Would this lighting plan work?

18 years ago

It was my understanding that the recessed lights have to line up with the countertop edge.

But when I sat down with the designer at the lighting store yesterday trying to figure out the lighting plan for the kitchen, she came up with something different.

First the background. We have no windows in the kitchen so I am trying to have ambient lighting of the ceiling and the cabinets in addition to the down/task lighting to compensate for the inadequate natural light. There is no way to fit any lights above the cabinets, the pipes and the ductwork are going there. The kitchen is L-shape, about 15x15 with a 4x9 island. We have 8-feet ceilings.

So here is what the designer suggested:

1. recessed lights in the middle of the isles (we have three isles, 45", 42" and 58" wide) which would put them at 48.5", 47" and 29" from the walls.

2. additional row of eye-ball or wall-washers at 18" from the wall (6" from the upper cabs) to illuminate the cabinets. Those would be in the 45" and 42" isles only, so the distance between those and the isle lights would be 29-30".

3. undercabinet lighting and lights inside glass door cabinets (LED)

4. two 3-bulb pendant lights over the island pointing upwards to light the ceiling

5. additional mini recessed lights over the island for task lighting

6. recessed light centered over the sink

Dimmers for everything except LED which have low/med/high setting.

I did ask to make sure we have enough light and I do want to illuminate the ceiling and the cabinets (stained cabinets, so they will look dark otherwise). But I am concerned now that a)we may have way too many "things" on our ceiling and b)the location of the recessed lights not optimal around the perimeter.

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Comments (6)

remodelfla
18 years ago
This is a little confusing for me and I'm by no means a lighting expert. I am wondering though why do 2 pendant light uplighting over the island and then mini recessed for task lighting over the island? I ask, not to question the validity of it; I just dont' understand it. ALso... if you want natural light; have you considered a solatube?
annab6
Original Author
18 years ago
Hi Remodelfla, there is no place to put a skylight or a solartube, we have a bedroom above the kitchen.

The purpose of the pendant lights would be to provide "ambient" lighting to avoid dark ceiling you get when all your lights are recessed or pointing down. But they wouldn't provide enough light for doing food prep. For example, we have a 6-light chandelier over our dining table which gives a lot of light all around, great for dining, but definitely not adequate for working at the table. This is why she is suggesting supplementing with mini recessed lights.

But I am no lighting expert myself, and this is an area of a great confusion for me.
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whidbey
18 years ago
We just finished our electrical this week and let me tell you... it has been the most difficult decison making portion for me so far. Seems like such a simple thing but you're always left wondering, DO I HAVE ENOUGH LIGHT?

We had two walk-throughs with the electrician. About 5 hours total. Crazy. For me nothing really made sense until we marked our cabinet lines on the floor and drew circles where the lights would be above. That really put everything into perspective for me.

I think you'd get a really good sense of what is right for you and how much light you'll need by actually seeing it in the space. Have you marked out the cabinets yet? Is this something you plan on doing?
annab6
Original Author
18 years ago
yes absolutely, we are going to mark the cabinets. Our GC is doing the electrical and he is definitely not going to spend hours discussing it. If he spends an hour, we are lucky. Where are your recessed lights located?
whidbey
18 years ago
anna, we have three cans at the front of the island (one centered over the sink and one on either side). On the backside are our three pendants (standard voltage, so plenty of light).

As far as the rest of our kitchen, our electrician was great. He was very knowledgeable about where the lights would be needed AND made sure they were placed as not to create a shadowing effect.

There are 5" recessed cans at focal points and task areas. I have pictures but it's really hard to see where the lights are in relation to the floor (since cabinets are not installed yet). Also we have two skylights that are in the way of placing the pendants exactly where I would have liked. They had to be placed a little more over the eating bar than toward the center (hope that makes sense).
whidbey
18 years ago
BTW, it's an 8' x 4' island. :)

A friend of mine (and an interior designer) has a 9' island and only two recessed lights and three pendants over the island. However, her island does not have a sink or anything on it so she didn't need the extra "task lighting."