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45 Farmhouse Kitchen Lighting Ideas to Brighten Your Cook Space

Shine a pretty glow on the heart of your home.

By Amy MitchellUpdated: May 28, 2024

There’s no room in your house that requires a thoughtful lighting plan more than your kitchen. After all, you need to actually see what you’re doing (knives! fire! hot pans!). But besides being practical, we know you want everything in your kitchen to be pretty, too. So we’ve rounded up unique kitchen lighting ideas for ceilings and walls from some of our favorite kitchens that satisfy both wants and needs.

In this roundup, you’ll find rustic farmhouse kitchen lighting ideas, such as vintage industrial pendants rescued from an old factory and rewired outdoor lanterns (both genius one-of-a-kind kitchen island lighting ideas!), along with modern farmhouse kitchen lighting ideas, like schoolhouse pendants and candy-colored barn light-style sconces, and cottage style kitchen lighting ideas, including unexpected chandeliers. For a ceiling fixture, you can even consider something unconventional, like wicker baskets cleverly turned upside down and strung up with a light kit from the hardware store, or instead as an expected pair, hang more traditional flush-mount pendants in a grid for maximum impact.

Timeless country style staples like milk glass, galvanized metal, and unlacquered brass, to name a few, show up in pendants, sconces, and chandeliers to add instant character to all-white kitchens. If you have a small kitchen, stick to clear glass fixtures that take up less visual space. Whatever you pick for classic or modern kitchen lighting ideas, this roundup of inspiring, bright ideas is a great place to start!

Here are even more ideas for updating your kitchen:

1950s Industrial Pendants

a log cabin looking kitchen with a table and two lights overhead

Brie Williams, styling by Matthew Gleason

Vintage touches abound in this sophisticated cabin kitchen, starting with the pair of 1950s industrial pendants that were rescued out of an old factory. Reclaimed wood graces the floor, ceiling, and center of the kitchen, which features a custom island crafted from antique white oak.

Old Factory Fixtures

a kitchen with minty green cabinets and a table in the background for dining

John Gruen

This kitchen lighting is a mix of traditional antiques and metal factory finds, including the over-island lights from Olde Good Things and the more modern-style pendant over the dining table. Black details in the lighting and dining chairs contrast with the soft green-blue Shaker-style cabinetry for a sophisticated farmhouse look.

A Single Galvanized Pendant

a kitchen with gray cabinets and wood walls

Emily Followill

For this rustic kitchen, a large galvanized pendant brings down-home charm, while a lamp on the countertop is practical and unexpected.

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Colorful Enamel-Coated Pendants

a white kitchen with green floors and colorful accessories

Adam Albright

In this all-white lake cabin kitchen, eye-catching accessories like the fire red pendants, rotary phone, and Fiestaware mingle with grass green-painted floors.

Petite Vintage Pendants

a white kitchen with an island and stools and open shelving

Buff Strickland

A trio of small pendant lights featuring cloth-covered cords and Sheffield milk glass shades hail from the era when this Texas cottage was constructed. The island is a repurposed old table found at a Round Top antiques sale. Sailcloth panels serve as a frugal way to conceal pots and pans.

Wicker Pendant Light

neutral farmhouse kitchen with a wood table

Erin Kelly

In this small eat-in cottage kitchen, the wicker pendant light, weathered vintage table, and bentwood chairs feel as if they have always been there.

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Floral Tole Chandelier

a green kitchen with wood floors and beams on the ceiling

Erin Little

A pretty floral tole chandelier crowns this 230-year-old farmhouse kitchen. Pops of yellow in the light fixture and other accessories stand out against the green-on-green color palette for the walls and cabinetry.

Oversize Globes

white farmhouse kitchen with a weathered wood island and a duck in the room

Buff Strickland, styling by Jessica Brinkert Holtam

A combination of large windows, white walls and ceiling, and a pair of oversize white and brass globe pendants lightens up this once-dark kitchen in a big way.

Nautical Pendant and Flush-Mount Lights

a kitchen with white cabinets and blue ceiling decorated for the holidays

Brie Williams, styling by Rachel Rivers

In this bright and happy kitchen, sky-colored shiplap dotted with a neat row of bulkhead-style flush-mount lights creates interest overhead. A nautical pendant light crowns the petite breakfast nook.

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Circular Chandelier

a kitchen with wood walls and white cabinets and lots of windows

Helen Norman

Reminiscent of a vintage wagon wheel, this modern round chandelier is hung with chains from the sweeping wood-paneled ceiling to illuminate cool-toned Carrara marble countertops.

New Antique-Looking Pendant Lights

a kitchen with green cabinets and a black stove and a butcher block topped island

Stacy Zarin Goldberg

A new pair of pendants by Urban Electric look as if they’ve been hanging forever over this custom island that’s equipped with a butcher-block top and drawers with slab-style fronts and bail pull hardware.

Milk Glass Schoolhouse Pendant Lights

a lake house kitchen with wood floors and ceiling and white cabinets

Brie Williams, styling by Elizabeth Demos

After restoring the wood floors and ceiling in this lake cabin kitchen, the homeowners continued piecing the space together with white custom-built cabinets. A single milk glass pendant light shines down on the stair-tread-grade pine countertops.

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Character-Rich Shades

a couple stands in a kitchen that has brick walls and a table with chairs around it

Helen Norman

In keeping with the cozy feeling throughout this farmhouse renovation, the kitchen features character-rich pieces, including a vintage sink, bentwood chairs that surround a table built by hand, and the unique lighting—a pair of floral shade pendants and a three-globe fixture over the sink.

Galvanized Arm Wall Sconces

a small galley style kitchen with white cabinets and terra cotta floors

David Tsay

For a narrow galley kitchen, lighting that doesn’t take up too much actual or visual space is a good choice. Here, a pair of galvanized arm sconces above the window provides ample task lighting for the honed concrete countertop workspace. A right-size ceiling pendant with frosted glass in a subtle pattern provides a pretty glow on the Italian porcelain floors.

Murano Glass Chandelier

a farm table in a kitchen with tile floors and a neutral palette

Nick Johnson

An at-first-glance unexpected midcentury Murano glass chandelier adds unique character to this farmhouse kitchen without competing with it’s light and bright palette.

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Oversize Woven Pendant Lights

a kitchen with a large white island and straw looking barstools and light fixtures like baskets

Marta Xochilt Perez

Large woven pendants from Arhaus and the woven counter stool backs bring casual texture around this substantial, white kitchen island.

Sleek Iron & Glass Pendant Lights

a woman standing at a kitchen island in a white kitchen with horizontal paneled walls

Brian Woodcock

For this modern farmhouse renovation, homeowner Paige Thornton accessorized the lighter, brighter ktichen with iron pendants, rustic wood saddle stools, and antique copper.

One-Of-A-Kind Sconces

a white kitchen with wood counter tops and a table as an island

David A. Land

When it came time for homeowner Hadley Wiggins-Marin to choose the lighting for her newly renovated farmhouse kitchen, she found matching milk glass shades and then went to a lighting store to piece them together with other parts for “new” sconces. Brass cabinet hardware matches the finish on the light fixtures.

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Brass Lanterns

Read McKendree

For this polished, traditional kitchen, the design team chose two different pairs of light fixtures—the sconces above the sink and the lantern-like pendants above the island—in the same sophisticated brass finish for a cohesive look.

Nautical Swag Pendant

the outdoorsy type southern california cottage kitchen with dark green cabinets and wood paneled walls

Karyn Millet

Rewired with a long jute-covered cord, this vintage pendant fixture hangs directly from a junction box, but the swag rope makes it look like it’s nonchalantly tossed around the painted beams.