When winter arrives, the days get shorter and the nights longer. This stays so for a couple of months after which spring arrives and the days start to grow longer and longer with sun staying up for longer. During the winters, the early mornings are quite dark which, sometimes, makes us really think about the value of natural daylight, which, almost all of us, take for granted.
No need to worry! There are some simple tricks up our sleeves which one can use to compensate for the shortage of natural daylight for 5-6 months of the year.
First off, the windows. You can remove them completely from your kitchen during the day in order to allow as much of the natural sunlight inside as possible. Even the valance, just a few inches, can have a noticeable effect. If you like fabrics on your windows, then definitely go for white colored ones since a plain and simple one as compared to a patterned one would give it a cleaner and a more spacious look. It would also reflect more light comparatively.
Second off, start by decluttering your entire kitchen, especially the countertops. You can also try to open the shelving around the kitchen. What you really need to do is to look at a small part of the entire kitchen at a single time in order to see things clearly, which can be shifted or moved to another location.
Another good thing to go after are decoration pieces. Do you own a small set of decoration pieces? Then it is probably time to put them up! Set them up around your kitchen. On countertops, in see-through cabinets and whatnot.
Also start using light colored of everything from serveware, accessories, dinnerware, countertop mats and even rugs. The light will be found by these light colored accessories and they would definitely add more light to your kitchen and will also uplift your kitchen’s spirits. Light color naturally uplifts one’s mood quite easily. Avoid the cluttering up of cooking utensils. It is a common mistake to leave a lot ofutensils in a rack form or in a jar, which completely destroys the outlook of any kitchen.
Add plants while you are at it. Grow plants; even it means installing artificial lights in your kitchen. While you are at it, go for a windowsill herb garden. And always keep the floors clean and tidy since a dirty floor usually brings down the entire tone and outlook of a room, especially a kitchen’s.
Finally comes the lighting, and while it is quite difficult and uncomfortable to add light fixtures into one’s kitchen, they lighten up almost everything instantly. The lightings should, definitely, be considered during the planning stage of the kitchen. You can also opt for installing a skylight, if possible. You can even opt for under-cabinet lights wherever possible.
Most of our days begin and end in our kitchens with late night snacks, early morning meetups,and parties. So let there be light in the kitchen!