As a homeowner, you might be looking for the right outdoor lighting to be part of your Arlington Heights, IL Area outdoor kitchen design. When you need stronger task lighting for cutting vegetables after dark or want some soft lighting to allow your guests to relax and stay awhile, a landscape professional can help you choose the right lighting for any part of this outdoor space.
Counter and Bar Lighting Selections for Illumination
Seeing the counters and bar top in your outdoor kitchen can be a critical feature. The last thing you want to happen is to cut yourself with a knife because you can’t see in the darkened space. From mixing cocktails to preparing vegetables for a grilled stir-fry, you need clear visibility for these spaces.
Most landscape professionals will recommend brighter, cooler-toned lights for illuminating the countertops and bar space. This task lighting can also be on a dimmer so you can adjust the lighting level easily. The ideal placement can be overhead which can make adding a roof over the outdoor kitchen a good move.
Adding lighting to the areas beneath the counters can allow you to see into the back of the cabinets for the cooking pans you need. This light also shines downward on the floor to help you see where to step as you move from the grill to the refrigerator.
Peripheral Floor Lighting
You want your guests to be able to see in the darkened landscape and that’s where illuminating the paver surface can be helpful. A landscape specialist can add recessed lighting to the pavers to create a soft glow that can enable more comfortable movement.
Step Lighting Illumination
Don’t forget the steps need illumination, too. When a landscape professional adds lights to the stair edges, this can bring the light from the sides. They can also add lights to the space beneath the steps to shine on the surface. Well-placed lights in the adjoining landscape beds can also cast a glow over the patio for better visibility.
Brightening the patio can make your space more inviting after the sun sets.
Wall Lights Illumination
If your patio is close to the exterior of your house, adding wall lights can exponentially increase the lighting there. Not only can guests see to move about the outdoor space clearly but the wall lights can cast light upward and downward for extra illumination.
Outdoor Dining Illumination
Few homeowners have an outdoor kitchen without some sort of designated outdoor dining space. Whether your dining area is large and a significant part of the patio area or your guests can dine casually by sitting on the outdoor furniture, the retaining wall top surface, or at the counters in your outdoor kitchen, having visibility to eat is important.
Every meal doesn’t happen in the daytime and that is part of the appeal of an outdoor kitchen. You can prepare a snack, some heavier casual foods like nachos and burger sliders, or a full meal in an illuminated outdoor kitchen.
The lighting in an outdoor dining space can look like vintage chandeliers augmented by recessed lighting. These special lighting features can be protected by a gable roof overhead so you and your guests can remain outside as long as you like.
Related: Here Are Some Of Landscape Contractors' Favorite Outdoor Kitchen Designs This Year In Wilmette, IL
