I haven't checked in lately, but I ended up deciding to completely rebuild/remodel the Kitchen in the new house.

I have a floor plan and pretty much the entire design done. One piece that I can't figure out is how to properly layout lighting. I have an electrician at my disposal this week so I reallllly need to figure this out today.

Anyone have a pointer to good resources on lighting... how much is too much? too little? etc?

-A

 

Damn Adam, which I could help out.

One thing I will say (which may help, may not) is that you should look into under cabinent lighting. We had this in our old place and loved it. There are two ways to do it.... have it all wired by an electrician, or DIY and buy the lights from Home Depot. We did ours through Home Depot in the last place... cost about $150 total and did it in a few hours. Hardest part is hiding the wires, but other then that it was pretty easy. It sounds like a little thing, but it makes a huge difference when you're working on a countertop b/c it eliminates the shadows caused by the cabinents on the counters....

 

Since I've no walls, ceilings, or cabinets at the moment... it'd be pretty easy to hardwire for them. I definately plan too, although, I'll only have two 15" overhead cabinets with counter below. The rest is all base cabinets or full wall cabinets.

 

I like valance lights under the cabinets, very nice. Or above them is nice too. I havent decided yet but I think I am going with pot lights in my new place. Do you have an island? You could have some drop down lights over it which looks nice.

 

... hold on... scanning floor plan. luckily i have a copy here. the 3d drawings are at the new house though...

 

Ok, here is the floorplan... since it's hard to make out I'll give brief description... then I'll explain what each block is clockwise from top-left



So, the bottom, the dotted wall... that is completely open to the dining room. Making the countertop at the bottom a peninsula, there will be a glass shelf raised to bar height above the countertop with stools in the dining room.

That is a 54" window up top, now it is flush to the left wall, but it will be centered up to the wall cabinets... hard to explain...

The opening at top left is the main hallway. Top right is the door to the back porch.

Clockwise from top left these are the elements:

1. Corner cabinet with under-counter sink.
2. Dishwasher
3. 15" Base Cabinet - Slide out trash cans
4. Full floor to ceiling cabinets with built in oven/microwave.
5. 18" Base Cabinet
6. 36" Base Cabinet
7. 36" Corner Cabinet
8. 30" Base Cabinet with Built-in Cooktop. No Range Hood... Cooktop will be downdraft.
9. 24" Base Cabinet
10. 15" Base Cabinet + 15" Glass Wall Cabinet
11. Cabinet Depth Fridge
12. 15" Base Cabinet + 15" Glass Wall Cabinet

As you can see, there are only two wall/display cabinets (on the fridge wall) if you don't count the full wall of cabinets in the top corner.

The floors are a dark grey/black brazilian slate, the cabinets a honey-toned maple, the counter-tops pure black granite, and the appliances are all stainless steel except for the cooktop which I've chosen gas on high-gloss black glass so it blends with countertop for a more uniform look.

The dining room is being remodeled as well, but this basically means its getting new walls. Not much in the way of permanant decor in there.


As for lighting... I'll mockup what I was thinking next...

 

I'm thinking something like this. Different types of lighting would all be on their own switch except for the track light (swirly track with bunch of spots thing) that may share switch with the recessed lights...

 

Looks good. I think thats pretty close to what I would do as well. Personally I might leave out the track lighting if there is enough light without it.

 

I want the track light because 1, it looks cool... I think will add a bit of interest to the room if I can find spotlights that match the pendents. Also, I like that I can direct the light anywhere, so after is all said and done if I have a dark corner that pisses me off everytime i have to work in it, i can easily direct a spotlight in that direction.

Additionally, it allows me to use the recessed light as task lighting rather than purely ambient light... and will fill the center of the room with light.

Worst case, I take it down and patch the hole if I don't like it. Easier to remove later than to add later.

 

Thinking something like this for the track:

 

Are those recessed lights on the right pointing onto counter top or onto the top of upper cabinets?

 

counter top... probably end up putting some glass shelving or metal racks on that wall. didn't want wall cabinets there because it would make kitchen feel much smaller, less open, and restrict view of anyone sitting on right side of bar.

