Whether you are lighting a new kitchen or redecorating your present one, the best advice is: think about lighting early in the process. We call it the “too little, too late too dark”syndrome. Customers appear close to the end of the project—and the end of their budget—wanting, but unable to determine clearly, lighting to “go with” their other decisions.

Surprisingly, in the store’s view, this was not just a matter of money. The salesman explained that, because so many elements of a kitchen occupy a permanent place, lighting needs to be thought out ahead of time. (Anyone who has ever turned on the range-hood light to view the contents of the freezer would agree.) If Kitchen lighting decisions are left to the last, results may be less satisfactory and more expensive than early decision would allow.

Like bathrooms, kitchens need good, bright light for a variety of tasks. New kitchen designs, like those for bathrooms, feature increased and creative uses of daylight which must be taken into consideration when planning for lighting.

One of the important features of kitchen-planning is accommodating good traffic-flow; and this is the stage at which lighting should be planned. If the kitchen is eat-in, how does one light the room so that the food-preparation area is less visible during the meal? If you’re washing lettuce, how close is the counter to dry it on? If guests always gather in the kitchen, can you still get to the oven without trampling them? Do boots and coats compete with more intentional decorating? Lighting can be used to attract people to certain areas and away from others, more in the kitchen than in any other room.

What kinds of lighting? A wonderful abundance. In these eclectic times, kitchens allow the combination of all kinds of lighting. Large fluorescent ceiling fixtures still provide reliable room-wide ambient light, although pendant and other area-lighting fixtures show great popularity, sometimes as the major light-source and most often over the family table.

Recessed or ready-to-mount spotlights and pin-point track-lighting seem made just for kitchens. On the ceiling, in soffits or installed under cupboards, they allow for just about any situation in which you really need to see what you are doing. Good lighting transforms counters into self-contained work-stations, making your counter-space functional in a greater variety of ways.

Incorporating lighting decisions into overall kitchen planning lets you spend less on lighting and spend less as you use it. Deciding traffic flow and establishing what work will be done on counters or an island lets you light more selectively and use more diffuse lighting less. When the task is over, the specialty lighting goes off, using less energy.

The Department of Energy’s “Energy Star” program reminds consumers that replacing incandescent light bulbs with more efficient kinds in our most-used rooms will save substantial amounts of energy. Looking at your kitchen in terms of area-lighting eases the energy-burden in this frequently-occupied room, often the busiest in your home.

Flexibility, focus, and functionality in today’s lighting all contribute to lighting kitchens in productive and economical ways. Incorporating lighting decisions early in your decorating plans can help make the busiest room in your house an even happier place for you and your family to spend time.