Downlighters - how many in a kitchen?

[nothanks]

As part of a kitchen extension I've pulled down the old lath and plaster ceiling and now need to get the wiring sorted before fixing the plasterboard. The kitchen is 2.7m high and about 4.5m x 4.3m. SWMBO wants it to be brightly lit and we've decided on "cool white" or "daylight" LED downlighters, which seem to have outputs of at least 500 lumens. There will be under-cupboard lights for the work surfaces. The question is: how to decide on the number of downlighters?

Also, there is a bewildering range of downlighters available, costing about £5 up to £25 (or more). Any recommendations?

[Bill Wright]

It's not so much how many as how far apart they are.

Bill

[The Natural Philosopher]

SWMBO

put one every meter. So about 16 on total These days cheap GU10 LEDS seem to be the way to go. Just get flesh fitting fire proof white or chrome fittings

[The Natural Philosopher]

Er Bill. Thats what yiou get from dividing the room area by the number of them

[alan_m]

None. Get a panel light or two

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

[e-mail] used his keyboard to write :

Downlighters tend to produce brightly lit pools of light, with dark in between them. That effect becomes exaggerated with a low ceiling.

So get downlighters with as wide an angle as possible. I have downlighters, but I have them supplemented as needed, with an hidden uplighter, hidden on top of a run of cupboards bouncing light down from the ceiling. The uplighter is the much more effective light.

[Brian Gaff]

Well, it probably depends on the angle with which they give maximum light and how high they are. Ideally you want some overlap to stop shadows, but too close together and it starts to look like some illuminated art exhibit used to like the golden light from such things, but they got so hot of course, I guess modern LEDs would be colder though whether they are reliable seems to vary from what I read here. Brian

[Chris J Dixon]

Indeed.

If you use downlighters, selecting fittings with a little directional adjustment can be useful. You will want the lights to be installed in a regular pattern, but afterwards if that doesn't quite line up with your needs, then you can swivel them as required.

For example:

Chris

[invalid]

I would consider LED panels rather than downlighters.

[John]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Get ones with a separate power supply to help heat disserpation. I have 8 Halers H2 Pro.

[RJH]

It may not be the last word in elegance, but a tube fitting and a

1.8m/30W/2400lm LED bulb works pretty well in my 3m2 kitchen.

[John Rumm]

If you go for something with a wide beam angle like:

Then you will need far fewer than if you go for traditional MR16 style spotlights. I would expect a 3x3 grid would work in a room of that size.

[Robin]

I'd only add to the comments already made that there's a trade-off between wide beam angle and glare - especially with fittings where the lamp is not recessed. People seem to vary greatly as to how (un)bothered they are.

[T i m]

You beat me to it. ;-)

We still have a couple of 6' twin fluros and the kitchen is the best lit room in the house. ;-)

But it seems 'these days' it's more about form over function. ;-(

A mate's house was equipped with hundreds of those incandescent mini-spotlight things recessed into the ceiling and 1) the lighting in there was weird (like a showroom?) and 2) the lighting MCB's would often trip because of the load(s) and the lamps blowing on a daily basis.

You 'work' in the workshop and would typically have strip lamps in there (all be they LED if fitted today) to give you good light to work with.

You also 'work' in the kitchen, preparing food (typically) so I / we can't really see any difference.

I guess if you have one of those modern places where the kitchen is effectively just a corner of the lounge and where you generally only dish up yer take-aways then I can see why the lighting wouldn't really matter. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[nothanks]

I did wonder about those but don't want it to look too modern, plus it's a higher ceiling than usual so I was concerned about light output.

[nothanks]

I was tempted, but they seem to give a diffuse light and I'm not sure how well that would work with a slightly high ceiling.

[nothanks]

Beam widths seem to range between 30 and 60 degrees, but I'd be concerned about glare with the wider angles.

[The Other Mike]

To avoid earache later get yourself a light meter

This from CPC would do the job for just over a tenner

Establish what SWMBO deems to be 'brightly lit' by reference to other existing rooms or kitchen showrooms those of friends etc.

Just work on the fact that 1 lumen per square metre = 1 lux

500 lux might be ok, 1000 lux might be better, 1500 lux indoors might be deemed 'bright' by some but is somewhere equivalent to outside at midday on an overcast day

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[Dave Plowman (News)]

And the distance to the work surface if you want reasonably even lighting. And that rather depends on the individual lamp.

Still think decent florries can't be beaten for under cupboard lighting. Concealed by a plinth.

[tim...]

the correct number of down-lighters in a domestic property is zero

It isn't a shop front display

HTH

tim