15 Creative Lighting Ideas for the Kitchen

House Beautiful

From glass chandeliers to rustic wood pendants, here are 15 ways to brighten up a variety of kitchen designs with unexpected lighting fixtures.

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1. Rugged. In a Chicago townhouse designed by Steven Gambrel, vintage iron lanterns add to the kitchen’s rugged charm.

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2. Bazaar-Inspired. “The kitchen is where we hang out and entertain,” says Monica Bhargava of her Sonoma house. “I wanted it to feel soulful, and the Bolton lanterns take me back to the bazaar.” She hung two at either end of the long room to unify the space. Captain barstools by Pottery Barn are pulled up to the large island. "

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3. Chandelier. A crystal chandelier and high-gloss kitchen cabinets painted Farrow & Ball’s Pitch Black “remind me of Paris apartments and grand French style,” designer Tobi Tobin says of the kitchen in her Hollywood Hills farmhouse.

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4. Natural. A show-stopping twig chandelier from Hudson Home brings a
natural element, and some whimsy, inside an upstate New York house designed
by Charles O. Schwarz III. Walls and ceiling are Slipper Satin by Farrow &
Ball.

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5. Non-matching. “At first we thought all the light fixtures should
match, but then we decided a different fixture over the breakfast table would
create more intimacy,” architect William Hefner says of his Los
Angeles kitchen. Aspen Iron ceiling lights on the left feel a little more
old-fashioned than the Bryant billiard fixture, both by Visual Comfort.

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6. Gilded. In the butler’s pantry of the 2012 Kitchen of the Year designed
by Mick De Giulio, the ceiling, painted Glidden’s Soft Sapphire, picks up the
color of Kohler’s Iron/Tones sink, set into a hammered stainless-steel
countertop. Walnut countertop by Grothouse Lumber. Apollo light fixture by
Suzanne Kasler for Circa Lighting.

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7. Details That Sparkle. In the kitchen of a Manhattan apartment designed
by Amanda Nisbet, Tom Dixon Mirror Ball pendants provide sparkle.
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8. Striped Lamp. The kitchen in Stephen Shubel’s small California cottage has
an antique gilded lamp on the counter. The striped lampshade gives the space an
elegant and classic touch.

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9. Greenery. Jonathan Adler covered this Westchester kitchen’s
Norman Cherner counter stools and Trans.Luxe pendant light in Alan Campbell’s
Potalla in Jungle Green “that’s sort of crisply modern and floral-viney at
the same time – perfect for the country.”

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10. Statement Lighting. The scale of the chandelier by Tim Adams, from Savannah’s
Paris Market, and of the antique étagères, from Charleston’s South of Market,
creates drama in Mary Jo Bochner’s Savannah, Georgia, kitchen.

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11. Blue. Blue mercury-glass pendants from Gallery L7 pick up the color theme in a Lake Michigan kitchen designed by Martin Horner.

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12. Brass. The warm patina of Circa Lighting’s Goodman Hanging Lamps in
antique brass adds contrast to all the bright colors in a Naples, Florida,
kitchen designed by Jesse Carrier and Mara Miller of Carrier and Company.
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13. Nautical-Inspired. In a California kitchen, the vintage lights from the
galley of a Dutch ship were the first thing designer Samantha Lyman and her
client bought, and then they found the antique armoire in the same soft
gray-blue.

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14. English-Inspired. In an English Lutyens-inspired kitchen in Long Island,
designer Stephen Sills found two antique light fixtures by Gilbert Poillerat
and had two more made.

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15. Industrial. Industrial-style Restoration Hardware pendants add contrast
above the kitchen island in a Los Angeles house designed by Mary
McDonald.

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