Kitchen lighting ideas: layers, layouts and what goes where
Some links below are affiliate links: if you buy through them I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. How LightGuru makes money
Mike's quick answer
Light a kitchen in three layers: even light from the ceiling, bright task light on the worktops (usually under-cabinet strips), and a soft layer such as plinth or shelf lights for the evening. Keep them all the same white, usually 3000K, and put each layer on its own switch or dimmer.
Most kitchen lighting problems come from the same place. All the light comes from the ceiling, so when you stand at the worktop, your own head and the wall cupboards throw a shadow exactly where you’re chopping. Add more downlights and the ceiling gets brighter, but the worktop barely improves.
The answer isn’t one clever fitting. It’s three kinds of light doing three different jobs, each on its own switch: general light for the room, task light where you work, and a soft layer for the evening. Get that right and the exact brand of downlight matters far less.
Below is how I’d plan it, from how much light you need to where each fitting goes. Where a part needs more detail, I’ve linked the full guide.
The three layers
Ambient light is the general light that lets you move around, see into cupboards and clean up. It usually comes from downlights, but track or a good flush fitting can do it too. Its job is even coverage, not drama.
Task light is bright, direct light on the worktops, sink and hob. In a kitchen with wall units, under-cabinet strips do most of this work, because they sit between your head and the worktop, so there’s nothing left to cast a shadow. Downlights placed over the front of the worktop help, and pendants do the job over an island.
Accent light is the low layer: plinth lights, lit shelves, glass-fronted cabinets, a strip along the top of the wall units. It gives very little useful light, but it’s what you leave on in the evening when the kitchen is part of the living space.
Most kitchen lighting goes wrong when the ambient layer is asked to do all three jobs. That’s how you end up with a ceiling full of downlights, glare overhead and worktops that are still dim. A better plan uses slightly fewer ceiling lights and lets the task and accent layers do their jobs.
When I plan a kitchen, I start with the task light, not the ceiling. Work out what lights the worktops, the sink, the hob and the island first. Then fill the rest of the room with ambient light. Accent comes last.
How bright a kitchen should be
Brightness is measured in lumens, the total light a fitting gives out. With LEDs, wattage tells you very little.
As a rule of thumb, a kitchen wants around 250 to 350 lumens per square metre from the ceiling lights, with task lighting on top of that. For a 3 by 4 metre kitchen, that’s 12 square metres, so about 3,600 lumens at 300 per square metre. Six downlights at 600 lumens each get you there.
Under-cabinet lighting then adds light right where you need it. Aim for 400 to 600 lumens per metre of strip alongside downlights, or up to about 800 if it’s your main worktop light or the worktops are dark.
Finishes change the numbers. White units, pale worktops and gloss doors bounce light around, so you can sit at the lower end. Dark units and matt worktops soak it up, so go towards the top of the range or add more task light rather than more ceiling light. Ceilings higher than the standard 2.4 metres need a bit more output for the same light on the worktop.
What doesn’t work is fixing a dark corner by making the whole ceiling brighter. You get glare overhead and the corner stays gloomy. Work out the total, then split it sensibly between ceiling and task lighting. The lumens for kitchen lighting guide has worked examples for different kitchen sizes.
Choosing the white: 2700K, 3000K or 4000K
Colour temperature, measured in kelvin (K), is how warm or cool the white looks. Lower numbers are warmer and more yellow; higher numbers are crisper and whiter.
| 2700K | 3000K | 4000K | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Looks | Warm, golden | Warm white, a little crisper | Neutral, crisp white |
| Suits | Traditional kitchens, kitchen-diners | Most UK kitchens | Task areas, kitchens with little daylight |
| In the evening | Cosy | Comfortable | Can feel clinical |
Yellow = the better option on that line.
For most UK kitchens I’d choose 3000K. It’s warm enough to feel like home in the evening and clear enough to see what you’re doing. 2700K suits a cottage kitchen or one that opens into a living area, though worktops can look a bit flat under it. 4000K is fine if you like a crisp, bright look, but across a whole kitchen it can feel like an office after dark.
The bigger point is consistency. Warm downlights over cool under-cabinet strips look disjointed, and white units can look grey or blue. Pick one temperature for the working part of the kitchen and stick to it. It’s also worth looking for CRI 90 or above, which makes food, wood and skin look natural.
