Many manufacturers and organizations offer guidance and tips when it comes to picking the kinds of lights, fixtures and their best locations: Philips 'Lighting for the home' , General Electric 'Lighting Style', and BBC 'Homes' for example. But the only way to really assess light is, of course, to see it for yourself.
3D visualization software
For buying a kitchen, or furniture, 3D visualization has become mainstream with the IKEA kitchen, office and bedroom planners. The picture below shows an example of a 3D output made with their software.
The company KVIK was quick to follow with KVIK 3D which is based on the same software IKEA licensed. Some independent software like Sweet home 3D offers more functionality, but it still lacks a good selection and visualisation of the effects of lighting.
Dialux
When faced with a world of possibilities, for example for renovation projects or a new house, it pays to invest some time in a free piece of software from Dialux. It is a 3D model rendering software aimed at the professional market but, remarkably, free to use. Many major fixtures companies provide plugins which allow you to select their fixtures and place them in your project. The light distribution associated with the fixture is used to create a 3D rendering of the room and selected lights. The picture below shows an example of a 3D output made with Dialux.
Future of 3D visualization software
Dialux provides paid services to manufacturers for developing the plugins and workshops to professional lighting designers. That way the actual use of the software can remain free of charge. It is only a question of time before someone closes the gap between the professional and consumer market for simulating the effects of lighting in your home. It could be the IKEA's of the world or hardware-independent companies such as Dialux.