If you’re looking for the perfect way of improving the décor of your kitchen, while also boosting its energy efficiency in general, a kitchen skylight is a fantastic option.
Skylights are essentially window-like openings that are built into the roofs of properties. Typically they are installed in pitched roofs of a more traditional design, though there are now plenty of other designs that fit a wide range of different types of window.
Skylights not only allow sunlight and natural light to shine into the room from above, creating a warm, light and airy space, but providing their design allows them to be opened, they also offer additional ventilation.
But can you put a skylight in a kitchen? Well, the answer is most certainly yes. To prove it, here’s a look at several great benefits of fitting a skylight in a kitchen.
Improved Ventilation
One of the main reasons why kitchen skylights have become increasingly popular over the years, is the fact that people are discovering just how practical they are.
Kitchens can become steamy, smoky, and smelly. The last thing you want is for the rest of your home to fill with steam or smoke, or to smell of grease and food in general whenever you’re cooking. This is where kitchen skylights prove so useful.
Providing you’ve opted for a venting skylight that opens up like a window, this provides the perfect form of ventilation whenever you’re cooking. Kitchen skylights are especially useful because steam, smoke, and hot air rises, so you’ll have your kitchen clear and fresh in a matter of seconds.
On top of the above, kitchens also get hot, especially in the summer, so having that little bit more ventilation will help keep you cool as you cook.
Increased Levels of Natural Light
While natural light is useful virtually everywhere in the home, in the kitchen it’s especially important. Kitchens are dangerous places, and a lack of natural light can increase the danger.
Preparing food in a dim, poorly lit kitchen is, pardon the pun, a recipe for disaster. The darker it is the greater the risk of slipping, tripping over something, knocking something over, burning yourself, or cutting yourself on a sharp knife.
A kitchen skylight allows more natural light to flood in from above, meaning that it’ll help brighten up your kitchen and increase visibility. Natural light not only creates a more warming and friendly space, it also makes the kitchen safer and more practical.
Increase the Value of Your Home
So, can you put a skylight in a kitchen? Well, as you can see from the above, yes you can, and the benefits just keep coming.
If you’re still undecided about whether or not a kitchen skylight is right for you, just consider the fact that installing one will increase the value of your home.
Kitchen skylights are practical and can be energy efficient. They also help to modernize properties and create warmer, friendlier, more welcoming spaces. From a real estate point of view, you couldn’t really ask for more.
Skylights, with installation, cost anything from around $500 – $5,000 on average. In terms of adding value to your home, they typically add between 5% and 15%. That means that, assuming your house costs $412,300, which is the average price of a home in the USA, a skylight would add roughly $21,000 – $62,000 to the value of your home. In terms of ROI, that’s quite the return.
Better Views
Ever wanted the benefits of cooking outdoors below the stars, but nice and warm and dry indoors? Go ahead and get yourself a kitchen skylight.
Skylights offer stunning views of the sky and beyond. While prepping dinner, with a kitchen skylight installed you can watch the clouds, or gaze at the stars without a care in the world. Pretty neat, right?
Energy Efficient
People often don’t realize just how energy efficient kitchen skylights can be.
With a kitchen skylight, you can do your bit to conserve energy and be greener, while also saving money on your bills at the same time.
Kitchen skylights make a huge difference in terms of natural light. By allowing more light into your home you are reducing the need to switch on the lights in poor visibility, especially during the fall and winter months where it’s cloudier and gets darker earlier.
Skylights also help to regulate temperatures. In the winter, when the sun shines the glass in the skylight magnifies the sun’s rays, making it feel warmer. In the summer, by opening your skylight and getting a through draft you can increase ventilation, thereby reducing the need for AC.
Different Options
Kitchen skylights come in a variety of different designs and you therefore have plenty of options when shopping for them.
You can have different types of glazing, different colors, different materials, different styles and designs, and different openings. You can opt for sliding skylights, pyramid shaped skylights, hinged skylights, domes, flat glass skylights, and much more besides.
Because you have so many options, you can almost certainly find a skylight that suits your budget. As mentioned, they can cost as little as $500, going up to more than $5,000. That gives you a lot to work with. The hardest part will be deciding which style and design is right for you and your kitchen and home.
Improved Mental Health
So, can you put a skylight in a kitchen? Well, yes you can, and some would argue that you really should.
As well as the many benefits listed above, another reason to consider having a skylight installed in your kitchen is the fact that it could improve your mental health.
Studies have found that natural sunlight helps to boost your mood and positively impact your overall sense of well-being. It can also help to reduce the symptoms of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) which can affect people during the late fall and winter months when there is far less daylight and sunlight.
Skylights help bring daylight and sunlight into your home, which in turn could help to improve your mental health.