Short answer: a café or restaurant dining area needs just 150–200 lux, the counter and till need 300 lux, and the kitchen needs 500 lux. For colour temperature, a warm 3000 K or neutral 4000 K suits the dining area, and 4000 K or 6500 K suits the kitchen. As a rule of thumb, a 50 m² dining area needs around 5 Hexagon cells. The single most important choice is dimming: the same space needs different light for morning coffee and for dinner.
How much light does a café need?
A café is the opposite case to an office. Here, too much light is just as much a mistake as too little: a brightly lit dining area feels like a fast-food outlet, and customers don't stay to linger. Size it like this:
- Dining area – 150–200 lux. Enough light to see the food and your company, no more.
- Counter, till and display counter – 300 lux. This is where work happens and where the customer chooses a product, so more light is needed than in the dining area.
- Kitchen and preparation areas – 500 lux.
- Cleaning and after-close tasks need more light than service hours. This calls for dimming or a separate lighting circuit.
One Hexagon cell produces around 2760 lumens and consumes 24 W. Because the target in the dining area is lower than in work areas, fewer cells are needed:
| Space | Cells | Total power | Total luminous flux |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 m² dining area | 3 cells | 72 W | approx. 8,300 lm |
| 50 m² dining area | 5 cells | 120 W | approx. 13,800 lm |
| 80 m² dining area | 8 cells | 192 W | approx. 22,100 lm |
| 20 m² kitchen (500 lux) | 5 cells | 120 W | approx. 13,800 lm |
Notice that a 20 m² kitchen needs the same number of cells as a 50 m² dining area. That difference isn't a mistake – it's exactly what different uses mean in practice. These figures are indicative; room height, surface colours and windows affect the result.
Which colour temperature for a café?
Colour temperature determines what the food and the space look like.
3000 K is a warm light. It makes wooden surfaces and pastries look inviting and creates a calm evening atmosphere. This is a typical choice for a restaurant dining room and an evening-focused café.
4000 K is neutral. It suits a daytime café, bakery shop and lunch spot, where a fresh, clean impression is wanted and where a product's colour needs to show correctly in the display counter.
6500 K doesn't belong in the dining area. It's a light for the kitchen and back-of-house spaces.
| Space | Recommended colour temperature | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Evening restaurant, cosy café | 3000 K | Warm light in which food and wooden surfaces look good |
| Daytime café, bakery, lunch spot | 4000 K | Fresh and clean, product colour shows correctly |
| Kitchen and preparation areas | 4000 K or 6500 K | Task light for precise work |
| Space that operates both day and evening | 3-colour-temperature light (3000/4000/6500 K) | The same fixture serves morning coffee and dinner |
If your space's use varies over the course of the day, it's worth checking out the three-colour-temperature Hexagon lights. You'll also find ready-made options in the Hexagon lights 4000 K and Hexagon lights 6500 K collections.
Dimming is the most important choice in a café
The same dining area needs different light for morning coffee, lunch, dinner and cleaning. If the light can't be adjusted, you're forced into a single compromise that's wrong for most of the day. There are three options:
- Stepless dimming 0–100 % – the best choice for a café. Bright light in the morning and for cleaning, low for the evening. Requires a driver and remote control.
- Step dimming 100/60/30 % – works from a standard light switch, three light levels without separate controls.
- Non-dimmable – suits the kitchen and back-of-house spaces, where the light level stays the same.
You'll find the options in our dimmable Hexagon lights collection. If you want colour in the space, for example in the evenings or during themed weekends, check out our coloured and RGB Hexagon lights.
Why the hexagon works in a café
In a café, a honeycomb ceiling is two things at once: a light fixture and a design element. Light comes from six sides and a large surface, so tabletops are lit evenly and no hard shadow falls across a customer's face.
At the same time, the ceiling is the detail that shows up in every photo a customer takes. Café interiors get shared on social media, and a distinctive ceiling makes the place memorable without any extra marketing. The honeycomb array can also be expanded later with corner connectors if the dining area changes.
Energy and opening hours
A café's lights stay on for long hours, so consumption is a genuinely significant cost. A 50 m² dining area with five cells consumes 120 W at full power. Over ten hours of opening, that's 1.2 kWh a day, and clearly less when dimmed. Hexagon lights have a service life of 50,000 hours, which works out to around 13 years at ten hours a day – so you won't need to replace light sources mid-service.
Placement and installation
- Concentrate the cells above the counter, display counter and till, where 300 lux is needed.
- Leave less light in the dining area – 150–200 lux is enough.
- Light the kitchen and preparation areas separately, to 500 lux.
- Assemble and test the fixture on the floor before mounting it to the ceiling.
- Have suspension wires, ceiling anchors and corner connectors ready for installation.
- Always have a qualified electrician make the fixed electrical connection. The protection rating is IP20, so the fixture is installed in a dry indoor space and not in a location exposed to splashing or pressure washing.
You can calculate the parts needed and the price with the Hexagon configurator.
Frequently asked questions
How many Hexagon cells do I need for a 50 m² café dining area?
As a rule of thumb, around 5 cells (120 W). A 30 m² dining area needs around 3 cells, and an 80 m² dining area around 8 cells.
Why does the kitchen need more cells than the dining area?
Because the target in the kitchen is 500 lux, and in the dining area it's 150–200 lux. The dining area is allowed to be more atmospheric; the kitchen is a workspace.
Is it worth choosing a dimmable light for a café?
Yes. It's the single most important choice for a café, because the same space needs different light in the morning, in the evening and during cleaning.
Can the lights be used on a terrace?
Not as is. The protection rating is IP20, meaning the fixture is intended for dry indoor spaces.
Do you also deliver elsewhere in Europe?
Yes. We deliver across the EU, and our products come with a 24-month warranty and a 14-day right of return.
Let's plan the lighting together
Stylebox supplies lighting for cafés and restaurants in Finland and elsewhere in Europe. See our ready-made sets in the Hexagon light sets collection, or send us your space's dimensions and opening hours and we'll suggest a layout and dimming solution: get in touch.