spankomatic
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2
Kitchen Lighting
- Thread starter daveamkrayoguy
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spankomatic
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spankomatic
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spankomatic
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spankomatic
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spankomatic
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My sisters kitchen in Lake Tahoe. I like the integrated sky light- whole house fan- can lighting.
spankomatic
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2 Mixture of can lights,under counter lighting,in cabinet lighting,and natural window and skylight lighting.
spankomatic
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58limited
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Dang Jim, I really like your former kitchen. Looks nice and big with great lighting.
wireman
Well-known member
Folks,
NEVER up the wattage beyond what it is listed, esp. in an enclosed fixture and in a house with older wiring. There is a reason that the wattages are limited: Incandescent bulbs put out A LOT of heat. As an electrician who has replaced many fixtures with fried wires, I know only TOO well what higher wattages can do. Sometimes there has been so much heat even the wires coming into the ceiling box are damaged. This can start a fire! There is a reason newer enclosed fixtures come with a whole lot of fiberglass insulation in the base; it is not so much to keep the cold from the attic out, but to keep heat from melting the coating on the wires feeding that fixture.
That is also why 50's 60's even 70's homes had those usually rather ugly floating glass plate fixtures esp. in bedrooms; it kept the heat from the bulbs from melting the wires in the ceiling box. Newer homes (after 1985 in most places) have wiring with a higher temp rating, 90 Centigrade rather than the older 60 C.
Before using an old fixture, make certain the fixture wires are in good shape and the coating is not broken or brittle and that the bulb sockets are not cracked or melted. Rewire if necessary. Make certain that the wires in the box you are attaching it to are in good shape. If the fixture doesn't provide enough light, trying using a compact florescent (CF) or LED that is a step up from the recommended incandescent bulb. Example: a 75 watt equiv. CF or LED to replace a 60 watt bulb. Depending on the fixture, you even be able to use a 100 watt equiv. Both CFs and LEDs produce much less heat than an incand.
Just hate to see folks have a fire because they used too big a bulb! Hope this was helpful folks.
Take Care, Duane
NEVER up the wattage beyond what it is listed, esp. in an enclosed fixture and in a house with older wiring. There is a reason that the wattages are limited: Incandescent bulbs put out A LOT of heat. As an electrician who has replaced many fixtures with fried wires, I know only TOO well what higher wattages can do. Sometimes there has been so much heat even the wires coming into the ceiling box are damaged. This can start a fire! There is a reason newer enclosed fixtures come with a whole lot of fiberglass insulation in the base; it is not so much to keep the cold from the attic out, but to keep heat from melting the coating on the wires feeding that fixture.
That is also why 50's 60's even 70's homes had those usually rather ugly floating glass plate fixtures esp. in bedrooms; it kept the heat from the bulbs from melting the wires in the ceiling box. Newer homes (after 1985 in most places) have wiring with a higher temp rating, 90 Centigrade rather than the older 60 C.
Before using an old fixture, make certain the fixture wires are in good shape and the coating is not broken or brittle and that the bulb sockets are not cracked or melted. Rewire if necessary. Make certain that the wires in the box you are attaching it to are in good shape. If the fixture doesn't provide enough light, trying using a compact florescent (CF) or LED that is a step up from the recommended incandescent bulb. Example: a 75 watt equiv. CF or LED to replace a 60 watt bulb. Depending on the fixture, you even be able to use a 100 watt equiv. Both CFs and LEDs produce much less heat than an incand.
Just hate to see folks have a fire because they used too big a bulb! Hope this was helpful folks.
Take Care, Duane
More 'Sperimentin'
Well, here's a more wide-spread view of the kitchen & how not-so-well my fixtures are placed:
Surely a better. more intelligent design would have been ONE fixture in the center of the ceiling (a LARGER drum or my double-halo circular florescent set in the back hallway--and there ONE halo would have been sufficient; there is a LOT of light there!)...
