On Oct 10, 9:45*pm, "RBM" wrote:
"hr(bob) " wrote in message
...
On Oct 10, 11:13 am, "RBM" wrote:
"hr(bob) " wrote in message
....
On Oct 10, 8:49 am, Jeff Thies wrote:
The kitchen is moving along and it is time to look at lighting. I'm
looking for ideas. The house is plaster lath so recessed lighting is
out.
I see this as being divided into general lighting, ceiling mounted,
and workspace lighting.
For general I had thought of some kind of small track lighting like
this:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50112415
But all the small track lights are halogens, anyone seen any with
something more efficient that is affordable? The LEDS I saw are still
too pricey. Perhaps I'm stuck with a flush mount.
It looks to me that workspace lighting should be directly over the
space. I have no cabinets over the workspaces so I think this leads to
some kind of pendant hanging light. They seem to be halogen also.
I'll be looking at Lowes, IKEA and the Borg. Maybe I'm missing
somewhere... Should I suck it up and do the halogens, are affordable
drop in LEDS on the way?
Jeff
I HATE recessed lights, they tend to cast shadows and in a kitchen you
definitely want diffused lighting. I would try to find a showcase
place for kitchen cabinets and see what kind of lighting they use, and
if you like that kind of lighting, fine
When we remodeled our kitchen a few years ago, we ended up using a
very low profile fluorescent 4' dual bulb fixture in the center of the
ceiling, and a number of fluorescent fixtures under the cabinets.
The cabinet fixtures were mounted up against the bottom of the
cabinets, and then I made panels that fit up under the skirts of the
cabinets that match the finish of the cabinets, and cut openings in
the panels and finished the openings off with standard plexiglass
diffusers cut to the size opening needed. Held the plexiglass in
place with a dab of hot glue in each corner so that the plexiglas can
be easily removed to replace the bulbs without having to remove the
panels. Shadowless light on all the countertops, negligible heating
from the bulbs into the cabinets over the bulbs, what more could you
want.
Typically a row of recessed lights centered on the edge of the counter
tops
will give excellent light without shadows. Conversely any light in the
center of the room will assure a shadow on the counter where you're trying
to work, as the light is coming from behind you. Under cabinet lights set
back against the wall don't generally light the front portion of the
counter
space well.- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
But I put the undercabinet lights at the front edge/skirt of the
overhead cabinets so the light is virtually directly above the counter
top that you would normally be using. *It is forward of the
cannisters, coffee maker, toaster, etc that are normally along the
back wall side of the countertops.
That certainly will work if you want to use under cabinet lights as the
primary counter lighting source. The drawback to that is the exposed wiring
from the fixtures back to the wall. Not everyone likes recessed lighting for
a variety of reasons, but in a kitchen, when properly placed they do an
excellent job lighting the counters- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
But you don't see the wiring or the fixtures, that stuff is above the
panels that I made to go under the cabinets, flush with the skirts on
the cabiinets. I use frosted /textured plexiglass to cover the
openings in the panels where the lights are located. It basiclly
finishes the undersides of the cabinets, at least the ones I have have
slirts about 1.5 inches deep and that is more than the depth of the
fixtures I mounted on the bottoms of the cabinets. SO you just see a
panel of wood with rectangular inserts of Plexigas where the light
from the hidden fixtures shines thru. IT really is very classy
looking.