LED Kitchen Lighting

[mrb627]

Under Cabinet

I just had LED under cabinet lighting installed last week.  Turns out they are a lot brighter than I ever anticipated.  I will be seeking some type of pendent lighting to go over the newly added bar/peninsula.  I am leaning toward LED for that application as well.

 

William, your lighting looks to be more than adequate in your kitchen.  I guess I was so comfortable with my dark kitchen that I didn't realize what I was missing.  The tile backsplash is scheduled for installation at the end of this week.  Looking forward to having that out of the way!

 

Malcolm

 

[kb0nes]

Remember when choosing LED (or florescent) lighting you will have a range of color temperatures to choose from. If you desire the end result to have a uniform look it is important to buy what you want.

Personally I find that a color temperature between 3000 & 3500K is most pleasing to my eye but I have friends that want nothing under 5000k (which is way too blue to me).

The phosphors used in LED's are very similar to florescent lighting, the idea is similar, generate UV to excite the phosphors to create full spectrum white light. The phosphors become less efficient as you near the long wavelength (Red) end of the spectrum. Because of this the lower color temperatures come with a slight reduction if efficiency compared to the colder lights.

Most of William's lights appear to be in the daylight range of around 5000K. It is hard to tell though with the cell phone camera doing auto white balancing. They do look pretty strikingly different from any incandescent sources. There are a lot of LED lamps available today in the 2700-3000K range to look very incandescent-like if that is desirable.

 

[circlew]

I have one LED lamp in the house at this time, and it's a Cree 9W (60W equivalent, I think). It's the daylight version, and in the upstairs hall. So far, I've been very pleased with it.

The bank I do business at replaced most of their tubular fluorescent fixtures with LED versions about 6 months ago. I really can't tell much difference in the look of them. They're mostly 2x2 troffers, with a few 2x4. Have seen these fixtures for sale at Menard's and at electric supply places, and they were about $130 ea.