Dark Corner

16 years ago

Ok, so I'm remodeling my little kitchen in my 1924 Craftsman house. I've decided I want to put smaller, tiffany like pendants in front of each of two windows on adjacent walls, one of which will be over the sink, the other over a counter in the corner next to the range. Over the stove, in the hood, will be a light(s) and I'll have undercounter lighting all the way between the two pendants. That leaves a shorter wall (includes a doorway) where the fridge will be and a new floor to ceiling cabinet where the chimney used to be. I'm going to do a beadboard ceiling to match a small stretch of beadboard along one wall. Can lighting is out, bc there isn't enough room in the ceiling, but even if there was, I'm trying to stay away from too modern anyway. My GC and plumber are trying to talk me into ceiling lighting of some sort, but I'm really reluctant. My problem is that corner where the floor to ceiling cabinet is, first of all, and just generally about ceiling fixture(s), given that the kitchen is so small. I hope I've painted a clear picture. If necessary, I can construct a visual floor plan - tomorrow. Right now, I've had enough wine to make that seem like too big a project. Any input is very much appreciated. Thx.

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Comments (8)

keptoz
16 years ago
Is there counterspace along that wall? Maybe a small coordinating tiffany stlye table lamp to match your pendants?
betsyhac
Original Author
16 years ago
Nope. Just the floor to ceiling chunk of wall which will have cabinets, next to that is the fridge, and next to that is the doorway to the basement. I'm now thinking that I can get a sconce to go on the wall over the fridge, but I'm still worried about that wall of cabinets in the corner. I guess I could put another sconce over that too. Does that all sound too hodgepodge?
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jcoxmd
16 years ago
Lighting can be so tricky in an older house! A floor plan and maybe pictures/renderings would be helpful. You may also want to cross post in "lighting" if you haven't already.
palimpsest
16 years ago
I would probably try to put some style of arts and crafts fixture in the ceiling just for general lighting. A house of this era would have had ceiling fixtures.

(I understand where you are coming from though, I live on a street of 1840s houses and it rubs me the wrong way to see the ceilings with lighting all over them...but even I put some in the kitchen)

Rejuvenation and Arroyo Craftsmam have some nice close-to-ceiling period ligthing. Rejuvenation is customizable as a standard way to order.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rejuvenation
smiling
16 years ago
Would it be possible to put lights inside the floor to ceiling cabinet, and use frosted glass doors? There are "linear" low voltage lights than can go along the front inside edges of the face frame, so you can still use wood shelves. I think they're made by Seagull:

Here is a link that might be useful: lights inside your tall cabinet?
skyedog
16 years ago
Can you put in a shortened version of your pendent so the light is more like a flushmount fixture? I have a small older home and I have cans (because I have almost no uppers to put in undercab lights), a flush ceiling fixture, a chandelier and several shortened pendants. We were worried about it looking cluttered but all the fixtures are from the same line so even though they aren't identical, they tie to each other and it looks normal and not hodgepodge. The sconces might work but if they are not at a 5' wall height, they could look out of place.

If you do put a flushmount fixture, make sure it clears any cabinet doors that open. I would also try the old house forum here as well.
betsyhac
Original Author
16 years ago
Omigosh, such good ideas!! I'm so glad I posted this. I asked about the inside the cabinet lights, but the Elec. said it wouldn't work. Hah. Everybody can't know everything, I know, which is why this forum is so great. On my way to the old house forum....
susie1010
16 years ago
We had a dark corner next to the refrigerator in our U shaped kitchen. In our remodel, we kept the same U shape, but enlarged it. I was still worried about the dark corner, so we did not build-in the ref. We used a counter depth refrigerator, did not bring out the cabinets on top, and used a panel on the side that matched the depth of the cabinets on top. Can your floor to ceiling cabinet be recessed to the depth of the upper cabinets. If not, how about a wall sconce / light on the side of the cabinet? We did use ceiling lights which also helped.