Lighting Tips for Your Kitchen

There is no room in your home that gets more traffic than the kitchen. There are lots of families who use the kitchen to eat in and also to prepare food. Luckily there is a wide selection of light fixtures to deal with these activities.

The type of illumination you may require will be dependent on the size of your kitchen. If you have a smaller kitchen you may only need a ceiling light with a few task lights over the sink and counters. However a larger kitchen will require different types of lighting.

Now days the kitchen can be larger and have an island, overhead lighting is a good choice for this. The illumination will have a dual purpose; it will accent the island and draw attention to it, secondly it will act as a task light to make the island a well lit work space. Pendent lighting is a good idea for this purpose. Multiple lamp styles will do a good job of lighting the island. Both decoration and task lighting will be achieved in this way.

For ambient or general illumination recessed ceiling lights are often used. They will spread an even glow over the room and allow you to have a good illumination to do most of your work in the kitchen.

A good choice of lighting for a dining area is a hanging light fixture. They can have multiple lamps. It will accent the dining table and shed more light on it. This style of lighting can be used as a good task light.

You should use under the counter lighting to illuminate counter space. You can also use over the counter lights to accent the ceiling of your kitchen. Track lighting or LED light bars will work for this purpose. Track lights are particularly good for over the counter lighting as you can point the lamps upwards for better effect.

It is a good idea to seek some advice for lighting your kitchen as this is a tricky room to illuminate well. In order to concentrate on key areas it is a good thing to plan well. Professional lighting advisors can be found on the Internet.

Suggestions and picture galleries can be found at a number of lighting websites. You will get informative information and some creative new ideas when you look at these sites. Once you have a plan and some ideas for your kitchen you can then select what you need at your local lighting store. Sometimes you can get useful advice here.

A bigger well established store will offer you a better choice. Good advice is offered by their experienced sales personnel. Additionally they can assist you in finding a good installation service.

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How LED Lighting Can Save You Big Bucks

You’re probably expecting the usual fluffy “how to” article - the sort that opens with a few insipid generalisations before meandering into a less than thunderously convincing argument vaguely related to the title. If so, prepare to be disappointed/pleasantly surprised (delete as appropriate); I have neither the time nor inclination and frankly the data speaks for itself. So let’s pitch in and start doing some math.

The average mains powered GU10 halogen down light (as very commonly seen fitted into ceilings) can be bought for around 2, uses 50 watts of electrical power and has a lifespan of about 2,000 hours over which time it will have cost 12 in electricity to operate. This is based on the average price of 0.12 per kWh and having the light on for a mere 3 hours a day (which works out at close to 1,000 hours over the course of a year).

A GU10 LED replacement (i.e. an LED with near identical performance characteristics, such as the Sharp Zenigata) consumes 4 watts, costs at present 24 to buy, has an effective lifespan of over 40,000 hours and will cost 0.96 to run over the same time period.

Looks like the LED has priced itself out due to the much higher purchase cost, doesn’t it? But let’s add a bit more “real world” perspective into this picture.

For a start, the longevity of the LED is such that the halogen lamp will need to be replaced 20 times - that’s 20 x 2 which means that the purchase costs (plural) for the halogen are in fact 40 against 24 for the LED.

Secondly, if we run our comparison using the life span of the LED instead of the woefully short-lived halogen we see that where the LED uses just 19.20 worth of electricity, the halogen burns its way through 240.

Finally, let’s add back in the “real” purchase price differential and over 40,000 hours it looks like using halogen lighting costs us 280 whereas the equivalent LED instead costs 43.20. We’re way beyond projected savings of 10%, 20% or even 50% - the running costs of halogen lighting are over 1000% more than comparable LED lighting.

Even allowing for the initial purchase costs, halogen lighting is comfortably in excess of 700% more expensive. People tend to attach weight to upfront costs and are reluctant to spend 12 times as much to purchase an LED, yet as the above illustration shows the halogen’s combined repeat-purchase costs are double those of the LED and for operating costs it’s a monster. LED lighting is a different ball game altogether - notice for example that in this scenario the LED’s purchase price exceeds its lifetime electricity costs.

Needless to say, this illustration is somewhat low-scale and examines just one very lightly used light bulb. However, I noticed en-route from my North facing (hence gloomy) kitchen that 10 down lights stay on in there from early till late, then passing through the hall I spotted 4 more and here in my office 6 more are switched on for a good 6 hours daily.

Adding up the total for just these 3 rooms produces an alarming annual figure of 100,000 hours in total. That’s worked out as: 10 * 17 hours plus 4 * 17 hours plus 6 * 6 hours all times 365 days. In financial terms it comes out as: 100,000 hours * 50 watts * 0.12 all divided by 1000 (we want kilowatt hours) which is 600. Or at least it does for halogen lamps; the LEDs come in at a more modest 48 per year.

Let’s examine some slightly more real world examples where artificial light operates almost constantly (hospitals, hotels, shops, offices, airports etc). Stir in some currency symbols and presto, simple mathematics is transformed into economics and all of a sudden we’re talking really big bucks.

We have demonstrated that, despite initial appearances, the purchase price of an LED is about half that of an equivalent halogen lamp when you account for the repeat-purchases as it wears out. We have also calculated that overall electric lighting using halogen lamps is 12 times more costly than replacing them with LEDs. So the one question remaining then is this: why would anyone stick with halogen lamps?

Improve Your Home with Accent lighting

Accent lighting can make a difference to any area of your home. This type of lighting can be used for highlighting or spotlighting areas around your room. Accent lighting comes in many styles.

Types of lighting:

Because LED lighting uses a lot less energy than the usual lighting you will save a large amount of money. Also they will give brighter illumination. Spotlighting different items in an area is easy due to their direct, bright light. Art work looks especially good with this type of lighting. LED can come in a number of different colors.

Different colored lights can put on quite a show. They can be synchronized with music and make your entertainment center look stunning. Because they have direct, bright light and come in a variety of different colors LED bars are good for this task. With softer colors you will make the light less harsh.

When you need a soft glowing light, track lights are often used. It is also good for spotlighting areas and art work in a room. You can turn the lamps in different directions to get varied lighting effects.

Good accent lighting for the dining table can be achieved with hanging light fixtures such as chandeliers. In a larger room, this style of lighting can be a nice addition to the ambient lighting. With their multiple glass pieces reflecting the light, traditional chandeliers are stunning. You can also get these fixtures in simple contemporary design. Any room will take on a new look when you choose from the many modern styles of these fixtures.

You can accent any room with decorative floor lamps. They can be used for reading or enhance the basic lighting of the room. There are many different types to choose that will fit into your room style.

Different ideas on where to use accent lighting:

There are numerous places around your house that you can improve with accent lighting. You can spotlight the items inside your showcase. Under the counter lighting can be made effective with LED light bars and tracking fixtures.

You can use table lamps for lighting up dark areas in a room or just for decoration purposes. There is a wide selection of lamps that you can experiment with, to produce different effects in a room. Unique designs, bright lights and different colors are just a few of the many ways you can change the look and feel of a room with these light fixtures.

It is fun to experiment with accent lighting. There is a wide selection of lighting fixture sites on the Internet to help you choose the right fixture. Their websites include suggestions on how to use certain fixtures and picture galleries. You will gather many ideas from here as to how to brighten up your home with accent illumination. Prior to going to your local store you can compile a list of fixtures you may need from these websites.

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