I'm trying to come up with a lighting plan for a galley style 8'x11' kitchen (the link to the layout is
I will have undercabinet lights, so I'm not considering lighting the countertops from the ceilings; however, what I would like to do is to somehow "accent light" (wall wash ?) the new wall cabinets. They are dark cherry (like mahogany with reddish overtones) and look really good when lit. The cabinets are 42" tall and moulding will be 4" (flush with ceiling) as seen in the drawing. I did an experiment with a 3" MR16 pointed at the middle of a cabinet door (down about 25" from the ceiling). I placed the light source about 15" from the cabinet angled at about 30 deg from the vertical. The result was good, but since all the cabinets are not installed yet, I'm a little reluctant to begin cutting holes in the ceiling drywall until I'm sure what I'm doing makes sense. So, I have couple of questions:
- Is wall washing the cabinets this way common; i.e. using an angled (adjustable) trim (at 30 deg)? Is there a better way? Will a wall wash trim do the job better than a retractable eyeball, gimbal, etc.?
- I'm considering 3" line voltage cans (with GU10s) (new construction) or low voltage cans with individual transformers (remodeling) probably with 35W-50W MR16s. If I use halogen at about
15"-20" from the cabinet surface, will the heat cause any problems? Any cooler halogens (does dichroic coating make it cooler - not the light but the heat coming from the lamp)?- if I install regular downlights (not at an angle) pointing toward the edge of the counter (24" from the wall, 12" from the wall cabinet surface), will it have the same "wall wash" effect? (Actually when I tried it, it didn't look like the same as pointing directly at the cabinet surface, but I might be mistaken.)
- I'm planning to use 1 can for each door (they are 16-18" wide). Is this too much?
I really appreciate all the suggestions..
Regards, Matt