If you want bright, crisp light for cooking and warm light for eating, tunable white fittings let you change it, though they cost more. The colour temperature guide for kitchens goes through the options by kitchen style.
Ceiling lighting options
| Downlights | Track | Flush or semi-flush | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Look | Clean, almost disappears | Visible, modern or industrial | A feature in its own right |
| Light | Even, if spaced well | Heads aim where you need it | Soft, general |
| Best for | Most kitchens, new or renovated | Awkward layouts, solid ceilings | Low ceilings, small or period kitchens |
| Fitting | Holes in the ceiling, usually fire-rated | One power point, no extra holes | Usually the existing ceiling point |
Downlights are the default for good reason. Spaced properly they give even, glare-free light and almost vanish into the ceiling. Where they go matters more than how many you fit. Line them up roughly over the front edge of the worktop, about 60 cm out from the wall, so the beam lands on the surface in front of you. Too close to the wall and you light the cupboard doors; too far into the room and they’re behind your head, throwing your shadow onto the worktop. The kitchen downlight spacing guide covers the layout in detail.
Most kitchens in a house with a room above need fire-rated downlights. Under Approved Document B of the Building Regulations, a downlight cut into a ceiling between floors must not reduce that ceiling’s fire resistance. If you’re choosing between bulb and built-in types, I’ve compared them in GU10 or integrated downlights. In short: integrated for a new kitchen, GU10 for a rental, a tight budget or smart bulbs.
Track lighting works where downlights don’t: concrete ceilings, joists in awkward places, or a kitchen where the worktops don’t line up with anything. One power point feeds a rail, and you aim each spotlight at the worktop, the island or a wall.
Flush and semi-flush fittings suit low ceilings and small or period kitchens, where pendants would get in the way and a grid of holes would look wrong. One or two good fittings give soft general light. Pair them with under-cabinet strips, because a central fitting can’t light worktops on its own.
Lighting a kitchen island
Pendants are the usual choice over an island, and the decisions that matter are height, number and spacing rather than style.
Hang them with the bottom of the shade about 70 to 90 cm above the worktop. Around 75 to 80 cm suits most standard 2.4 metre ceilings. Lower feels intimate over seating but can block the view across the room; higher spreads the light but makes the pendants look like they’ve drifted off. The full detail is in how high to hang kitchen island pendants.
For number, an island under 1.5 metres long takes one large pendant or two small ones. From 1.5 to 1.8 metres, use two. From 1.8 to 2.4 metres, use three, or two large ones. Over 2.4 metres, use three or a linear fitting. Space them 60 to 90 cm apart, centre to centre, and keep the end ones at least 15 cm in from the ends of the island. A single linear pendant is a neat answer on a long island.
Two things catch people out. First, if you prep on the island, decorative pendants alone are rarely enough light, so add a pair of downlights over the working end or choose pendants that throw light downwards. Second, a bare bulb at eye level is uncomfortable when you’re sitting at the island. Pick shades that hide the lamp, put the pendants on a dimmer and use warm, dimmable bulbs.
Under-cabinet lighting
If I could add only one thing to an existing kitchen, it would be under-cabinet lighting. It cures the shadow problem straight away, and it’s the light you’ll use most.
An LED strip in an aluminium profile with a diffuser gives an even line of light along the whole run. Mount it towards the front of the cabinet underside, a few centimetres back from the edge, so the light falls on the worktop rather than the splashback. A diffused or “dotless” strip avoids rows of bright spots reflecting in a glossy worktop. A diffused LED strip kit with aluminium profile is a straightforward choice if your electrician is fitting it; plug-in linkable bars are easier for a DIY retrofit.
Puck lights are cheaper and fine for short runs, but they make pools of light with darker gaps between. Whatever you choose, match the colour temperature to the ceiling lights. More on fitting types and placement in the under-cabinet lighting guide.
Accent and evening light
The accent layer is what turns a kitchen from a workspace into somewhere you want to sit after dinner. It doesn’t need to be bright, and it shouldn’t be.
Plinth lights along the kickboards give a soft glow at floor level and make units look like they’re floating. They sit at mop height, so choose IP-rated ones (IP65 is common). Strips under open shelves or inside glass-fronted cabinets show off what’s on them. A strip on top of the wall units bounces light off the ceiling for a gentle wash.
