Which Bulb is Best? An Easy Guide to Kitchen Lighting

Kitchen lighting. While people can spend lots of time and money choosing the perfect type and style of their fixtures, it’s the light bulbs inside that really matter the most. The kitchen is one room where it’s very important to have high-quality lighting. Here are some things you should know about light bulbs when choosing the ones for your kitchen.

Choosing Your Lighting

There are a few different types of light bulbs, but each type can come in different sizes and brightness levels. Whether you’re choosing for lighting above your island, under your cabinets, or in the chandelier, the fixture doesn’t limit you to a specific type of light bulb.

Wattage and Lumens

Contrary to popular belief, a light bulb’s wattage doesn’t refer to its brightness, but to how many watts of energy it uses. Lumens refer to a light bulb’s brightness. Higher wattages are recommended at higher lumens, so the correlation to wattage and brightness isn’t complete myth. If you’re using a 40-watt bulb, look for at least 450 lumens. Look for 800 lumens for a 60-watt bulb. Get at least 1,100 lumens for a 75-watt bulb, and 1,600 lumens for a light bulb of 100 watts or more.

Temperature

What you most need to pay attention to when choosing kitchen lighting is a light bulb’s temperature and color rendering index (CRI). The temperature of a light bulb, represented in Kelvins, can range from a low temperature that produces a soft, yellowish light, to a high temperature that most closely resembles natural lighting from the sun. A soft light would be 2700K, and 6500K are meant to mimic sunlight. For your kitchen, good lighting is very important, so go for light bulbs that are about 5000K to 6500K.

CRI

The color resolution index (CRI) of a light bulb refers to how true colors will appear under the lighting. A rating of 100 CRI means that colors under the lighting will look exactly how they would outside in the sunlight. For your kitchen light bulbs, you should look for a CRI of at least 80, which means colors will look very close to their true color as it appears in sunlight.

LEDs

LED (light-emitting diode) light bulbs generally work the best in kitchens. They are more expensive, but prices have been dropping over time. LED light bulbs use the least amount of energy, and they brighten a room instantly. They last a very long time – usually 20,000 to 50,000 hours – so they investment may be worth it considering your electric bills will be lower and you won’t have to replace them as often.

CFLs

CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs use about much less energy than traditional incandescent light bulbs – about 75 percent less – and they last 7-10 times longer. They still don’t last as long or save as much energy as LEDs, but they’re more affordable and also long-lasting. The downside to CFLs is that they can take up to 15 seconds to reach their full brightness level after being turned on.

Katherine Brown is a kitchen designer and home improvement professional who currently works with Drury Designs. She knows quite a bit about the best ways to design your kitchen and keep it well lit!