Kitchen Remodeling: Lighting

Cabinet lighting is the process of lighting the interior and the contents of any cabinet. Such a cabinet can exist purely for the purposes of display, as is the case with many antique reproductions and fine china displays, or it may exist for a functional purpose, such as those used in large residential kitchens or retail displays.

The reason for specialized cabinet lighting is that even the brightest of general room lights are simply too dim to adequately light the interior of a cabinet with even a rudimentary design. In fact, the more ornamental the design of a cabinet is, the more the reveals and vertical stiles will block exterior room lights and cast shadows on the contents inside.

The presence of shadows is further magnified by cabinets that are built with doors. Even with doors designed with glass pane windows that allow you to see the contents inside, the door trims themselves present significant obstructions to external light. Therefore, internal cabinet lighting is essential in order to create aesthetically superior showcases.

There are many different types of fixtures used to light cabinet interiors. Overhead lights, also known as puck lights, are used in some kitchen cabinets, mirror back cabinets, and curio cabinets that have several mirrored surfaces and glass shelves. The vertical, downward shaft of the light beam is reflected by these mirrors and can create a high intensity lighted interior which is acceptable for illuminating small collectibles.

In kitchen cabinets with glass shelves they are a reasonable lighting source, but they offer little decorative value because they concentrate too much light in the center of the cabinet and less around the sides. Since most kitchen cabinets have wood shelves, a puck light in the top has no value at all.

For optimal cabinet lighting, the best choice is linear strip lights. These fixtures affix to either the bottoms of shelves or the interior of vertical cabinet stiles or door interior trims.

Some linear strip lights, of course, are better than others. Due to the highly customized craftsmanship of cabinet building, it makes little sense to force a fixed length strip light into an interior proportioned around unique and highly variable dimensions. Also, it makes even less sense to use a fixture that protrudes conspicuously into the aesthetic realm of the display. Such an intrusion is an eyesore to say the least.

A little bit of common sense combined with a lot of advanced technical engineering brings us to the conclusion that the best cabinet lighting fixtures are custom made, low profile linear strips that are manufactured to fit the specific dimensions of interior horizontal and vertical cabinet surfaces.

There are essentially three different types of light sources you can choose from, including incandescent, xenon, and LED. All three offer both advantages and disadvantages specific to respective applications.

Incandescent lamps have been around since the early 20th century, and they still have that Golden Age ambience. The slightly golden tint to their light makes them much warmer than natural sunlight.

The drawbacks to incandescent lamps, however, are the same ones faced by Thomas Edison. They are notorious power hogs. They don’t last for very long at all, so you have to keep buying replacements. They also tend to get very hot, so you cannot leave them on indefinitely, especially in a closed cabinet of any kind.

Now, with certain linear cabinet lighting devices, dimmer controls can compensate for both of these drawbacks. Dimmers reduce both the power draw of the lamps and the heat the lamps produce.

Xenon is basically a high end form of incandescent lamp that is renowned for its longer lamp life. Also, it produces just as much heat as standard incandescents. Again, we are back to that heat issue we talked about earlier; and we are back to relying on dimmers to regulate both voltage levels and forward throw heat.

LED Lamps are the most promising luminaires that science has created to date, and their impact is now being felt in all levels of commercial and residential lighting.

LEDs solve the problems of replacement costs with astoundingly long lamp lives. They also use about 80 to 90 percent less power than incandescent based equivalents. Even better, they produce minimal heat and can be left on throughout the day and night without risk of overheating contents or fixtures.

While incandescent and Xenon lamps have a fixed color temperature, LEDs are available in different degrees of warmth or coolness. Warm tone LEDs offer the same color as Xenon, plus there are cooler selections similar to Halogen or even cooler choices for whiter, crisper tones.

The only drawback to LED festoon lamps is that the initial cost of LED lamps is significantly higher than Xenon or Incandescent lamps. However, they will ultimately compensate for their cost by reductions in power usage and heat load on air conditioning.

There is no hard and fast optimal luminance level for cabinet lighting all displays. The general rule of thumb you should follow, however, is based on the reflectivity of your contents. The less reflective the interior surfaces and contents, the higher lighting levels you can use.

If you have a closed cabinet, never use xenon above 5 watts, and be sure to use your dimmer controls to regulate the intensity of your cabinet lighting. Alternatively, use low wattage LEDs instead.

Some manufacturers make both horizontally mounted lights and vertically mounted lights so cabinet styles of all custom cabinetry can be appropriately illuminated. Strip lighting fixtures are very low profile and are easy to conceal, making them the dream come true of the interior designer and the collector who wants the people in the room to see the light but not the fixture.

Phantom Lighting System. For more information about Cabinet Lighting, Strip Lighting vs Puck Lights, and Concealed LED Lighting visit us online now.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Bill_Dietrich/321373

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