Given that it is used for meal preparation and that cooking necessitates clear vision, the kitchen is a space that requires good lighting.
In rustic, traditional, and modern kitchen designs, cherry cabinets have long been a mainstay. This incredibly well-liked hardwood is renowned for its distinctive aging process and gorgeous warm color variations.
Here, we share a variety of suggestions for how to lighten up a kitchen with cherry cabinets, including lighting design ideas and advice for illuminating a kitchen with dark wood cabinets. Keep reading!
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How To Lighten Up A Kitchen With Cherry Cabinets?
There are specific techniques for illuminating the kitchen’s cherry cabinets. Here are some tried-and-true techniques.
1. Install A Hang Clamp
If there isn’t much overhead lighting in your kitchen and you don’t have the time or money for a renovation, a hang clamp or clamp lamp is a good alternative.
This lighting fixture is simple to clamp in the wall or the ceiling and is flexible and easy to use. Use a lock or a nail for installation.
2. Paint Your Cherry Cabinets With Light Colors
The cabinets in a kitchen are frequently a gloomy, dark color. It doesn’t have to be this way all the time, though. You might think about giving the cabinets a lighter coat of paint to instantly brighten the space around your kitchen. Your kitchen will become more vibrant if you use bright colors like yellow, blue, gray, or white.
Light blue and white are very popular color combinations when trying to achieve a modern, fresh look. You have a number of options. Your room will instantly become brighter and appear larger if you paint the cherry cabinets a lighter color.
Even though painting every kitchen cabinet would take a while, it is still a fantastic option. Giving your kitchen a new look will help a lot. Additionally, painting isn’t something you’ll do frequently.
3. Modernize Your Cherry Cabinet With New Hardware And Appliances
Why not replace your outdated appliances with new ones if you have a traditional cherry cabinet? Investing in new, contemporary appliances is a great way to brighten up a drab kitchen. Because they will distract attention from the uninteresting part of the kitchen, appliances will help you make a strong statement. Additionally, compared to how it actually appeared before, the cabinet will appear more contemporary and new.
Simply add some contemporary hardware after getting the brand-new, shiny appliances. This will only serve to improve how contemporary your kitchen feels. The cherry cabinets in your kitchen will look brand new and enticing with new hardware that matches your appliances.
4. Use Knobs And Pulls With A Lighter Finish
Choosing the right cabinet pulls and knobs will drastically alter the look and feel of the kitchen. To complement the kitchen’s decor, the hardware components will be available in a wide range of finishes, styles, and colors. To make the kitchen appear brighter, use light-colored cabinet handles and knobs.
Silver and white are among the more well-liked hues. For the cabinets, you also need to opt for a light finish. Satin nickel, oil-rubbed bronze, copper, polished brass, antique pewter, and polished chrome are a few of the most well-liked finishes.
If you still feel like there is something missing, there are also options for metal pulls, along with ceramic, glass, and wood pulls. Your kitchen and cherry cabinet will function better and look nicer if you choose the appropriate pulls and knobs.
5. Look For Lighting Opportunities That Reflect Light
Making the most of the light’s potential is yet another fantastic way to brighten a cherry kitchen cabinet. Metal trays and chrome surfaces will brighten and enhance a kitchen. Your kitchen could be made to appear brighter by reflecting more light.
You can reflect light by adding more metallic items and reflective surfaces. This will not only make the space lighter, but it will also make the kitchen appear larger. For better lighting, you can hide the sink with mirrors. Mirrors can improve light if your windows are small.
6. Install Light-colored Backsplash
You can make your kitchen appear brighter and more stylish by installing a backsplash in a light color behind the cherry cabinets. As a result, the kitchen’s cherry cabinets will have a soft background while still receiving light from the ceiling. The cherry cabinets in the kitchen can be matched with a variety of light backsplash options. You must choose the best one that blends in with the kitchen’s decor without being too overpowering. Then, in order to keep the kitchen from feeling too dark, install it behind the cherry cabinets.
7. Make Use Of Lighter-colored Countertops
If you want to lighten up a kitchen with cherry cabinets, install lighter-colored countertops. Installing a lighter-colored countertop will be the ideal solution if you don’t want the kitchen to look too white.
Installing a new, light-colored countertop over the old one would be a workable solution. This will not only provide a soft background, but it will also make it simpler to bring the light from the ceiling.
8. Hang White Curtains Over The Cherry Cabinets
White cabinet curtains will let light in and keep the kitchen from getting too dark. If your room has a sizable window that faces the west or the sound, you can do that. You can do this to partially open the curtains while still allowing natural light in. By hanging white curtains over your cherry cabinets, you can add light to the kitchen.
9. Place A Light-colored Rug Near The Cherry Cabinets
A light-colored rug is one of the simplest ways to brighten a kitchen with cherry cabinets. This will help bring in light from the ceiling as well as provide a subtle background for your cabinets. To match the hue of your cherry cabinets, you can choose from a wide selection of light-colored rugs. Find one that blends in with the kitchen’s decor without being too dominant.
10. Add Better Lighting By Using Brighter Bulbs
Your cherry cabinets will feel brighter if you install a high-quality light fixture above them. Cooking in bright light will make you feel more open and less confined. This option offers a better workspace for your kitchen in addition to brightness and better lighting. You’ll have to conduct a thorough search for kitchen lighting fixtures that match perfectly the hue of your cherry cabinets. Simply look for fixtures in white or any other light color if you can’t find one that matches.
Increased lighting and the use of brighter bulbs would be a great way to make your kitchen appear larger and more open. Furthermore, pendant and recessed lighting are excellent choices for additional fixtures. This is essentially the lighting beneath the kitchen cabinets. If you haven’t already, switching to LED lighting will help the kitchen become more bright and more environmentally friendly. Don’t overlook the lighting because even one new or upgraded light fixture can make a difference.
