The Kitchen Lighting Dilemma

How does natural light enter your kitchen? The answer to this question depends on two factors: Direction and size.

The direction your home faces — specifically, the exterior wall of your kitchen — determines how much natural light flows into your kitchen if any. In the northern hemisphere, the sun travels from east to west directly above the equator. So homes that have kitchens with southern exposures will naturally get a lot of sunlight all year round.

But if the primary wall of your kitchen faces north, you likely get less natural sunlight. And the amount of sunlight that flows into your kitchen will change seasonally as the Earth rotates on its axis. In winter, you will get much less sunlight while in summer you will get a lot.

Window Size

The size of your windows also influences how much sunlight can enter your kitchen. In a lot of older homes, for example, designers included smaller windows in order to help with heating and cooling efficiency. The smaller the window, the less heat could escape in the winter and the more efficient air conditioning would work in the summer.

Newer homes tend to have larger windows. But even then, if they weren’t located to optimize natural sunlight, your kitchen may need to depend on artificial lighting from overhead lamps, undercover lights, and spots in order to be properly illuminated.

Kitchen Redesigns

Why is this important? Because natural light is always preferable to artificial. The more sunlight you have flowing into your kitchen, the more attractive it will look.

And kitchen redesigns effectively give the homeowner a “do-over” when it comes to natural lighting. While you probably can’t realign the way your home is situated on your property, you can install bigger windows, skylights, and other features that optimize natural lighting. At Mr. Kitchen, we plan your kitchen renovation with natural sunlight in mind.