Complement Your Kitchen Remodel With Soffit Lighting
Are you looking to remodel your outdated kitchen, but don't know what to do with those dreary soffits running along the ceiling? Transforming a kitchen with soffits can be challenging, but the right lighting can turn these obstructions into an opportunity to add beauty and character.
With creative lighting ideas, you can complement your kitchen remodel and make those soffits a distinctive feature rather than an eyesore.
What Are Soffits and How Do They Impact Kitchen Remodels?
Soffits are the enclosed space between the ceiling and the top of walls in a room. They frequently contain infrastructure like ductwork, wiring, and plumbing.
In kitchens, soffits can disrupt sightlines, restrict cabinet and lighting placement, and prevent homeowners from having an open, continuous ceiling. They limit design choices during renovations.
Challenges Soffits Present
Soffits in kitchens often have a dropped ceiling effect which interferes with cabinets and shelving. Homeowners can't have cabinets reach all the way to the ceiling since soffits block the way.
Lighting ends up restricted to the soffit borders rather than the entire ceiling area. Overhead lights have limited space and possibility with soffits in the way.
Vents, pipes, and wiring in soffits also prevent openings up the space. Removing soffits completely allows for an airier, unobstructed kitchen but involves extensive work.
Creative Lighting Solutions for Kitchens With Soffits
While soffits can't be ignored, the right lighting makes them far less intrusive. Use a mix of ambient, task, accent, and indirect lighting to illuminate soffits and their surrounding space.
Ambient Lighting for General Illumination
Recessed lighting or track lighting installed in the ceiling and walls provide overall ambient luminosity. Place these around soffit borders to avoid dark, shadows areas.
For open soffit spaces, point recessed lights upward to bounce light off the ceiling. Track lights also angle to wash walls with illumination.
Task Lighting to Brighten Work Areas
Under cabinet lights directly brighten countertop task areas where you cook and prep. For peninsulas or islands, mini-pendants hovering right over the surface provide focused task lighting.
Inside glass door cabinets, accent striplights or LED puck lights illuminate and showcase dishware and glassware when lit up.
Accent Lighting for Visual Interest
Wall sconces flanking a kitchen window or decorative display provide striking accent lighting. Inside glass-front cabinets, rope lighting along the top edge spotlights collections.
Picture lights above artwork draw attention to that area without competing with surrounding ambient and task lighting.
Indirect Lighting for Soften Soften Soffits
For exposed soffits, uplighting bounced off the ceiling casts a diffused glow to soften this architectural feature. The light source is concealed for a continuous look.
Striplighting or LED tape installed around soffit edges emits an ambient radiance into the space, mitigating the soffit-ceiling division.
Ideas for Different Soffit Situations
Use lighting to work with your existing soffits or creatively modify them during your remodel.
Boxing In Soffits
Recessed lighting across a boxy, soffit conceals its shape for a unified ceiling. Picture or display lights attractively illuminate art within the soffit recess.
Dropped Beam Architecture
Mini-pendants spaced along a faux beam dropped below a soffit add charming, task-focused lighting. Rope lights lining the beam edge provide accent lighting.
Coffered Ceilings
Recessed square lights accent each coffer while linear grazing lights illuminate the beams between coffers. Uplighting casts an aura upon this architectural detail.
Leaving Soffits Open
With exposed soffits, install recessed lights on surrounding walls to bounce illumination upward. Or, place glass shelving across the soffit opening and use striplighting to dramatize the display.
Tips and Tricks for Soffit Lighting
Follow these guidelines when illuminating kitchen soffits for a cohesive look:
- Mix multiple lighting types like accent, task, and ambient for depth.
- Overlap lighting ranges so no area is left unlit.
- Include dimmers for flexibility in setting the right mood.
- Select warm white 2700-3000K lights to energize and flatter.
With strategic lighting placement, you can embrace your kitchen's soffits and make them a distinctive design element. Ambient, task, accent, and indirect lighting ideas will brighten up those soffit spaces.
Get creative with lighting during your remodel to complement those soffits rather than allowing them to constrain your design. The right mix of illumination will make those soffits shine.