I will consider a CFL, then for the light by the sink, though I have to watch how much weight is in that fixture or at least find a way to put a 2nd screw for supporting it...
I don't want to start any fire either, just that the light over the left side of the kitchen is adequate, and somehow I'm a quest to make the right as bright, so I'll see what I can safely & practically put there, though, whenever time & money will permit...
-- Dave
Well, here's a more wide-spread view of the kitchen & how not-so-well my fixtures are placed:
Surely a better. more intelligent design would have been ONE fixture in the center of the ceiling (a LARGER drum or my double-halo circular florescent set in the back hallway--and there ONE halo would have been sufficient; there is a LOT of light there!)...
I will consider a CFL, then for the light by the sink, though I have to watch how much weight is in that fixture or at least find a way to put a 2nd screw for supporting it...
I don't want to start any fire either, just that the light over the left side of the kitchen is adequate, and somehow I'm a quest to make the right as bright, so I'll see what I can safely & practically put there, though, whenever time & money will permit...
-- Dave
The best way to get more light at the sink would be to have a fixture mounted either on the wall or under the cabinet directly over the sink. With light coming from the ceiling only you will always be working in your shadow while standing at the counter.
I couldn't agree more with Duane's cautionary advice about exceeding recommended wattage in enclosed fixtures. I can't count how many times I have taken down an enclosed type fixture to discover the ceiling discolored if not charred and the insulation on wires crisped and falling off. In a couple cases the wires themselves had become brittle and snapped off when I started disconnecting them. At that point you're talking about running a whole new line in the ceiling to the fixture since there's never enough slack to pull more "fresh" wire into the ceiling box.
I couldn't agree more with Duane's cautionary advice about exceeding recommended wattage in enclosed fixtures. I can't count how many times I have taken down an enclosed type fixture to discover the ceiling discolored if not charred and the insulation on wires crisped and falling off. In a couple cases the wires themselves had become brittle and snapped off when I started disconnecting them. At that point you're talking about running a whole new line in the ceiling to the fixture since there's never enough slack to pull more "fresh" wire into the ceiling box.
spankomatic
Well-known member
Thought...
If they can light a swimming pool.... It would be neat if the kitchen sink would light up. Any designers out there?
If they can light a swimming pool.... It would be neat if the kitchen sink would light up. Any designers out there?
To Elaborate More...
Well, on a "lighter" note (no pun intended) there were LOTS of different designs for that type of light--single hanging lamp, single bulb lamp & double bulb lamp drum alike, such as those circular lines, a different (& supposedly better lighting circular design), a floral pattern, all parallel lines, a mini-egg crate pattern, and so on... Different sizes, too...
My folks had that same lamp on the right in both, the main-area & above their sink, but the over-the-sink one got taken down for an antique hob-knob design that I have hanging in my spare room/man cave... (Years after my mom replaced the glass w/ globe shaped glass...)
So, yes, the main area's replacement is the fixture I'd mentioned, (the upside-down dome, just to make more light after she'd gotten the globes) while after my mom passed, I took the white glass lantern & couldn't put the original back over the sink because--you guessed it!--the wires fried & I have that old base in my basement after getting an estimate on the cost of rewiring, so failing to put a new base like the one I have in my kitchen there, I put a metal plate over that wire box... The replacement base is in the hallway leading to the bathroom & bedrooms w/ an exact glass like that one & for only 60w there it gives off a perfect amount of light for that small area...
And I probably shouldn't have thrown out the insulation, albeit it made the attempted installation ove the sink a might messy, but I didn't quite know better at the time, 'cept for throwing it deep in a covered waste basket so the cats couldn't get it...
Not sure if I could crawl into my ceiling & deal w/ drilling holes & messing w/ live wires etc. but I wish I'd had one fixture directly dead-center in my galley ceiling & I would have been more encouraged to go w/ my double-halo florescent that I have over my basement stairs... It would have been better in the kitchen--there is a lot of light in that hall & one halo in the hallway would have been better--although plainer, but I wanted a drum & the kitchen was the best place!
