For Cozier Kitchen Lighting, Follow Ina Garten's Lead

Try to picture an image of Ina Garten in her kitchen, perhaps based on what you can recall from a video clip or a magazine profile, and your mind will assemble a few key qualities. You'll picture the Barefoot Contessa (the home-chef-improving recipe genius herself), a beautiful, elegantly appointed space, and another element that you might not even fully register: great lighting. Not the harsh overhead beams some celebrity chefs are bathed in across studio cooking shows, or even from the common fixtures attached to ceilings all over the country. No, only warm, cozy light that's thrown by a lamp in grandma's den. And it isn't a trick of TV magic; Garten actually uses lamps in her kitchen.

Long relegated to the rest of the house, lamps actually do have a place in the kitchen. They're largely used to create a more comforting ambiance, but they can be functional, too. Say your kitchen's existing lights aren't quite up to your standards, or perhaps they're actually creating cutting board mistakes you want to avoid. Something like a banker's lamp, those green-domed, brass numbers, could provide just the spotlight you're looking for so you don't end up having a mishap. Or you could simply bask in the improved illumination a lamp can provide for all your calculatedly casual cooking-at-home selfies.

In most cases, this little kitchen lighting upgrade will be for those lucky few who have counter space to spare. In most other configurations, that counter space is just too valuable to sacrifice for a prettier glow on the backsplash. Even if you're working with a Nancy Meyers quality kitchen, scale is still important. A big, old buffet lamp probably won't fit between your counter and your cabinets. But a piano lamp, a close cousin of the banker variety, just might. It also helps to decide what can go and declutter your kitchen.

You also need to think about materials. Unless you can keep them far away from the stove and other potential fire hazards, fabric lampshades should stay out of the kitchen. Glass and metal are better for both safety and cleaning purposes since you can simply wipe them free of any errant oil splatter. Even something like Heqet's cordless table lamp could be a great starter piece to get a feel for all possible kitchen lighting alternatives.