Kitchen lighting is the most consistently under-planned element of a kitchen remodel. Homeowners spend weeks selecting tile, months deciding on cabinets, and approximately forty-five minutes on lighting — usually in a showroom at the end of the planning process, after all the decisions that constrain the lighting design have already been made.
The result is kitchens that look great during showroom visits and dim, shadowy, or mismatched in real life. In Colorado Springs, where 300+ days of sunshine set a high bar for what “well-lit” feels like, a kitchen that doesn’t meet that standard in artificial light is a daily frustration.
Lighting decisions need to happen before demolition, not after the backsplash is in. Here’s why, and how to plan it correctly.
Why Timing Is Everything
The sequence of a kitchen remodel is fixed: demo → rough-in (electrical, plumbing) → inspections → drywall → cabinets → countertops → tile. Lighting decisions affect the rough-in phase. Once the drywall is up and the backsplash is tiled, the window for running wire without cutting into finished surfaces has closed.
Specifically:
Recessed lights: The junction boxes for recessed lights need to be placed and wired before the ceiling is drywalled. Deciding you want three more recessed lights after the ceiling is finished means cutting three holes, fishing wire through insulation, and patching — a significant added cost that’s entirely avoidable.
Under-cabinet lighting (wired): The wire runs from the switch location to each cabinet section need to be in the wall before the backsplash tile goes on. The exit point for the wire comes through the wall behind the upper cabinet. Miss this window and you’re either running visible cord or cutting tile.
Pendant lights: The junction boxes for pendants over an island or peninsula need to be placed in the ceiling before drywall. The location of these boxes needs to be coordinated with the final island position — which requires knowing the island dimensions before rough-in. Miss this coordination step and the pendant boxes end up in the wrong position relative to the installed island.
Dimmer switches: Dimming requires compatible LED bulbs and a dimmer switch. The switch box location and wiring configuration needs to accommodate the dimmer before the box is set in the wall. This is simple to plan for, easy to forget.
The Colorado Springs Light Context
Colorado Springs averages 300+ days of sunshine per year. At 6,035 feet, that sunlight is more intense than at sea level. A kitchen with good southern or western exposure is flooded with natural light from May through October — the question is what happens the other seven months, and what happens in any room after 5pm.
Colorado Springs kitchens also contend with the contrast between seasons in a way that kitchens in mild climates don’t. A kitchen that seems adequately lit in July afternoon sun feels cavernous in January at 6pm. Good artificial lighting design accounts for the full range — bright enough for winter cooking, dimmable for summer evenings when the sun hasn’t set yet.
The practical implication: more lighting capacity than you think you need, controlled by dimmers, is the right design direction for this market.
The Four Layers of Kitchen Lighting
Good kitchen lighting design uses four layers that work together. Deciding all four before rough-in is the goal.
Layer 1 — Ambient (General Illumination)
Ambient lighting provides overall illumination for the room — the light that makes the kitchen feel bright when you walk in. In most modern kitchen designs, this comes from recessed downlights in the ceiling.
Recessed light layout:
The standard spacing is approximately one recessed light every 4 feet in each direction, positioned so the lights land roughly over the primary work zones and the center of the room. For a 12×12 kitchen, that’s a 3×3 grid of nine lights.
The most common mistake is placing lights based on the center of the ceiling rather than the center of the work zones. In a kitchen with an asymmetric layout — island on one side, perimeter cabinets on the other — the lighting grid should be centered on the functional layout, not the ceiling geometry.
Fixture size:
4-inch recessed lights work for lower ceilings (8–9 feet) or for accent/task positions. 6-inch recessed lights for general ambient in standard ceiling heights. Larger fixtures in high-ceiling kitchens.
For new installations in Colorado Springs: LED-integrated or LED-specific housings are the right choice. They eliminate the lamp replacement schedule and provide better light quality than retrofit LED bulbs in incandescent housings.
Can placement relative to cabinets:
Position recessed lights so they’re approximately 18–24 inches from the face of upper cabinets. Lights placed too far from cabinets leave the cabinet fronts in shadow. Lights placed too close to cabinet fronts create a bright strip on the cabinet face and shadow on the countertop below — the opposite of what you want.
Layer 2 — Task Lighting (Countertop Illumination)
Task lighting delivers focused illumination to work surfaces — the countertop where you prep, the sink where you clean, the range where you cook. This is the layer most responsible for making a kitchen functional rather than just visible.
Under-cabinet lighting:
The most effective countertop task lighting comes from under the upper cabinets, pointed down at the counter surface. This eliminates the shadow problem that recessed overhead lights create — when you stand at the counter, your body blocks the overhead light from reaching the surface directly in front of you.
Wired LED strip under-cabinet lighting is the cleanest solution for a remodel with open walls. A single continuous LED strip runs the length of each upper cabinet section, wired to a dedicated switch (or integrated into the main kitchen lighting switch circuit). The installation looks factory — no visible cords, no transformer boxes.
Plug-in LED strip or puck systems are the right choice for a cosmetic refresh where the wall isn’t being opened. Flexible adhesive LED strips in an aluminum channel with a plug-in power supply work well and install in under an hour per cabinet section. The cord management requires some care but is workable.
