To transform a space, you need to be able to control the ambience of a room and adapt it to suit your needs. Of course the easiest way to change the mood of a room is with the lighting, which is why we incorporate advanced lighting systems into our designs, allowing our clients to change the setting from cooking to entertaining at the touch of a button.
The Chef’s Kitchen is a case study that shows off exactly what we can do, so we thought we’d delve a little deeper into the design and our thought process, to show you what is possible in your own kitchen. Let’s start by going through the different lighting elements within the room.
Hanging above the island you can see the Empire Lights by Rothschild & Bickers. These lights create a warm social area perfect for watching the chef cook, while sitting at the breakfast bar. We believe socialising plays an important role within the kitchen so we always aim to have an area suitable for hanging out with the kids as well as your friends. Nobody wants to be stuck in another room when they have guests over.
Another essential for preparing food and cooking in the kitchen is really good light. We’ve used industrial brightness recessed ceiling lights which we’ve plastered into the ceiling to create a seamless finish. The lamps themselves are 14w LEDs (75 watt equivalent) which are dimmable in 3000k warm white, slightly brighter than daylight, making it the perfect illumination for preparing food in the kitchen.
We like to make a statement with our lighting. The feature rubble stone wall has been highlighted with dimmable LED downlights and colour changing LED strips have been used above the cabinets with the Gaggenau ovens. These LEDs emphasise the beauty of the stonework, contrasting old with new. You’ll also find them contrasting with the seamless Corian breakfast bar and we’ve even transferred them into the dining area furniture which we also designed and installed. All of the LED strips are controllable from a simple smart phone app and offer 2 million different colour hues and dimming levels – the possibilities for changing the mood and atmosphere with this lighting are really endless.
To complete the look, we hung statement chandeliers which came from a local reclamation yard. They have been fitted with low voltage candle effect lamps and conjure an air of elegance in this 400-year-old barn, don’t you agree?
Lastly to tie all of the lighting together and allow the family to control each setting, we used the Lutron Grafik Eye system, a premium energy saving light treatment control. For this particular kitchen we selected the 6-zone controller to allow us to choose from a wide variety of settings. At the push of a button the space is transformed from a bright prep and cooking space into a moody dinner setting. With Lutron you can program up to 16 different mood settings and control up to 8 different zones, it is also possible to integrate with smart phone for complete control versatility.
Do you need advice on how to incorporate technology into your kitchen? Simply request a consultation with us now and we’ll tell you all we can to help bring to life your dream kitchen.
