simple strips creating illuminated graphic lines across the ceiling to tray ceilings with strip lighting integrated around the edges, each style offers the benefit of an even, diffused glow throughout your kitchen.

3. CAREFULLY SPECIFY DIRECTIONAL AND RECESSED DOWNLIGHTS
When specifying downlights for a kitchen, the devil is in the detail. Not all downlights are created equal, and your choice of style will not only affect how they look in your kitchen, but potentially impact the light they offer the space.

Let's begin with plaster-over, trimless downlights, as used in this modern kitchen idea created by NOTO Architects. These have become the go-to for many homeowners looking for a sleeker finish to their kitchen ceiling, where traditional downlights can cause visual clutter when used in abundance. However, the nature of the plastered-over style means that the downlighter itself is recessed into the ceiling to some degree.

This can limit the spread of the beam from downlights, creating a narrower, more focused light. For an even ambient light across your room, this may mean more lights are required closer together, so making a decision on the type of downlighter you're using is important at an early stage of your build.

You should also consider where, or whether at all, you're incorporating directional downlights. Most styles of directional downlighter are adjustable, meaning that you have some flexibility in your design when using these over fixed downlights, but are likely to come at an extra cost. Considering where directional light may work well, such as to add task lighting or for accent lighting on walls or kitchen cabinets, for example, can help you plan when and where directional lights are appropriate.

4. CONSIDER HOW GLAZED ROOF LIGHTS WILL AFFECT YOUR LIGHTING SCHEME

For modern kitchen extensions with skylights or roof lanterns, some thought needs to be given to the relationship between these glazed elements and your kitchen ceiling lighting ideas.

'Addressing lighting around skylights can be tricky,' says architect Ester Corti of Mitchell + Corti. 'The choices all narrow down to the overall aesthetic one is after and the specific use of the areas below/around the skylight.'

'We always try to avoid locating a skylight over a kitchen counter or island, opting for placing it between counter space, in order to allow for pendant lights over islands and either pin lights, plastered over trimless spotlights, concealed LED strips with diffusers and/or wall lights in the kitchen area.'

Directional, ceiling-mounted lighting can help fill gaps in your scheme created by overhead glazing, but where your kitchen design dictates a need for lighting in glazed portions, there are design solutions you can try. Some roof lantern styles can incorporate casings for electrical wires, making it possible to hang a pendant light from the center of the lantern, while using exposed rafters along a glazed side return extension gives you the benefit of natural light overhead during the day, with something to hang pendant lights from or fix spotlights to.