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Working at Home Depot in Lighting/Electrical, I am frequently asked this question. Many people are renovating or redesigning the space that has become the central family area these days. Families no longer sit formally at the dining table in a dining room. Today, family members often come and go, snacking, and it’s not until a basic breakfast, lunch, or dinner that everyone can get together and finally sit down together.

Hopefully the day hasn’t been too hectic and fast food isn’t an option. Hopefully someone has created an enjoyable and nutritious meal that everyone can appreciate. My “Pop Toaster Oven” cookbook has over 250 quick and healthy meal options for active families, singles, boomers, and seniors.

Lighting is key in today’s multipurpose and multipurpose kitchens. Work areas need special high-contrast direct lighting for preparing food, cooking food, washing dishes, or putting dishes in the dishwasher. Track lights with GU10 base halogen bulbs provide bright white light. Additionally, track light heads can be angled into work areas. This slanted light is preferable to working under higher light than shade.

Dining areas need light that can be dimmed to create a calm atmosphere and coordinate with invited diners, candles, etc. Stylish pendants give interior décor a boost, provide soft downlight and create spotlights on bars and dining counters. Easily installed, dimmers not only reduce the wattage used by the lighting fixture, but also extend the life of the bulb within that fixture. More savings!

Ambient lighting is best for illuminating the entire kitchen space with the flick of a switch. A ceiling “troffer,” a two- to four-tube rectangular fluorescent ceiling light often installed by contractors, only provides general lighting for the kitchen area.

Available in 6.5-, 4-, and 3-inch cans with a variety of finishes including brushed nickel, white, and bronze, Recessed Lighting Cans create a downward beam of light that illuminates a given area where the light falls. Although this light is usually high contrast, the distance from where it has been installed to the surface it illuminates changes the intensity of the light. Recessed eyeball lights can be positioned to shine in specific areas. New offerings on LED recessed lights guarantee 35,000 hours before you have to climb a ladder to replace that recessed lighting bulb. That is a good option!

Under cabinet lights may be the best kept secret. Available in xenon, halogen, fluorescent and LED, they provide direct lighting to the worktop area. Today’s new two-, three-, or four-light under-cabinet LED luminaires are very slim, provide excellent high-contrast light, have little to no bulb temperatures, and last 12,000 hours or more.

I often find that customers are looking for a brighter ceiling light because their kitchen lighting is so poor. What they really need is under cabinet lighting to illuminate your countertops, pendant or recessed lights to illuminate your bar or counter dining, or track lighting to direct high-contrast beams of light into work areas.

Range hood lights, often in conjunction with a fan, provide good light for the cooktop. Many newer hood/hood lights offer good high contrast halogen illumination. Older hood lights that accept a regular screw in medium base bulb can now be upgraded by switching to a bright light or daylight compact fluorescent bulb, which will last six years, use much less wattage than a standard bulb and will provide more light.

It’s a good job of researching the lighting options available in retail stores today. The energy efficient options of CFLs and LEDs, as well as the variety of light spectrum brightnesses they now come in, can meet the personal needs of every home. Check out those shelves today and get inspired!

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