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Overhead Lights Should Be Centered With Upper Cabinets

January 13th, 2010 Leave a comment Go to comments
ceiling-kitchen-lights

Centering kitchen lights

When installing overhead lights, in relation to the cabinets in a kitchen, should they be centered with the upper wall cabinets or equally spaced apart? In our photo the lights in the ceiling are equally spaced apart from one another, but notice that they are not centered with the cupboard doors.

One of the most noticeable things about the lines in the kitchen in relation to the overhead lighting is that they are not aligned properly. Because your eyes focus more on the cabinetry rather than the placement of the lights in the ceiling, it is important that the lights shine in a balanced manor with the wall cabinetry.


The idea is to do your best to center the overhead kitchen lighting with the cabinet lines and yet keep the ceiling fixtures close to being equally spaced apart. I know this is going to be an impossible task at times. A good rule of thumb to use when designing the placement of the lights in the kitchen is the center of the sink and the center of the range.

Notice in the picture how well this layout would have looked had the lights been centered over the sink, then in the middle of the next cabinet and then centered over the range and so on. The spacing would have been a little different incrementally, but the design appearance would have looked much better than having the light off center.

It is the little things such as this that really make a difference in kitchen cabinet design. If you are trying to decide where to place the overhead lights in your kitchen’s ceiling, take your time. This is something that cost money to change once the electrician has cut the holes in the ceiling for the overhead lights. Just remember to get the kitchen lighting centered with the doors on the upper wall cabinets and things will go smoothly.

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