Kitchens & Dining Rooms Archives

DON’T/DO THIS: Dining Rooms

Tonight we are going to a nearby restaurant for the first time, a local Italian spot with a reputation for meatballs. We will be evaluating the food to be certain, but also evaluating the atmosphere. Is it a place we would enjoy again? Would we bring friends or out-of-town family here? Our decision will likely […]

DON’T/DO THIS: Kitchens

A drawing of a kitchen with the left side an example of bad lighting, and the right side an example of good lighting

Drumroll, please! Okay, that was unnecessary, but I do feel like celebrating this first post in my 2023 DON’T/DO THIS series. I did a run of these a few years back that were featured on Houzz.com, but I’m older, wiser, and…well, at least older. So here I go again, revisiting, revising, expanding, and enhancing my […]

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1THING: Plug In Dining Rooms

Today we are going boldly into the great unknown, the vast universe beyond the dining room. Ahem. Sometimes I get a little carried away. Okay, often I get a little carried away. Especially when it comes to coming up with creative ways to talk about light and lighting. So please forgive me when I wax poetic – […]

1THING: New Build Dining Rooms

An illustration of two figures with their arms around each others' shoulders. They are encompassed by a bright yellow circle behind them. Below them, script text reads "get comfortable with a lighting hug."

This post brings dining rooms into my 1THING: New Build series, but you’ll have to skip ahead or slog through some early morning musings to get there. Sorry. Blogging is a bit of weird phenomenon. Here I sit, week after week, writing about lighting with no deadlines, no paycheck, and no guarantee that what I write will […]

Exposure: The Dallas Kitchen

A photograph of an illuminated kitchen with a small island.

Lee Travis and his team from Wipliance released their third video shot in the ProSource Lighting Technology and Learning Center in Dallas, Texas! Lee and I discuss layered lighting in kitchens in this short video. We designed the Learning Center to share good lighting with others, and I am thrilled with this shoot join […]

1THING: Plug-In Kitchens

A photograph of a well-lit kitchen featuring lights underneath the cabinets and ceiling lights directly over the island. The cabinets are white with dark handles and the floor is hardwood.

I am a dreamer. I dream solutions, I dream new ways to share the gift of light, I dream new ways to use light. I also dream about running the Boston Marathon. Some dreams are more realistic than others. On the flip side of the dreamer is the doer. I like getting checkmarks on my […]

1THING: New Build Kitchens

A CAD recreation of a kitchen with a big island, cabinets, and a dining table behind the island. The cabinets over the counter are highlighted with lights directed downwards, which are emphasized by red dotted lines and arrows pointing to the lighted area

Center downlights on kitchen cabinet doors for better illumination inside the cabinets – and a better look. IF YOU CAN ONLY DO ONE THING TO IMPROVE THE LIGHTING IN YOUR NEW KITCHEN…put the recessed downlights in the right place. Getting great lighting in a home can be a little intimidating and overwhelming. Homeowners will often […]

Fine Homebuilding Kitchen

The cover of Kitchens & Baths magazine no. 287 - Rethinking the Kitchen

Imagine the future: light helps you keep your balance as you age, cuts down on point sources that cause glare, minimizes sleep disturbances, and helps you see what you are doing better than ever. Wouldn’t it be nice? Pushing these boundaries requires experiments like our recent lighting makeover at my parents’ farmhouse in Illinois. The […]

The Kitchen of the Future

Check out this short video of our two-day process to re-light a fifteen-year old project with updated technology and science. What has changed in the last fifteen years? Everything. Just remember, I’m a lighting designer, not a movie star (this will be obvious). […]

Oops, I did it again.

A photograph of a kitchen with white cabinets, walls, and countertops, and nice hardwood floor. There is lighting underneath the cabinets, circle lights in the ceiling, and everything is very well lit.

Fifteen years ago I did a budget-friendly lighting design for my mother’s total kitchen remodel as shown in the photograph above. I delivered 50 foot-candles to the horizontal task plane, as I’d been taught to do. I had multiple downlights over the sink and placed the downlights directly over the counter. I didn’t like the […]

Category: Kitchens & Dining Rooms