Well, the fixtures formerly there were a four-lamp fiber-optic track lighting design... The drum on the left does the job well with or without, so I just must have had too much time on my hands for me to do that kind of experimenting, & the results to have turned out to be something not be so geeked up about...
-- Dave
Well, on a "lighter" note (no pun intended) there were LOTS of different designs for that type of light--single hanging lamp, single bulb lamp & double bulb lamp drum alike, such as those circular lines, a different (& supposedly better lighting circular design), a floral pattern, all parallel lines, a mini-egg crate pattern, and so on... Different sizes, too...
My folks had that same lamp on the right in both, the main-area & above their sink, but the over-the-sink one got taken down for an antique hob-knob design that I have hanging in my spare room/man cave... (Years after my mom replaced the glass w/ globe shaped glass...)
So, yes, the main area's replacement is the fixture I'd mentioned, (the upside-down dome, just to make more light after she'd gotten the globes) while after my mom passed, I took the white glass lantern & couldn't put the original back over the sink because--you guessed it!--the wires fried & I have that old base in my basement after getting an estimate on the cost of rewiring, so failing to put a new base like the one I have in my kitchen there, I put a metal plate over that wire box... The replacement base is in the hallway leading to the bathroom & bedrooms w/ an exact glass like that one & for only 60w there it gives off a perfect amount of light for that small area...
And I probably shouldn't have thrown out the insulation, albeit it made the attempted installation ove the sink a might messy, but I didn't quite know better at the time, 'cept for throwing it deep in a covered waste basket so the cats couldn't get it...
Not sure if I could crawl into my ceiling & deal w/ drilling holes & messing w/ live wires etc. but I wish I'd had one fixture directly dead-center in my galley ceiling & I would have been more encouraged to go w/ my double-halo florescent that I have over my basement stairs... It would have been better in the kitchen--there is a lot of light in that hall & one halo in the hallway would have been better--although plainer, but I wanted a drum & the kitchen was the best place!
Well, the fixtures formerly there were a four-lamp fiber-optic track lighting design... The drum on the left does the job well with or without, so I just must have had too much time on my hands for me to do that kind of experimenting, & the results to have turned out to be something not be so geeked up about...
-- Dave
This 1941 house underwent a lamentable "upgrade" from its original kitchen (complete with flue for gas range) to a more mid-century design, with a cooktop and wall oven instead of a range. What made it all a bit dicey was that the walls are plaster and lathe, and the ceiling some sort of funky cement board.
In any case, as part of the remodel they put in two 4 tube 4 ft fluorescent light fixtures recessed into the ceiling. But it's in a sort of odd position - in front of the fridge and a pantry closet, but not much else. Still, even with four of the tubes removed, it puts out enough light to make it as bright as day in the kitchen. Normally I don't turn it on; instead I use the cooktop hood light and the recessed light over the sink, as well as a small 12 inch under counter fluorescent light under the main cabinet, to light the kitchen.
In any case, for old globe type fixtures that don't put out enough light, what often works is to use high lumen output CFL's instead of incandescents. My favorite substitute is a 75 watt equiv. daylight bulb, which uses only about 18 watts. Hardly enough to overheat a fixture designed for 60 watt bulbs.
In any case, as part of the remodel they put in two 4 tube 4 ft fluorescent light fixtures recessed into the ceiling. But it's in a sort of odd position - in front of the fridge and a pantry closet, but not much else. Still, even with four of the tubes removed, it puts out enough light to make it as bright as day in the kitchen. Normally I don't turn it on; instead I use the cooktop hood light and the recessed light over the sink, as well as a small 12 inch under counter fluorescent light under the main cabinet, to light the kitchen.
In any case, for old globe type fixtures that don't put out enough light, what often works is to use high lumen output CFL's instead of incandescents. My favorite substitute is a 75 watt equiv. daylight bulb, which uses only about 18 watts. Hardly enough to overheat a fixture designed for 60 watt bulbs.