Sink lighting:
A recessed light directly over the sink, positioned to illuminate the basin when you’re standing at it, is one of the most-appreciated task lighting additions in a kitchen. In Colorado Springs homes where the sink is often on an exterior wall under a window, this light matters most in winter when the window goes dark early. Position the light 24–30 inches in front of the cabinet face so it clears your head when you stand at the sink.
Range lighting:
The range hood handles task lighting over the cooking surface — most quality range hoods include integrated LED lights. This is one reason a vented range hood with good lighting is worth the installation cost even beyond the ventilation function.
Layer 3 — Accent Lighting (Visual Interest)
Accent lighting highlights specific elements — upper cabinet interiors if they have glass fronts, a backsplash with visual texture worth illuminating, or a toe-kick LED strip that creates a floating effect at floor level.
This layer is optional but worth planning for during rough-in. Running wire for accent lighting you may want later costs almost nothing during rough-in and significant labor after walls are closed.
Glass cabinet interior lighting:
Puck lights or LED strip mounted inside upper cabinets with glass fronts. Requires a wire run into the cabinet interior during rough-in. Transformer and switch location needs to be planned.
Backsplash accent:
A recessed or surface light positioned to graze light across a textured backsplash tile creates shadow and dimension that flat frontal light doesn’t. Position the light close to the wall — 6–8 inches off the backsplash face — and aimed at a slight angle to the tile surface.
Layer 4 — Decorative (Pendants and Statement Fixtures)
Decorative lighting — pendants over an island, a statement fixture over a dining nook adjacent to the kitchen — provides both light and visual interest. In open concept kitchens, the light fixture is a significant design element visible from the adjacent living space.
Pendant placement over an island:
Bottom of fixture 30–36 inches above the countertop surface. For a standard 36-inch countertop, this puts the bottom of the pendant at 66–72 inches from the floor.
Multiple pendants: space them 24–30 inches apart center-to-center. An island that’s 48 inches long takes two pendants. An island 72+ inches long takes three pendants. An island under 36 inches can work with one centered pendant.
The junction boxes in the ceiling need to be positioned based on the final island location — which means the island dimensions and position need to be known before rough-in. In a kitchen remodel where the island is being designed new, this coordination happens in the design phase. In an existing kitchen where the island is staying in place, measure from the actual island position.
Fixture scale:
A pendant fixture’s diameter should be roughly 1/3 to 1/2 the width of the island surface it’s hanging over. A small pendant over a wide island is visually lost. A large pendant over a narrow island overwhelms the space.
Dimming — The Control Layer
Every layer of kitchen lighting benefits from dimming capability:
- Ambient recessed lights at full for meal prep, dimmed for casual morning coffee
- Under-cabinet task lights at full when working, off when the kitchen isn’t in use
- Pendants dimmed for evening when the kitchen is visible from the living room
Dimming requires compatible dimmer switches and dimmer-compatible LED fixtures and bulbs. The vast majority of current LED products are dimmer-compatible, but confirm before purchasing. Install dimmer switches during the rough-in phase so the box is wired correctly from the start.
A three-circuit lighting scheme — ambient on one circuit, task on a second, decorative on a third, each independently switched and dimmed — provides the flexibility to set the kitchen lighting for any situation.
What It Costs in Colorado Springs
Electrical rough-in for kitchen lighting (during a remodel with open walls): Including new circuits, junction boxes, switch boxes, and wire runs: $800–$2,000 depending on scope and panel capacity.
Recessed LED fixtures: $20–$60 per fixture, installed. A 9-fixture grid runs $180–$540 in materials plus labor.
Wired under-cabinet LED lighting: $300–$600 installed for a typical kitchen with 8–12 linear feet of upper cabinets. Materials are inexpensive; the cost is primarily labor for the wire runs.
Pendant fixtures (materials only): $100–$500 per pendant for quality fixtures at retail. Installation runs $75–$150 per pendant if junction boxes are already in place.
Dimmer switches: $25–$60 per switch in materials. Budget $50–$80 installed per circuit for the switch and installation.
Total kitchen lighting scope (rough-in through fixtures, full kitchen remodel): $2,000–$5,000 depending on the number of circuits, fixture quality, and whether accent lighting is included.
The Regret List
These are the most common kitchen lighting complaints I hear after a remodel is done:
“We didn’t put enough recessed lights.” — The ceiling is closed, adding lights means patching.
“The pendants are in the wrong place.” — The junction boxes were placed before the island position was finalized.
“There are no lights under the cabinets.” — No wire was run during rough-in, now it’s behind tile.
“The lights are on one switch with no dimmer.” — All or nothing, bright or dark, no in-between.
“The recessed lights are too close to the cabinets / too far from the countertop.” — The layout wasn’t thought through before boxes were placed.
Every item on that list is prevented by making lighting decisions before rough-in — which means before demo, because that’s when the planning has to be complete to give the electrician what they need.
For help planning or installing kitchen lighting in a Colorado Springs remodel, call (719) 243-9718.
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