Kitchen lighting can be divided into either general lighting (the entire room) or work lighting (specific areas). Within those two broad categories are ceiling lights, recessed lights, track lights, pendant lights, and undercabinet lighting.
Ceiling Lighting
Most rooms already have ceiling fixtures by default since code requires that each room should have a switch-controlled light. Adding a ceiling light is the best way to satisfy this requirement.
General Lighting
Sometimes called ambient lighting, general lighting is powerful enough to illuminate the entire kitchen area. It is wide and diffuse and it is not meant to focus on any particular area.
Ceiling fixtures shine light in all directions, including up toward the ceiling. They increase safety because they illuminate the room as a whole to help you access other lighting fixtures.
Ceiling lights do not illuminate counter spaces very well. They also don't offer focused or adjustable light, as track fixtures do. Even if the room has other types of lighting, it's never bad to keep the ceiling light available for general lighting purposes.
Easy way to light entire room
Satisfies code
No task areas are addressed
Counters may be left in shadow
Recessed Lighting
The classic solution to the kitchen lighting problem is recessed lighting. These are sometimes called can lights. With popular diameters of 4, 5, and 6 inches, recessed lights provide more than enough illumination to certain required areas of the countertop or kitchen island.
But one problem with recessed lighting is shadowing. Recessed lights point down, and anything in the path of their light, be it a wall cabinet or a person working at the counter, creates a shadow below the obstruction.
Work Lighting
Sometimes called task lighting, work lighting illuminates small, specific zones, such as islands and countertop prep and cooking areas.
The main advantage of recessed lights is that they're flush to the ceiling and don't occupy physical or visual space. However, this creates a drawback: there is no light that is cast onto the ceiling, which helps brighten the space.
Older recessed light fixtures also were notorious energy-wasters because they let room heat escape into the attic. But today's AT (airtight) and IC (can be covered with insulation) fixtures don't come with the same energy penalties. It's important to be mindful of the type of recessed light and make sure that nothing in the attic covers the light if is a non-IC light.
Low profile
Little visual distraction
Energy-wasters
Some cannot be covered
Track Lighting
Track lighting provides good lighting for the kitchen and has risen in popularity in the last several decades. Track lighting has many of the same good qualities of recessed lighting, with fewer of recessed lighting's flaws. Track lighting is installed on the surface of the ceiling, and individual light fixtures along the track can be moved easily wherever needed. Also, these individual fixtures can be added or removed if you need more or less light.
Track lights have much of the same shadowing problem as recessed lights. But because track lights can be moved, it is possible to reposition a light either forward or backward to minimize shadowing.
One thing to watch out for is low-voltage track lighting that uses ultra-bright, energy-hungry halogen bulbs. Track fixtures that use energy-efficient LED bulbs use much less energy, produce less heat, and (like halogens) can be small and still produce a lot of light.
Simple to reposition
Easy to add or remove lights
Visual impediment
Passes in and out of style
Pendant Lighting
One answer to the quandary of kitchen ceiling lighting is to install hanging pendant light fixtures. Hanging pendants bring the lights down to just above head level and are often vertically adjustable. Hanging pendants can be fixed in place or can be inserted into track lighting tracks.
Go sparingly with kitchen pendant lights. Recessed lights can be multiplied almost endlessly because they are mounted flush with the ceiling and are not very noticeable. Because pendant lights are hanging down, adding more than three or four begins to make the kitchen look cluttered.
If your pendant lights are spaced out intelligently, they will adequately illuminate most work surfaces. The critical areas they can't reach are the counter spaces under wall cabinets.
Excellent task lighting
Good way to light a kitchen island
Visual impediments
Can be a physical obstruction
Undercabinet Lighting
No matter what type of ceiling fixtures you use, you'll probably need some task lighting that shines directly down from the wall cabinets. This is the best task lighting because there's nothing to create shadows, and the light can be very bright and focused without casting harsh light into the main kitchen area.
Undercabinet fixtures are sleek and essentially invisible once they are installed. Choose LED fixtures for the best lighting performance and energy efficiency.
Invisible when installed
No shadows on work area
Tiny, focused light
Illuminates only countertop area