Remember when we showed how bright and polished the kitchen looked after we finished grouting?
Then, not long after, everything turned into chaos.
Well, the room is back together now, and we made a lot of lighting changes.
Our ceiling may look like Swiss cheese, but it’s all in service of a much brighter, more pleasant kitchen.
Lighting really can make or break a space. Even after installing new white countertops and painting the cabinets, the kitchen still felt dark or harsh in spots. The peninsula was especially dim, and the light over the sink cast a weird, fluorescent glow. The ceiling fan — which hadn’t been used in over a year — sounded like a low-flying helicopter, so it had to go. Once it was removed, it left holes in the ceiling that needed attention.
One money-saving tip: do as much prep work as you can before the electricians arrive, since you pay them by the hour. We always remove old fixtures (after switching the power off, of course). Even marking where you want new fixtures ahead of time helps—otherwise an hour can be spent deciding placements while the electrician waits.
For example, John stood on a stool holding the glass lids to our cereal jars to approximate where two pendant lights should hang over the peninsula. That quick exercise helped us decide where to place the junction boxes. We didn’t need to determine the pendant height yet, since we plan to install the actual pendants ourselves later, so we just marked locations with small Xs of painter’s tape.
Then I climbed up on the dining table to mark a location there.
We actually have three rooms without overhead lighting: the living room, the sunroom, and the dining room. The dining room is the one we use most at night, and it was consistently too dark without a chandelier or multiple lamps. Since the electricians were already here, we asked them to add a fixture box above the dining table so we can install a proper chandelier in the future.
We’d discussed the kitchen lighting with the electricians in a previous visit, and they recommended four recessed lights over the cooking area. We marked those positions with small Xs on painter’s tape just outside where the old fluorescents had been. We also asked them to add an outlet above the counter to the right of the fridge—handy for mixers and small appliances.
Here are the four recessed lights they installed to replace the two fluorescents that had been on either side of the fan. We also had them terminate the old fluorescent and fan fixture boxes so everything was safe and tidy.
We hired a local electrician who works as a two-person team. They were efficient and reliable, and in about five hours they completed a lot of work:
- Added four recessed lights over the cooking area
- Terminated the two old fluorescent fixture boxes
- Terminated the fan fixture box
- Added an above-counter outlet next to the fridge
- Installed two fixture boxes over the peninsula for future pendants
- Terminated a poorly placed old pendant box
- Added a fixture box and switch above the dining table
- Centered a fixture box over the sink (the previous light was several inches off)
Note: Ignore the photos where the tile and paneling meet the ceiling—crown molding still needs to go up.
The labor for the two-person team averaged around $75 per hour, totaling roughly $375 for the visit plus about $80 for materials. For that investment we gained much better task lighting, new pendant locations over the peninsula, a centered light above the sink, an above-counter outlet, and a fixture box for a dining room chandelier. They also safely removed several outdated or unused fixtures.
Electrical work can add up, but doing preparatory tasks beforehand, hiring an experienced two-person crew, and working with a single-story layout where attic access is easy can keep costs reasonable and the project moving quickly. Two-story homes sometimes require more time and complexity since wiring runs may be less straightforward.
So that’s the lighting update for now. We still need to pick pendants and patch the remaining holes, and we’ll share those details as we progress. Update: we found pendants and have hood information to share soon.
On a different note, we received a large FedEx box this weekend containing the final manuscript for our book—375 pages (one-sided, double spaced). Holding that stack of paper felt surreal and was a nice milestone.
Psst — One of our readers, Melissa Matthews, was a finalist for the Ikea Life Improvement Project and ended up winning. As a mother of a child with Down syndrome, she plans to expand adaptive technology and therapy work at the Frankie Lemmon School in Raleigh and create resources to help other teachers. It’s a wonderful project, and we’re thrilled for her.