For a kitchen, opt for a cool white light. That means a Kelvin rating of 3,000 to 4,500. Warm, yellower light with a lower Kelvin rating is better for a living space rather than one where food preparation and cooking take place.

A good kitchen lighting plan should include task lighting for countertops, peninsulas, or kitchen islands that are used for food prep; general lighting throughout to provide balance when natural light is limited; and ambient light that can be adjusted according to the time of day or the mood you want to create to make the space inviting and relaxing for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and everything in between.

As both a technical space for cooking and an atmospheric space for entertaining, lighting and lighting control are critical in the kitchen. And the proper lighting mix—recessed downlighting, island-highlighting pendants, under-cabinet LEDs—ensures it’s fit for all of those uses.

There are three main types of lighting in a modern kitchen: task, mood and feature, and the most successful kitchen schemes include all three. Task lights are the brightest and target the working areas such as preparation surfaces, cooker and sink, while mood lighting, which is soft and diffused, is used to create ambience.

The key to getting your kitchen lighting scheme right, as with most rooms, is to have plenty of different sources at different levels and make sure you cover the three types of lighting too – task, ambient, and accent. The best type of lighting for a kitchen is all about layers. It's about covering the three bases of lighting.