Kitchen lighting recommendations

Hi All,

we presently have 5 x 40 R50 recessed spots in the kitchen and this is

a, dim and b, expensive (both in electricity, and in bulbs (which seem to blow contantly).

Ideally I would like to replace them with something which is

a, At least as bright if not brighter b, Has atleast as good a spread of light as the spots c' is cheaper to run, d, Has a longer lamp life oh, and e, is easily retrofitted into the existing 90mm holes (or else has a visually pleasing fitting which would cover the holes if it's surface mounted rather than recessed).

A tall order I know, but any suggestions (other than put in a couple of 6' flourescents) gratefully accepted.

Reply to
cpvh
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seems 12v downlighters would fit the bill except for the hole sizes probably...

could you tart up (with a router maybe) the edges of some plywood squares cut to cover the old holes with a new hole cut in the middle of them for the new downlighters? opps to paint ply to match or contrast with current decor etc too?

or

investigate the "suspension wire" type sets i.e. a transformer at one end (or in middle) and two wires suspended between two points, with lights suspended along the wires, spaced to your preference...

e.g.

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Reply to
JimK

Surprised you find 5 spots in the kitchen ceiling anywhere near enough light! For effective food preparation we have 6 x 20w 12v spots in the ceiling and

6x10w T4 strip link lights:
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the worktops, and another 20w strip light in the window recess for working on the window side at night. For most purposes it is only necessary to use the strip lights, as they give a much more useful light than the spots. If you do buy the link lights, buy plenty at once (they are cheap) as they have an irritating habit of changing the linking plug and socket design every year! (Actually these strip lights are very useful as portable lamps too, and I have a 20w one on a long lead handy for DIY and even as a low energy reading light. They even light up when you touch them when they are not even plugged in, which is fun.) S
Reply to
spamlet

(We had this discussion last year sometime if you wanna google it.)

My contribution to the discussion (with a bow to your condition, above) was that faced with the same problem I bought a double 4' fluorescent fitting from Homebase: it was cheap, running it is cheap, and it floods our modest kitchen with glorious daylight: which is fantastic.

John

Reply to
Another John

Thanks for that John,

I did try googling, but even trying to find my own thread is tricky enough :=3D((

Af for flourescents, the memsahib is agin em :=3D((

Reply to
cpvh

I fitted a 5 foot electronic ballast job on top of the wall units in a

3m x 2m kitchen. Unobtrusive, and a little too much light if anything
Reply to
stuart noble

200w is not much for a kitchen T8 warm white tube under cabinet and a ceiling fixture would be what I do for a total including ceiling lights of 2400 incandesant equivilant, it can be like daylight when I want to turn all on full. T8 are 75-85% more efficent than incandesant and my ceiling T8s are on a dimmer hidden in wood beams make of 1"x6" wood. If you have spaces over cabinets that is a great area to put double tube of T8 Warm Whites on electronic balasts, some take dimmers or a second row of lights can be on a second switch. Undercabinet T8 get light where you need it to cook and cut, but overall you need to think by Lumen output rating now watts, and just ceiling cans wont do, so Id say its adding flourescent fixtures and use warm white 2700k bulbs, no higher in Kelvin rating. You need alot more output to see.
Reply to
ransley

Disguise them. Start with electronic ballasts on dimmers so they ramp up over a second or 2 like something from movies, and put the tubes out of direct view. When describing the system, no need to mention that they're fluorescent. Do take care over choice of tube though, there are plenty of horrors on the market. It'll cost, but will also save you on energy costs year after year, plus give a quality of lighting that's hard to match with anything else. Last time I put in concealed 3500K fluorescent lighting it got lots of thumbs up from people that didnt know it was fluorescent.

NT

Reply to
NT

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