WORKING IN WHITE

Kitchen Lighting Ideas for the All-White Kitchen

We’re following the trends and the all-white kitchen dominates. A white kitchen can be warm and inviting with great lighting techniques that bring each kitchen’s soul to light. As certified lighting specialists, our crew at MadisonLighting.com are trained to work with builders and designers to provide the right light for every task.

Looking for kitchen lighting ideas? If you DIY, you know it’s easy to make a mistake with lighting and end up with shadows and dim spaces instead of well-lit comforting places. Here are a few ideas for getting the right light in your new white kitchen.

The ambient light in a white kitchen is provided by a combo of natural lighting and ceiling fixtures. The more upper cabinets you have the more you need lighting in the form of ceiling pendants, recessed lighting, and even track or multisystem lighting. Fewer upper cabinets means more windows and improved natural light, at least during the day. Getting enough light on your workspace may mean lights on the backsplash that literally spill light toward you across the counter.

The best white kitchens we’ve seen incorporate more than one shade of white and the addition of natural wood, tile, and stone. Bring something unexpected to the kitchen: vintage from any decade. One white kitchen we worked on featured painted cabinets on the outside walls and a gorgeous wood island in the center. It was big and rustic, made of well-loved wood. Unique pendant lights in a deep hand-rubbed bronze lit the surface and pinged off the lighter bronze drawer pulls.

And yet another kitchen with its white cabinets and white granite countertops (like marble without the upkeep) has vintage in its DNA. The cabinet’s 1920’s style brought to mind an old butler’s pantry with unfitted cupboards and deeply paneled doors. The kitchen simply had to have old glass and polished chrome lighting.

A single feature wall of old brick or dry-stacked stone is so Fixer Upper’s Joanna Barnes. This wall becomes the soul of the room as backdrop to a table and chairs, spectacular artwork, or open shelving. Add lighting to these walls, to interesting effect. Sometimes we use light that washes the wall softly so it picks up the shadows and highlights.

The all-white kitchen. After several seasons this trend is still white hot. That’s a sign that this one is here to stay.