 

ahh, right. Good idea.

 

I would go with flourescent lighting in the kitchen. That's one light that will be on most of the time when you're home, it lights up well and bright, not expensive to operate (electrical bills), and long lasting, not to mention it doesn't heat up an already warm kitchen if you went flourescent as opposed to halogen pot lighting (Yes, POT, not spot).

Ed

 

flourescent? like the kind i spent half my life under in school?

 

:gross:

halogen > *

 

soopa, which recessed lights are you going to use, the little eyeball ones? Stainless steel trim on the recessed lights might look cool in the kitchen

 

I was thinking plain recessed with a stainless rim like you described. I'm leaning away from any eye-ball type designs as it seems almost every high-end kitchen I see has the plain recessed. Cleaner look I think.

I think the eye balls give off a more direct, less ambient light... which would make the kitchen darker overall while highlighting just the work areas. I don't know if I want that effect.

Open to opinions on this though, as I'm going strictly off what I've seen in magazines at this point heh.

 

If you do decide to go with incandescent, check out GE's reveal bulbs.

 

You'd be surprised, but they have some decent flourescent lighting fixtures around nowadays...I'm not talking about recessed lighting, either. Something like these:

 

yeah i seen those exact ones at home depot. they are reallllly realllly ugly IMO.

 

The type of light that is produced by flourescent lighting is very... cold. I don't know how else to explain it.

 

My ultimate suggestion is to build your kitchen first, then put the lighting to suit. I'm sure you'll change your mind 3 times over before deciding on the final lighting..Good luck!
Ed

 

yes... makes peoples skin look very white and brings out blemishes, etc... yick... not the kind of light you want in the main entertaining area of your house.

 

ultimately, i can kinda do that... but since the walls are open now... it is the best time to lay everything out and pre-wire.

i have to get all the wiring in for lighting, speakers, cable, security... etc (missing anything??)

ahh... i never thought lighting would be most difficult part of a kitchen. heh

 

the dishwasher has Xenon lights... maybe I could just put them all over

 

LAN? Or are you just going wireless.

 

wireless for net

 

I have the stainless recess trim, I think it makes the kitchen look way cleaner especially if you are going to get stainless steel appliances. If you want, I can snap a photo and upload it so you can see mine.

 

Actually, the Phillips version has a better color. I tried them both and I ended up buying the Phillips.

 

Definitely do the recessed for the kitchen. You can add some pendants or tracks as well if you want. Also do the under cabinet lights where you can.

http://www.1800lighting.com/
^ see if there is anything you like there, and come december I can get you a good deal on some stuff, but I want mod-ship

 

AcuraTL: Yeah post some up!!

mclaren: damn you guys have some nice stuff there. I was just browsing through a Kovacs and Kicher catalog tonight actually. i'll pick some shit out and let you know.

 

DO NOT go with flourescents...even the "newer" more color balanced bulbs to try and replicate "white" light.

flourescent are horrible on your eyes, make everything look like shit, and are just generally nasty nights.

Being part of my job as a camera man is lighting guy for a living, I cant stand flourescents, they are horrible to deal with. When I can finally design a place, you never see a single one of those thing in there.

 

Here you go:

 

That looks great! Amazing how similar the design of my kitchen is to yours... eery.

 

When are you going to do yours? And where are you getting your cabinets/granite and such?

 

Now...after seeing that...I would have gone with the stainless/black recessed lights with the dark backsplash & stainless/black appliances.

With those cabinets...I'd do a nice bold red wall tile backsplash, using the 1/2 inch mosaic or glass tiles.

Kitchen is nice...just seems like it needs something...crown molding, bold color, textured ceiling, etc. But, very nice nonetheless

 

Hope this helps.

Michael

 

We use the flourescents in the kitchen cans...place takes a second to warm up, but the light is bright as hell. I'd recommend them if you are serious about working/cooking in the kitchen.

 

Yes. Now that's nice. I like how the tile behind the stove and wood flooring contrast. Looks really nice.