Kitchen Lighting: The Counter Comes First
In a kitchen, light is a tool before it is decoration. Kitchen lighting that works lights your hands, not the floor: if you are chopping in your own shadow, the light is coming only from behind you. A central ceiling fixture handles the ambient level, but it never replaces a dedicated source over the counter.
Over an island, the rule is close to the dining table one, just a little higher: 28 to 32 inches between the surface and the bottom of the pendants, and two or three fixtures in a row rather than one if the island runs past five feet. Line them up on the center of the island, not the center of the room — a common mistake, and always visible.
This is the one room where going cooler is justified: 3000 to 4000K renders food color far more faithfully. See our pendant lights for the island and our ceiling lights for ambient.