11. Make Use Of Light-colored Appliances
You can make the kitchen lighter without sacrificing warmth and charm by introducing light-colored kitchen appliances. To help lighten the cherry cabinets, you should swap out any dark-colored appliances with ones that are light-colored.
This will let light into the kitchen while also providing a delicate backdrop for the cabinets. This will make both the cherry cabinet and your kitchen more cheerful. There are lots of light-colored appliances that go well with cherry cabinets. Choose pieces that enhance the cherry cabinet and kitchen without being too dominant.
12. Install White Trim Around The Cherry Cabinets
Use white trim to make the kitchen feel lighter and brighter with cherry cabinets. This will prevent you from giving up the appeal and coziness of natural wood without overwhelming the space. Kitchens can be made lighter by adding a white or light-colored trim around the cherry cabinets.
This will help direct light from the ceiling into the cabinets while also providing a soft background for them. Cherry cabinets go well with a variety of light-colored trim options. For this reason, you should pick one that doesn’t overpower the kitchen’s decor but rather perfectly complements it. You can also use stains and varnishes to change the color of the trim. These, however, are long-term solutions and aren’t typically preferred.
13. Add Plants And Flowers To The Cherry Cabinet
Utilizing plants and flowers is another easy way to brighten up your kitchen. You can use plants that contrast with or complement the color of your cherry cabinets. Instead of other kitchen decor items, you could choose plants that would go well with the cherry cabinet. ZZ Plant, Philodendron, Spider Plant, Pothos, Aglaonema, Fiddle Leaf Fig, and Calathea are a few choices you have.
To prevent cabinets from becoming too dark or oppressive, you can either select these plant species or ones that are similar. Put flowering plants behind the sink to season the kitchen. You’ll have some greenery to look at and feel better even in the cold and gray weather.
Read More: How To Pair Kitchen And Dining Lights?
Extension: How To Lighten A Kitchen With Dark Cherry Cabinets?
Other than lighting, there are minor adjustments you can make in your kitchen to lessen the impact of the dark cherry wood cabinets. The brightness of your kitchen will significantly change as a result of these modifications, which may seem incredible at first.
Add Mirror To Your Kitchen
When a mirror is placed in a room, the space appears to be brighter and larger than it actually is. Install a mirror next to or across from the window that serves as the main source of light to achieve the desired effect.
You can also use a mirror that matches the style of your kitchen and adds to its aesthetic appeal. You can add an aged wooden frame mirror to a rustic kitchen or a sleek, metallic-framed mirror to a modern kitchen. To help add more light and reflectivity, another solution is to use a mirror backsplash.
Use A Bright Accent Color
You can make your kitchen appear lighter by mixing in more light colors or by changing the dominant color to a lighter hue. Bright colors and shades can change and improve the kitchen’s aesthetic appeal and give it a more lively, upbeat feel than it currently has.
In addition to light green, blue, and gray, you can use red, yellow, and white in your cherry cabinet kitchen. Vases, ceramics, and artwork in these light colors will warm up your kitchen. Orange and hot pink are two examples of strong colors you can select. The best paint colors for cherry cabinets can be found here.
Add Contrast By Choosing A Light Backsplash Or Kitchen Island
You can add a light backsplash to the kitchen to even out the dark cherry cabinets by bringing the kitchen’s colors into harmony. Additionally, you can choose a reflective surface so that light will reflect off it and bounce around the room as part of your kitchen backsplash design.
Your kitchen island can do the trick if the backsplash is not your first choice. To make the kitchen less gloomy, start a visual change there. By adding contrast to the space, you can make your kitchen feel bright and lively even if your cabinets are dark cherry.
You can use the backsplash or kitchen island to add contrast to the space, but you can also use some accessories or other decor to achieve this. Accents can ensure that the space won’t be monotonous and that it has more texture and character, so it may be preferable to this approach than whitewashing the entire kitchen.
Give Your Cabinets A Makeover To Brighten Them
Giving your dark cherry cabinets a makeover is another way to brighten up your kitchen. Making the most of the aesthetic appeal of cherry cabinets is the way to go. Refresh the hardware and appearance of the furniture to make it better.
Bring In Some Metallic In The Kitchen
The addition of metallic objects can make the kitchen appear brighter because they reflect light and cause it to bounce off the surfaces. It will have the same impact on a space as a mirror does.
See this Peel and Stick Tile Metal Mosaic Backsplash on Amazon
The following components can be used to integrate metallic materials:
• Stainless steel sink or fridge
• Silver-surfaced backsplash
• Appliances with a metallic finish
• Utensils with a touch of copper, bronze, silver, or gold
Use White In Your Kitchen
In addition to looking clean, white is a timeless choice for a kitchen because it makes the space appear larger and airier. Due to these factors, homeowners frequently opt for the minimalist option, particularly for kitchens with low ceilings. For additional suggestions, read our guide to low ceiling kitchen lighting.
Whitewash the entire room, including the walls, ceilings, countertops, and tiles, to completely brighten your kitchen. The great thing about this is that your dark cherry cabinets will pop off the wall and make a stunning accent.
Consider Open Shelving
In order to make your kitchen look lighter and add storage space, you can reduce the number of closed shelves and increase the number of open ones.
On these open shelves, you can also showcase your china and cool ceramics to improve the aesthetic appeal of the kitchen.
Conclusion
With any luck, you are well-informed about cherry cabinets and how to use them to brighten up a kitchen.
There are many ways, including increasing the amount of light, hanging white curtains, using light-colored appliances, and painting the countertop. You must choose the best option that complements your kitchen and cherry cabinet without overpowering it. If you have other problems, please share them with us.
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