Joanna Gaines' Must-Know Lighting Tip For Smaller Kitchens

Having a small kitchen comes with some caveats. Fortunately, there are a lot of hacks to make the most of minimal kitchen cabinet space, such as using magnetic wall storage for knives and pegboards for hanging other cooking utensils. Aside from storage, one common problem with small kitchens is poor lighting. More specifically, it creates shadows and dark corners that make the room shrink visually. Selecting a light color for upper cabinets and a dark color for the lowers is the clever cabinet paint trick that gives small kitchens a big look. However, "Fixer Upper" cohost Joanna Gaines likes to amp up the effect with under-cabinet lighting.

During an HGTV clip, Gaines explains, "One of the things I really like to add to space, especially that's this small, is under-cabinet lighting. [...] What's great about these is they cast light down on your backsplash and your countertop." She notes that using light-colored materials from the kitchen countertops and up already gives the room a light and airy feel, and installing lights under the cabinets amplifies that effect, giving "the illusion that [the kitchen is] bigger than it really is." That's because the extra light eliminates the shadows that make the backsplash and walls seemingly disappear under upper cabinets. On top of that, under-cabinet lighting illuminates the workspace where you prepare food, improving safety even if you have dark countertops, backsplash, and cabinets.

Deciding to install under-cabinet lighting to brighten a dark kitchen might look like the easy part because the plethora of options can be overwhelming. However, what you choose will depend on whether you want battery-powered, plug-in, or hardwired lights or mounted or recessed lights. Then there's the type and amount of light that you want. For example, if you want to put a special design feature under a spotlight, puck lights could be the best option. The downside is that they provide only a small area of targeted lighting, but you can expand that lit area with bar or strip lights, which offer more even illumination.

For full, continuous lighting around the entire bottom, back edge of your upper cabinets, tape or rope lights are the way to go. Generally, tape lights feature tiny, embedded LEDs in a strip that's fitted with a self-adhesive backing that you place directly onto the bottom of your cabinets. You plug them into the nearest outlet, and some may operate with a remote control or phone app that allows you to choose the temperature or even color of the lights. Rope lights are similar in temperature, color, and control options, but they're bigger in diameter since the plastic tubing houses LED string lights. Rather than being self-adhesive, these are often held in place with evenly installed clips.