A fantastic looking kitchen is high on most folks' wish lists; just a shame about the price tag that usually accompanies it. But there is a way to get the look without spending the earth. The basic premise is that you start with the end result and don't worry about where you're coming from. Discover ideas by checking out top designer kitchens in magazines and showrooms.

You're not setting out to copy any particular kitchen, but rather to determine what effects are possible and what really jumps out at you. One thing you cannot fail to observe though is how all drop-dead-gorgeous kitchens have 2 things in common - lack of clutter and great lighting.

That's not to say they're in any way minimalistic; there's a huge difference between a kitchen that is befittingly furnished with well placed utensils and decorative features, and one that looks bare. But you won't find yesterday's newspaper, items that have perfectly good cupboard space for them, and stuff that just got put down and left there. Whatever is on show is there by design.

Where lighting is concerned, consider how stage and film lighting by way of an example can have the audience believe they're looking at a shiny futuristic office or an exquisite drawing room, when in fact it's all cardboard and cheap paint. That's the power of lighting, and good kitchen designers know it and use it.

So to make it "look" like you spent a fortune on reconstructing your kitchen you need to initially sort the space out (de-clutter and arrange things to enhance the space), and second attend to the lighting. Be honest, how prehistoric precisely are your light fittings anyway? If you can name a decade other than the present one then it's time to be astonished by what's on offer today.

Even if you already have hanging pendant lights or ceiling tracks, you can probably find much nicer versions these days to replace them. And if you don't in fact have pendant lighting above a kitchen island or table then you know what you have to do - go get some.

The key to using lighting to the greatest effect in a kitchen is not, as in the past, to rely on a few main lights, but to instal numerous smaller lights that each serve a particular purpose. Present-day products such as lightweight LED strip lighting make it really easy to add accent lighting (to plinths or toe-kick boards for instance) or extra task lighting (set them underneath wall units).

Among the many benefits of LED lights is that they consume very little electricity and are consequently cheap to run and give off no heat. They are also very bright and crisp which makes them ideal as substitutes for halogen lamps, and you can use LEDs in many more different ways to draw attention to or lighten up up a specific location, or to bring in intriguing effects by reflecting them of different materials.

If this article interested you then try these additional articles to find out much more about track lighting for kitchens and modern kitchen lighting in general.

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