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Imagine you’re huddling around your phone or tablet in the greater Seattle area, looking for solutions on how to get the power in your home back up and running. I recently found myself in the same situation – waking up in total darkness and seeing that my entire block has lost power, enduring the same post-apocalyptic feeling. What could have possibly happened? How do you fix it? Let’s examine your potential solutions to your power outage, as well as looking at preventatives and planning that will make sure you are more prepared than a boy scout for the next outage. We hope this troubleshooting guide will see you through the next time you find yourself in the dark.

Troubleshooting Guide: Identifying the Cause

Before you can get to solving your outage issues, you first need to understand what caused the problems in the first place. More often than not, you’ll find it’s own of these four common issues.

Who doesn’t love kitchen islands? If you spend a ton of time in the kitchen, they’re great for extra real estate space for stand alone appliances, reading recipes, preparing and serving food, and even sometimes extra table space for bigger gatherings. But without lighting, you would be left out in the dark trying to do any of these tasks. So let’s help shine some light on this.

Increased Home Value

What if I told you minor improvements to your home can increase value in your home? Well, it possibly could. Installing kitchen island lighting and other minor improvements within the kitchen may increase the value of your home. In the greater Seattle area, minor kitchen remodels had an increase in resale value by over 105%. This means you’ll recoup your expenses and add equity to your home. All this and you’ll have an awesome new kitchen. That’s a win/win, right? But where do you even start?

Types of Kitchen Island Lighting

With a wide range of lighting, you could find yourself banging your head against the wall with the sheer amount of lights fixtures. Categorizing them into different types of lighting and how they perform will help narrow down your choice. There is such a wide range of pendant lighting for kitchen islands, over 10,000 fixtures, a lot of them actually fall into two or all of types of lighting.

Task Lighting

If you are using your kitchen island to prepare food, read recipes, or cook, then it’s ideal to have a light fixture that will give enough illumination downward so you are able to perform the tasks at hand with ease and no obstructions.

Common types of pendant task lights

• Cluster
• Island
• Mini
• Schoolhouse
• Standard

Ambient Lighting

Looking to brighten up your ambient light level throughout the kitchen? You’ll want a kitchen island light pendant to expose the bulb more outward or upwards/downwards using glass. Fully exposed bulbs could potentially be blinding to the eye, so be cautious with choosing.

Common types of pendant ambient lights

• Candle-Style
• Center Bowl
• Cluster
• Drum
• Globe
• Schoolhouse
• Starburst

Decorative Lighting

If you want to add a bit of flavor to your kitchen, decorative lighting is functional and unique. Many interior designers are starting to get creative with these. Make sure to not go overboard or your home’s value could take a small hit from being “too creative” – it’s about finding a balance that’s not off-putting to potential buyers.

Common types of pendant decorative lights

• Cage
• Cluster
• Crystal
• Starburst

Optimal Height Length

When hanging pendant lights above a kitchen island, the optimal height should be 28-34 inches above the countertop, or 72” above the floor. This provides enough room to work or bend over to grab something on the kitchen island. If you ever hit your head on something above you, you know the feeling of having to stay in a prone position.

How Many Lights?

Standard practice is to have two to three pendants for your kitchen island lights that will give enough consistent light. This is to accommodate for obstructions like your hands or other items shadowing out the task at hand on your kitchen island. Instead of creating a shadow, the secondary or even third pendant will flood enough light over to let you work. You can also add more than three pendants with no ill effect. This could be for decorative purposes, more illumination overlapping, or just having a larger kitchen island.

Hire a Certified Electrician

We talked above about making sure your lighting job is done right. Unless you are a pro DIY’er or you already have a wire running to the kitchen island, it’s always highly recommended to hire a certified electrician in your area to undergo bigger jobs. If you’re looking for an electrician in the greater Seattle area, call us today to find out how cost effective it is to bring some light into your home.