Categories: Kitchens

Do you Prefer Warm, Cool or Daylight Lighting in your Kitchen?

Published by
James marcus

I am always fielding questions about how lighting affects your room. And, I continue to be amazed at what can be done with new LED technologies in lighting. Whether you prefer warm, cool or daylight lighting in your kitchen, here’s a new option that I had to share with you.

During my visit to West Palm Beach I was fortunate to work with one of my lovely readers and a recently minted True Colour Expert on confirming decisions she was making for colours and future updates!

When your lighting turns your cabinets yellow.

Over the years, I have been asked over and over again about lighting under your cabinets, however since I do not manage kitchen renovations, I really didn’t know enough about it to help.

Recently, however, when I was in a client’s kitchen I noticed that her much warmer recessed lighting turned her off-white cabinets CREAM when they were on, so you might need to consider changing your lighting if this is happening in your kitchen.

Read more: One more reason to skip recessed lighting altogether.

This dandy new under cabinet lighting technology is the answer, my lovelies.

Cindy’s husband Jeff, had switched out their old halogen bulbs to these swanky new LED under counter lighting with adjustable settings for warm, cool and daylight!

So, I had to show you:

You can see that with the daylight setting, 5000 Kelvin, the colours show true. And if your white kitchen looks somewhat yellowed and dingy in artificial light in the evening, LED daylight bulbs are worth considering to get a truer fresh white look.

Enbrighten LED Under cabinet light

Buh-bye dingy fluorescents and overheated halogens.

Isn’t it amazing what can be done with new LED technologies in lighting? Remember when our options were pretty much warm atmosphere from energy sucking incandescents or cold, greenish flat light from “efficient” fluorescents? I realize that a lot of institutional spaces are still equipped with fluorescent tubes for practical reasons, but it will be so nice to see the back end of them for good.

And then halogens came along, a bit more efficient, but hot. And yellow. Everything was yellow.

Now we have options, hooray! And when you have options, it’s a good idea to make informed decisions and get to know your preferences. What that looks like for interiors I think, is to consider what the room is most used for.

>> Read about the 5 lamps everyone home needs here.

Different lighting for different rooms.

A kitchen for example is an active space. You need to clearly see what you’re doing when you’re cooking and the kids are doing homework. It makes sense in a kitchen, especially a crisp white one, to have clean and true daylight type lighting.

But I’m curious how you all feel about daylight bulbs in your lamps that you use in rooms where the goal is socializing and relaxing. This is where I tend to prefer warmer soft white bulbs. In the wind down of the evenings, the warm light of a fire or candles is more atmospheric and conducive to relaxation. It probably has something to do with our history as humans of gathering around a fire or hearth, don’t you think? Or am I just a romantic?

Read more: 4 reasons your white wall colour looks wrong – it’s not the lighting!

Is there more to the temperature of lighting than your preference?

There is also science to say that cooler light frequencies in the evening upset our sleep and wake cycles or circadian rhythms, and this is why the blue light from screens is not ideal in the few hours before bed. I’m curious, is that a factor you are concerned about? Or you more committed to your blues and whites looking true all day and night?

I’d love to hear about your preferences for light temperatures in your lamps and lighting. Does it vary from room to room or activity to activity? Are we headed down the path of being able to adjust each bulb in our home according to our preference in the moment?

When teaching my System for Specifying Colour in my live workshops, I downplay the effect of light on colour, not because it isn’t a factor, but because it’s not nearly as BIG of a factor as it is given credit for. People are much too quick to blame the light when in fact they have chosen the wrong colour to pull their space together.

However, it is worthwhile, certainly in the case of light colours and white cabinets, to play around a bit with the temperature of your lighting to see if you can either create a crisper, cleaner look, or a warmer mood to help you unwind.

Jeff & Cindy

Over to you my lovelies, I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions, I so appreciate how ya’ll move the conversation forward and often the comments are even better than the post!

Related post:

The Real Reason Your Lighting Sucks

The Enchanting World of Atmosphere

7 Ways to Make the Most out of What You Already Have (before & after)

This post was last modified on 14/10/2023 08:28

James marcus

Garden Courte is a blog written by [James Marcus], a passionate gardener and writer. She has been gardening for over 20 years and has a deep understanding of plants and how to care for them. In her blog, she shares her knowledge and experience with others, providing tips and advice on gardening, plant care, and more.

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Published by
James marcus

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