What are Rosie’s tips for energy-efficient kitchen lighting?

If you want to save energy in the kitchen, paint it white.

An all-white kitchen—walls, cabinets, countertops and floors--requires only half of the lighting of a darker kitchen because light surfaces reflect light, while dark ones absorb it.
 
More tips for saving energy on lighting your kitchen:

• Highly polished countertops act like mirrors to reflect light. A shiny granite countertop, for example, will bounce under-cabinet lighting back up, making a little bit of light more potent.
• Replace at least half of the light fixtures in your kitchen—not just the light bulbs--with hard-wired fixtures that accept only fluorescent lights or LEDs (light-emitting diodes). These energy-efficient lights use less than a quarter of the energy of traditional, incandescent bulbs. Manufacturers are making decorative fixtures that are just as nice as the ones you use now for your inefficient incandescent bulbs.  
• Let the sun shine through kitchen windows that don’t get that too-hot direct sunlight. The more daylight you let into the room, the less need you’ll have to flip on the light switch.
• Install light switches on the side of doors opposite the hinges. If your switches are on the same side as the hinges, you’ll have to reach around the back of the door to turn on the lights.

                                                        ###