I have not personally done so, but a friend of mine did. Some type of...ballast?...had to be redone and he ended up using new panels they were shiny and smooth, the light is fabulous. On the other hand a different friend's mother insisted upon using light blue colored panels over the fluorescent lights in the kitchen and the effect is depressing beyond words. If the light makes you happy I recommend you keep it.

Funny, we just took ours down to replace with cans, we actually were a bit sentimental about it because you really cant doubt the functionality of them and they provide a tremendous amount of light!
If you like it, then keep it, I hope people post pics for you!

CREE has developed and markets LED replacement lamps for these fixtures.

I must admit we still have our fluorescent light. Not that I like the look of it, but it gives a lot of light which I like, I prefer a bright, well lit kitchen. Its not my intention to keep it permanently, I just haven't made up my mind as to what I want to replace it with yet.

I agree that fluorescent tubes can create a wonderful light.

I think the biggest downside of flurescent tubes is placement flexibility (assuming you want them them flush with the ceiling) due to interference with ceiling joists. For example, we got rid of ours because we wanted ambient lighting around the perimeter (~28" from wall) rather than from center of room, and we couldn't do that with tubes (at least not flush with ceiling). Some other issues to consider with fluorescent tubes is dimming ability, buzzy transformers, and relatively low CRI.

NOOOOO!!! I despise fluorescent lighting in my home. We had a big 4 ballast fluorescent in the kitchen before our reno and it was one thing I was NOT willing to compromise on...it had to go. My husband likes fluorescent light and would have been happy to keep the stupid, ugly thing but NO WAY!!! But that's just me...if you like it and don't want to spend money replacing something you like, then keep it!

double post

This post was edited by dcward89 on Fri, Dec 5, 14 at 14:41

We FINALLY replaced our kitchen florescent with recessed cans just one month ago. Did it ourselves, and it wasn't hard at all. My DH is a fanatic about well-lit rooms and he can't get over how much light they provide. Said he didn't miss the center fixture one bit.

Well, I would like to switch to another light fixture, or possibly cans whenever my husand can find the time to do it. It just seems we always have another project that takes priority. We did the cabinet refacing, counters, backsplash, undercabinet lighting and painted all the downstairs rooms. Next was a new furnace, and a new heat pump hot water heater. Next we plan to tackle our upstairs bathroom renovation, and paint all the rooms upstairs as well. Spring will find us tearing down and rebuilding our old shed. All our projects are DIY, which saves us a bundle but require lots of time. Since the fluorescent light still works, its not at the top of the list, although it is on the list, we probably won't get to it for a while, not enough hours in the day!

My neighbor chose a more modern big light fixture that looked similar to the fluorescent one but is frameless and she used 3,000K LED long bulbs inside and it keeps a nice warm white light that is not stark and is very modern. She had no ceiling to patch up. I did recessed lights and the popcorn ceiling is a mess now and I have to hire someone to touch up the ceiling. But I wanted recessed lights. I used Halogens at first at the end of 12/2011 but recently replaced with Cree 1500 Lumens 3,000K LED bulbs and I love the warm light it gives that can be dimmed.

I have never liked fluorescent lighting. I am sensitive to the noise and flickering that many people don't see or hear.
I can't wait to update the rest of my fluorescent lights with LED. I have a bag of screw in LED to fit our cans but need to snag some new switches.

I also went with 3000k as my DH said light should be white not yellow. They are nice and bright. I can dim them when I don't want as much light. The cheaper screw bulbs will be 2700 but figured OK in the hallways.

The one caveat and need to have Sparky come visit. - there is minor interference between the lights and my Wolf induction. It doesn't effect performance but buzzing is slightly louder.

Kept it? Nope. As you can see, it was butt-ugly. No amount of light output could make me like that thing. I maybe turned it on 5 times in the 12 years I lived with it. It's been smoothed over and replaced with 4 small cans that I hardly notice (and also rarely use because I have ample task lighting).

{{gwi:2141271}}

a2gemini,
Upgrading your dimmer switch would probably resolve your interference problem. I've have buzzing and flicker problems with my some of my LEDs on dimmers, and in all cases upgrading to a low voltage dimmer fixed it.

Linelle, mine is very similar. Even if I keep the actual fluorescent, I AM going to change that yucky fixture! I am not having much luck looking (not sold on the HD or Lowe's ones) but am also going to keep the LED's in mind mentioned earlier....

I including a link to an article with some info on different types of fluorescent ballasts. Old-school magnetic ballasts cycled at 60 Hertz and had fairly noticeable flicker. Electronic ballasts cycle much more rapidly (>2000 Hz) and most people don't perceive flicker. Electronic ballasts are also more efficient. The article also discusses noice.

While I wasn't a fan of old-school fluorescents (flicker or color), I don't have any issue with most modern lamps and ballasts. I don't get the hate.

That said, you might want to look into LED replacements for fluorescent fixtures. Someone mentioned Cree: Their CR series LED architectural troffers look like a winner.

{{gwi:2141272}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Light Guide Fluorescent Ballasts

In our old place I kept it, but it was recessed and built in to the ceiling, and the part you could see was wood painted white and blended in. Sometimes they can work, but usually not.

I suffer from migraines and I hear the flicker and buzz. I have one fluorescent light in a closet and I am replacing it with a Phillips LED fixtures. The first think I removed in my kitchen was the fluorescent lights. You don't have to do recessed fixtures. There are quite a few slim LED fixtures that work well in kitchens.
Good luck!

I am with homepro01, when the ballasts start to go or they flicker, I get migraines. Worst one I ever had was triggered by a public library restroom fixture.

My friends know I can't be too close to those lights, my boss has them in the office but will turn them off when I come if a bulb is going.

So if you are keeping yours and having head aches, you might want to rethink that fixture.

Modern Ceiling Puff that you can replace with LED Long bulbs instead of Fluorescent. My neighbor chose 3,000K temperature LED bulbs to put inside.

Here is a link that might be useful: Modern Ceiling Puff that you can replace with LED Long Bulbs