under cupboard lighting

[petek]

Hi

I want to fit some lighting under my kitchen cupboards to illuminate the work top below. I have a reasonably convenient mains socket (switched) behind one of the cupboards accessible thro' a hole in the back panel. I think I will need 3 or 4 lights along the run of cupboards but I am unsure whether to go for strip fluorescent or halogen downlighters, mains or low-voltage. Has anybody any recommendations?

Also, I would like to have all the lights switched from a single switch but not the switch on the mains socket as this would not be convenient. I've looked in B&Q and also in TLC catalogue but can't see a suitable switch. Any ideas?

Thanks for your help Pete K.

[Bob Minchin]

Strip fluorescents run much cooler than halogens. I switch mine via a relay controlled by the switch on the cooker hood. Been working fine since 1985 with 1 tube change!!

Bob

[Owain]

Thin strip fluorescents.

You could use a remote-control switch - TLC has several.

Owain

[Andrew Gabriel]

Fluorescsent is what you want for that. Better lighting of the worktop, and less heating up of the cupboards. Fit as far forward as you can, right at the front if you have a pelmet under the cupboards. This will minimise the reflected glare from the worktop and the things on it.

[Grunff]

Definitely strip fluorescents - halogens produce way too much heat.

As far as switching goes, you can get linked strips, such as:

?cId=101198&ts=75462&id=23953you can join these together, using these cables: ?cId=101198&ts=75462&id=22057These have a nice high colour temperature, and run much cooler than halogens.

[Andy Hall]

For this particular application - and it's the only one where fluorescents have a good use in a kitchen - small high frequency ballasted tube fittings can be useful. They run cooler than halogen fittings.

This only really matters if you have food which will deteriorate in the upper cupboards. Otherwise, halogens are the better choice because of the quality of the light.

For the switching, you can take a look at home automation sites. One note here is that halogen lights are dimmable, whereas fluoresecents are not.

[chris French]

A matter of personal preference. I experimented in our last house with various under cupboard lighting options, including halogen, and came out with a preference for the light produced by the fluorescent lamps.

Re switching, -a switch mounted underneath the bottom of the upper cupboards is reasonably convenient, you could run the feed through that. In our previous kitchen it was two way switched with a switch by the doorway as well, which worked well.

[John Rumm]

I recently did a kitchen using nothing but these:

used five of them all round the underside of the cabinets for worktop lighting, and then a second set round the top of the cabinets behind the pelmet for reflected room lighting (white ceiling, with no central room light at all). All switched from a dual gang switch at the door. The effect was very nice, good even lighting with no glare or shadows. I used the diffusers on the under cabinet ones just to give them a bit more protection in case they get knocked.

For powering the lot I laid in a pair of 2A round pin sockets above each run of cabinets that were switched from the two gang switch on the lighting circuit:

way all the fixed wiring could be assembled and tested easily, and the actual lights just plugged in when the cabinets were in place. You can control the overall level of lighting by selecting top or bottom independently if you want. (although I notice that the owners of it always you both sets together!)

[meow2222]

?title=Fluorescent_Lighting

[petek]

Thanks Bob, I like the idea of using the cooker hood switch via a relay. I haven't used relays before - can you suggest a suitable make/ model/type? I will probably be taking the advice of most responders and using slimline fluorescents. Pete

[Andrew Gabriel]

Chances are you can connect directly to the lampholder supply in the cooker hood without any relay. I've done this on one occasion. Of course, I have no clue how competent you are to modify a cooker hood.