When designing kitchen lighting, check worktops, shadows, colour rendering and evening use. These five mistakes show what to review before electrical design.

1. One ceiling fixture „so there's light“

The most widespread mistake: a single central ceiling fixture meant to light the entire room. The result is a flat, impersonal ceiling, hard shadows on the worktop and no atmosphere after sunset.

A well-designed kitchen runs on at least three layers of light: ambient (overall, soft), task (directly on the worktop and hob) and accent (island, open shelving, splashback). Each layer lives on its own circuit with its own dimming level.

„A single fixture never creates atmosphere. Atmosphere is born from the contrast between layers."

2. A worktop without under-cabinet light

Upper cabinets shadow every ceiling lamp — when you stand at the worktop, your own body throws a shadow onto the very place where you are chopping. Without under-cabinet light you work in a half-shade and your eyes tire fast.

An LED strip with a suitable profile and optics is one option beneath upper cabinets. Check colour rendering, worktop illuminance and reflections in the actual assembly. Cost depends on length, output, construction, control and installation; there is no universal price for a typical kitchen.

3. The wrong colour temperature above the island

Choose CCT above a dining island for materials, use and preferences. Warmer light can be an evening aesthetic choice, but 4000 K alone does not prevent a pleasant dinner or biologically compel performance.

For a kitchen that doubles as a dining and gathering space, use 2700 K (warm white). The ideal solution is tunable white — 4000 K in the morning for cooking and sorting the shopping, a smooth shift down to 2200 K in the evening for a Fine dining feel.

„Colour temperature, intensity and glare contribute to the atmosphere at the table."

4. No dimming

A dimmer in the kitchen is not a luxury, it is a functional baseline. Without it you have two states: full light or darkness. Yet different parts of the day demand completely different levels.

Breakfast: 70 – 80 % on the ambient circuit, 100 % task.
Daytime cooking: 100 % task, 50 % accent.
Family dinner: 30 % ambient, 40 % accent above the island.
A glass of wine after work: 10 – 15 % everywhere, accent dominant.
Night-time walk to the fridge: 5 % floor-level orientation light.

Without dimming you have none of these scenarios — you have an office that blazes at full output until the moment you switch it off.

5. Pendant lights at the wrong height

Beautiful designer pendants above the island lose their purpose at the wrong height. Too high — the fixture „floats“ in the room, distracts the eye and fails to light the worktop. Too low — it glares into the eyes of anyone seated and blocks the view across the island.

A height of 75–85 cm above the worktop can be a starting point rather than a universal rule. Consider luminaire size and optics, seated and standing sightlines, and worktop illuminance; check spacing in the actual kitchen.

„A pendant at the wrong height is not a design detail. It is a daily mistake you notice every time you use the kitchen."

In closing

The kitchen is the hardest room to light because it has to work simultaneously as a work surface, a dining room, a meeting place and sometimes a home office. These five mistakes are cheapest and easiest to solve at the design stage — never after the handover.

„A well-designed kitchen does not just change the way you cook. It changes the way you spend your evenings at home."