In article ,
Adrian writes:
Hi All

In our new kitchen they've fitted six of the 50w mains halogen
downlighters.
All very pretty - but a right pain to 'see by', unless you happen to
be standing directly under one of the spots ('beam us up, Scotty!')
So - an expensive (300 watt) way to generate light & dark patches g

So - thinking about fitting some 'hidden' fluorescent lighting on top
of the wall-units, so as to bounce light off the walls / ceiling, and
get a better, more diffused, lighting setup.

Only one of the wall units is long enough to 'hide' a 4ft tube - the
others are shorter - between 2' and 3'6"....

So - from a quick search on the web it seems that the common options
in tubular fluorescent are 2ft and 4ft..... which suggests using one
or more of the shorter tubes on top of the shorter cabinets...

You could look at using the T4 under cupboard lights on top of
the cupboards (although they aren't that powerful).

Also, there are two relatively new ranges of T5 fluorescent tubes
available now, T5HE (High Efficiency) and T5HO (High Output).
These are available in various long lengths which are not the
same as the older tubes in 1ft multiples, and you might find
a better match for cupboard length. They can only be run from
electronic control gear, and they are similar efficiency to T8's (on
electronic control gear). Being T5, they are lower profile on top of
the cupboards, which may be an advantage. You will have to get tubes
from wholesalers at the moment, as they haven't made inroads into
the domestic market. Check that the colour temperature you want is
available before committing too. Ballasts, endcaps, etc can also be
found mail-order (they use same end-caps as old T5 tubes).

On a single narrow cupboard, I have used a 2-D fluorescent tube,
and recessed this in to the top (in this case, because you would
otherwise see it when stepping down into the kitchen from the
higher dining room).

Alternatively, what about using a number of compact fluorescents on
top of each cabinet ...? - anybody tried this ? how did it look ? -
was the illumination 'even'

I suspect the height of them might be an issue if you want them
to remain hidden.

Finally, given a choice, what's the most 'acceptable' colour for the
tubes - as in white, warm white, etc ?

If you intend to light a kitchen brightly for practical food
preparation use, use 3500K. If you don't want it so bright
(to create more of a warm mood) and/or you will mix with any
filament lamps, use 2700K.

The colour names you quote are not used very consistently, but
2700K is often referred to as warm white, and 3500K as white.
However, a white from different manufacturers could vary from
something like 3400K to 4000K, so don't assume all whites will
be the same (and similarly for the other colour names).

--
Andrew Gabriel