2020 Kitchen Pendant Lighting Trends
When refreshing your kitchen, remodeling, or building a new home, kitchen pendant lighting takes some thought.
I am a practical designer and I like to cook. My recommendation is to first and foremost look for good lighting that won’t change your food or skin tone to an unnatural color. You’ll also want lighting that enables you to see well, without shadows or lighting ‘hot spots’. Finally, lighting should be within reach and easy to clean. Dust and grease in the air from frying or grilling makes this a must. If you don’t want to be cleaning often, stay away from dark colors or glass finishes that show grease.
Think about the brightness and hue of the lighting you select. The best kitchen light today is LED for a bright and warm yet accurate color (these options will also save on energy use in what is typically the most used room in the house). Today, the LED bulb is the most efficient, longest-lasting, and often the most suitable for home lighting.
When selecting a bulb, things to consider include lumens (how bright is the bulb?), color (is the light from the bulb a warm 2700K or a cool 4000K?), CRI (does the bulb render colors beautifully? 80+ is good, 90+ is great!), is it dimmable (can you use the bulb with a dimmer switch? What type of dimmer is compatible?). The use of a dimmer provides flexibility to vary the lighting to suit the occasion.
Pendants can provide both task and ambient lighting. They are extremely popular and available in an unlimited range of styles, shapes, colors, and costs. Pendants should be equipped with shades or globes that help reduce glare. Be sure your fixture has a diffuser or lens to help evenly distribute the light and reduce “hot spots” on the counter.
Trending right now are geometric chandeliers for a more casual modern mode, globes that look like freeform pearls, clear pendants for a rustic industrial design with clear bulbs, small pendant lights in a series, and oversized pendant lights for large spaces. The rule of thumb is the larger the space, the larger the fixture. Matte black, colored opal glass with brass accenting and extremely bright colors are all popular now. Kitchen lighting has become a “form of art”.
Whatever you choose, consider the specifications for the height of your ceiling and the suggested height off your counter. The fixture should be low enough to ensure good light spread and high enough that it won’t bother you when you are standing and cooking.
One of the best-kept secrets in town is that Fergusons Bath Kitchen & Lighting Gallery on Montecito Street has entered the lighting market in a big way, and they have many lights on display in their showroom and in their catalogs. With Covid, they have been emailing us choices based on our preferences for the new home we are building in the Ranch. Most importantly they offer great advice on what brands to stay away from and which are better than others. They can even order things for you that they may not carry.
With just one call to your electrician for installation, you can change the look and feel of your kitchen with a flip of a switch.
