Fluorescent lighting in new kitchen.....

[Adrian]

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

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...

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'

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

Advice / suggestions please ?

TIA Adrian

[meow2222]

There are a couple of sections on here that address your qs specifically.

'd stick with 2' tubes rather than 4'.

NT

[Adrian]

Thanks for the link. OK - now I know more (than I ever wanted to know ! ) about tubes and colour temperatures...

So - go for 2ft tubes then.....

I've never done this 'lighs on top of the wall units' thing before - presumably the best way to determine 'how many' tubes is to actually try it & see ? Probably looks better if all wall-units have illumination above them ...?

Thanks Adrian

[Cicero]

=============================== Homebase had some 3' fittings yesterday so they might be worth looking at.

Cic.

[Adrian]

Thanks for the suggestion. Never heard of 3ft fittings before - you live & learn

I'd be a bit wary of finding that, having bought them, you couldn't get replacement tubes easily.....

Being 'out in the sticks' here in S-W Ireland, it's a 2 hour drive to the nearest Homebase - so I'll try the specialist lighting shop in the next town. Who knows - they might even be clued up on different 'colours' of tubes !

Many thanks Adrian

[Andrew Gabriel]

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).

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

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).

[meow2222]

I wouldnt use 3' ers.

If you want to try it out, why not get some 50p lamp holders on flexes, put cfls in them and bung them up there. Adjust till happy.

NT

[Adrian]

Might just do that Tried the local lighting shop - they had lots of little 'mini-fluorescent tubes' for mounting under the wall-cabinets - but nothing in the way of larger units for bouncing light from the top of cabinets.

CFLs might be the way to go - I have a couple of high-intensity units that I use for photography - that's somewhere to start.....

Thanks Adrian

[meow2222]

Once you've got it looking as you want, if you get there, you can replce them with permament linear fl fittings. Linear fl gives much longer lamp life, higher efficacy and more even light spread.

NT

[Adrian]

OK - that's what I was wondering.....

Just need to find a local supplier - lady from the trendy lighting shop in town seemed amazed at what I was trying to do - wanted to sell me those little 'linked' lights - which I don't think would be much use....

Maybe one of the other suppliers will order them in for me - I'll have to ask around !

Thanks Adrian

[meow2222]

But choose your ballasts and power levels first...

NT