Help Needed lighting older kitchen with vaulted ceiling

8 years ago

Hello! We are about to start a remodel of our late 1980's pickled wood kitchen. We will be moving in a year or two (job transfer) so now the scope of the remodel has changed from "what would we want" to "what would potential buyers want". We want to remove the track lighting and we are thinking about replacing it with gooseneck or articulating sconces that would point the light past the top of the cabinets and actually into the kitchen (!). Then in the center we have a ceiling fan with can lights that point down... so (not) awesome. We are thinking we'll replace that with a chandelier.

Does anyone have experience with lighting a kitchen like this? Will this be enough? I'm nervous that it will still be dim because the ceiling is so cavernous.

Sorry for the poor photos! The pictures go counter clockwise in a circle.

The landing of the stairs overlooks the kitchen

So much light pointed at the top of the cabinets...

Yes, there's also a pointless chair rail around the entire kitchen dividing this beautiful tall ceiling. That will be removed during the remodel.

Looking down from the stair landing

Looking back into the breakfast nook. This light is new and the new lighting/hardware will coordinate.

Any advice is appreciated!

Featured Answer

Laurie Hutch

8 years ago

Bring an electrician in and see what his ideas are. He may know of good lighting treatments to target what you want. Undercabinet will help greatly. I don’t think your kitchen is that bad, just needs some tweaking. I don’t like the grey paint color with those cabinets.

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Comments (8)

Branden B
8 years ago
Under cabinet lighting would help. can you change where the lights are aimed?
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Maria Privat
8 years ago
Good advice is given already: lights under the upper cabinets. You could also have a crown installed up the upper cabinets and work with indirect lights behind those.

Are those cabinet doors still for sale? You could replace some with glass doors out of the same series, so you can have light in those as well.

And as lhutch13 wrote: the paint color doesn't match the cabinets. If you really like the gray, maybe you could paint the cabinets? You'd have to change out the back splash then too. Or just find a paint color that does match.

Love the architectural elements of your breakfast nook! A round rug would set the table better.

Ikea sells a cheap, but nice and easy to install way of cabinets and glass doors lighting.
cheezewhiz
8 years ago
You could use a goose neck light that hangs straight out and lights up the counter below instead of the track lighting.
cheezewhiz
8 years ago
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Jim Misner Light Designs
8 years ago
There are cable systems that can place lights where you need them. which would offer both ambient pendants and down focused lamps. Tech Lighting is one mfg. that offers many solutions and head designs.
apple_pie_order
8 years ago
Hire a professional lighting designer. Talk to two or three of the most active real estate agents in your area about what buyers in your market really want before you commit to an expensive remodel. It may be that a coat of classic off white paint on the walls and some fabulous new lighting are more cost effective changes than an expensive new kitchen.
Emily Jowers
8 years ago
You should definitely look into under cabinet lighting as others have mentioned. I would also paint the walls. I don't know if that's a new color, but it clashes with the wood color.

Could you hand several (probably 3) lights down from the beam above (where the fan is attached), kind of like large pendants to give more light. They could match your dining room light.