How many lux does a kitchen worktop need?
A kitchen worktop needs 500 lux, or 500–750 lux over an island, at a warm white 2700–3000 K with a colour rendering index of Ra 90 or above.
András Krizbai · Last verified: August 2026
Lux measures the light arriving on a surface: 1 lux = 1 lumen per square metre. Lumens describe the lamp; lux describes what actually reaches the counter — the same fitting mounted half a metre higher delivers fewer of them. For scale: an overcast sky outdoors gives around 1,000 lux, direct sunlight around 100,000. So 500 lux on a worktop is not a lot of light.
The 500 lux figure comes from EN 12464-1:2021, the European standard for lighting of indoor workplaces, which sets 500 lux for kitchen preparation surfaces. In a home this is not binding — it is professional practice rather than regulation. It remains the right starting point: a domestic worktop is a work surface where people handle knives.
A kitchen worktop wants warm white light, 2700–3000 K; 4000 K is neutral and reads as office lighting. Colour rendering matters more than colour temperature here. Below CRI Ra 80, raw meat and vegetables shift colour and freshness cannot be judged by eye. Over a worktop, Ra 90 is the stricter requirement, not the lux figure.
In worktop lighting, where the fitting sits matters at least as much as the lux value. Light should not come from behind you. Mount it in front or to the side — under the wall units, over the front third of the counter, not in the middle of the ceiling. Over an island, hang pendants 70–80 cm above the counter: high enough to stay clear of the sightline, low enough to keep the light on the surface.
In Ren Design's construction drawings, worktop lighting is part of the joinery package — the electrical layout follows the cabinetry, not the other way round. Adding light after the fact fails because by then the cabling is no longer where it needs to be.
In kitchen lighting, avoid these: a single ceiling fitting for the whole room; anything above 4000 K in an open-plan kitchen where the dining area is in view; and specifying worktop lighting after the joinery drawings are closed.
Kitchen lighting is part of the construction drawings — joinery, electrical layout and lighting are decided on one sheet. How we work →