Keep it subtle and warm. Very bright accent lighting looks gimmicky, especially with gloss surfaces. In a kitchen with dark units or worktops, a few points of low light stop the room feeling heavy once the main lights are off.
Layouts that work
Small kitchen
Under about 10 square metres, four or five downlights in an even grid usually cover the room, with an under-cabinet strip on each worktop run. A plinth light adds depth. In a small room, lighting the walls and cabinet faces makes the space feel bigger than lighting the floor.
Galley kitchen
Put a row of downlights over each worktop run, not a single row down the middle. Lights in the middle of a galley light you, not the worktops. Add under-cabinet strips on both sides, and a pendant at the far end if it opens into a dining space.
Island kitchen
Downlights around the perimeter over the worktops, pendants over the island, under-cabinet strips on the wall runs and an optional plinth light on the island base. Avoid putting a downlight directly over the seating side of the island; it throws hard shadows on faces.
Open-plan kitchen-diner
Treat the kitchen as its own zone. Bright task light over the worktops, warm dimmable pendants over the table, and separate switching so the kitchen can go dark while you eat. The open-plan kitchen-diner zoning guide goes through it step by step.
Low ceiling
With a ceiling under about 2.3 metres, use slim downlights or flush fittings, keep pendants to the island or table where nobody walks underneath, and lean on under-cabinet lighting so the ceiling doesn’t have to do everything.
Switching, dimming and smart scenes
Layers only work if you can control them separately. As a minimum, put the ceiling lights, the under-cabinet lights and the accent lights on their own switches, and the island pendants on another. That’s what lets you have bright light for cooking and a soft glow for eating without anything in between.
Plan this before the plastering. Adding a switched feed later means chasing walls. If the work includes a new lighting circuit, it’s notifiable under Part P of the Building Regulations in England, so use a registered electrician who can self-certify it.
Dimmers make a bigger difference than most people expect. Use trailing-edge dimmers designed for LED, and check the lights are dimmable. Cheap combinations flicker or buzz, which is the most common LED complaint in kitchens.
Smart controls let you save those combinations as scenes. In a kitchen, four cover almost everything: cooking (everything bright), dining (ceiling low, pendants warm, task lights off), evening (accent only) and cleaning (full brightness). Resist the urge to set up a dozen; the simple ones are the ones you’ll use.
Common mistakes
Most bad kitchen lighting isn’t down to bad products but to planning. The same few problems come up again and again.
Too many downlights and no task light is the big one: a harsh ceiling with dim worktops. Close behind is downlights in the wrong place, usually in a neat grid centred on the room rather than over the worktops, so you work in your own shadow. Mixed colour temperatures make a kitchen look patchy, and exposed lamps or bright strips over gloss worktops cause glare. Flicker and buzz are usually a dimmer or driver mismatch rather than a faulty light.
The kitchen lighting mistakes guide explains how to fix each one, including in a kitchen that’s already finished.
What I'd buy
Affiliate linksFAQs
What is the best lighting for a kitchen?
Layered lighting: ceiling lights for general light, under-cabinet or other task lighting on the worktops, and a soft accent layer for the evening, each on its own switch.
How many lumens does a kitchen need?
Around 250 to 350 lumens per square metre from the ceiling, plus task lighting. A 12 square metre kitchen needs roughly 3,600 lumens, or six 600-lumen downlights, before you add under-cabinet strips.
Are downlights enough on their own?
Rarely. Downlights light the room, but with wall units in the way they leave shadows on the worktops. Add under-cabinet lighting for the working areas.
Is warm or cool white better in a kitchen?
Warm white around 3000K suits most UK kitchens. 4000K works if you like a crisper look, but keep the same temperature across ceiling and task lights.
Do kitchen downlights need to be fire-rated?
If there’s a room above the kitchen, yes. Fire-rated downlights keep the ceiling’s fire resistance intact. With only a loft above, they’re still good practice.
Should kitchen lights be on separate switches?
Yes. At least the ceiling lights, under-cabinet lights, accent lights and island pendants should each have their own switch or dimmer, so you can set the kitchen up for cooking, eating or relaxing.
SaveSave it for later
Pin this guide to one of your Pinterest boards so it's there when you start the job.
