Kitchen Lighting

What does everyone think of this idea for my complete kitchen redo.

I'm going with a low voltage track system for the main kitchen lighting. The 9' track will be an L that follows the counter, about

24" from the wall to avoid shadows over the counters and eliminate the need for under cabinet lights. It is the Tiellia easy kit with five lights, and I can add two more on the 150 watt transformer.

I also have a 3 light pendant (60W incandescent) over what will be a 5' counter open to the living room. This is right next to the sink and adds plenty of light there.

I have an existing circuit for the light that was over the existing sink that is not needed any more. I was thinking of running switched outlets to just above the cabinets on each long wall. I could then add flourscent fixtures laying on top of the cabinets (behind crown molding) up at the ceiling (white) for indirect lighting. Anyone ever done this?

Reply to
tev9999
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I don't think anything will substitute adquately for undercabinet lites.

Reply to
Art

It sounds as though each bulb is 20 watts. If you want mood lighting I suppose that would work, but it is not enough for task lighting. Why not use a popular name brand track lighting system such as Halo. Lately I have been getting requests for recessed lighting in the kitchen. I usually install the Halo H7 housing with the customer's choice of trims. A GE 90 watt R40 bulb will give great lighting without being too hot. If you use the 20 watt track lights you will need under cabinet lighting.

I have seen it many times and it does a nice job of lighting up the dark space above the cabinets. The crown molding should hide the fixtures.

Reply to
John Grabowski

Flourescent are 4x-6x more efficient than incandesant and some halogen. Up to 110 LPW lumen per watt vs 17-19 lpw for incandesant and apx 20 lpw for halogen. Undercabinet and top cabinet flourescent are the norm for good lighting. You will be very close to the counter with halogen for good light and will heat up objects. Be sure to get a warmer type of flourescent bulb. 150 watts is not very much, kitchens need alot of light. I dont know how much flourescent you are thinking about or how big the kitchen is, but not enough lighting is common. For a 12x12 kitchen I have apx 400 watt of T8 flourescent on dimmer and 600 watt halogen all on dimmers. It can be daylight when desired, all lights equal apx 2000 watts of incandesant output.

Reply to
m Ransley

I did a Tiella 5 light rail system in my kitchen...it's beautiful but the wife says it's too dim. So I added some under counter lights which helped alot. I tried to add a 6th light to the 150w system and it wouldn't work for some reason (all 20w lights). i got my lights on ebay for 1/3 of retail.

Reply to
Fake name goes here

What does everyone think of this idea for my complete kitchen redo.>

Don't try to *avoid* undercabinet lights. They, in our experience , are indispensible. Running ceiling lights 24 inches from the wall will still put your targeted work area in part, in your body shadow, and the undercabinet area will be positively dark. We used dimmable undercabinet xenon - not the pucks but the panel or console type. Then several overhead dimmable 110v tracks with 15 fixtures, individual stepdown self contained transformers, so we could avoid putting heat producint transformers behind the wall. With the undercabinet lights, we could place the track lighting a little further out from the wall. We did indeed put switched receptacles behind the crown moulding, then attached low wattage incandescent rope lighting to kill the night time shadows over the cabinets. Fluorescents may be a bit too bluish, and too stark. If you wish to see the effect of our approach, I can send you a night photo, direct to your email address. Good Luck

Reply to
Roger Taylor

I'm not much of a fan of any kind of track in a kitchen, unless the ceiling is nine foot, I think it puts the light and heat to close to people. I'm also not crazy about some types of low voltage lighting as there is an awful lot of faulty connection problems. I prefer a nice full size recessed fixture like John Grabowski describes. You get a nice wide cone of soft but bright light which, if the fixtures are centered at the edges of the counter, reaches right under the wall cabinets and lights the entire work space. If you really want to go hog wild, add a few self contained xenon under cabinet lights

Reply to
RBM

I just purchased an 8 year old home, and it is the first kitchen I have ever had that had decent and great lighting. It has track lighting, and if I just want ambiance type low lighting, the previous owners put those plastic tube lights above all of the cabinets, and in the entry way, they just put a strand of clear Xmas lights. I have outlets up above, as well as below the cabinets so it works out great.

My friends all love this look, and so do I. At least I can read now, without putting a desk top light on the kitchen table.

Good luck, and h> What does everyone think of this idea for my complete kitchen redo. >

Reply to
Corinne

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