Kitchen lighting options

7 years ago

We are getting ready to remodel our kitchen. Cabinets are order, renovations to start April. We were planning to do LED recessed lights. I've read on here that you shouldn't use them if you are a single story house. I really had my heart set on either recessed or the flush mount LEDs that look like recessed lighting. What are our options? We want to do this the right way the first time around even if that means something else.
We are also looking at under cabinet lighting. I'm leaning towards the tape LED strips but I'm reading those can show the dots on the granite countertops. I want something clean looking and simple. What is your favorite?

Featured Answer

iamtiramisu

7 years ago

Ok ice dams and lighting was a new one to me, so I had to google. It sounds like LEDs are recommended to REDUCE the likelihood of ice dams because they don’t run as hot as traditional lights. https://blog.1000bulbs.com/home/prevent-ice-dams-by-switching-out-your-lights
As for contact with insulation, that I do know a little about and I’m sure they must make LED pucks that are IC rated (insulation contact). Look for that rating and you should be fine. If you have an electrical supply house somewhere near you, you can go talk to the people there and see if they have recommendations.

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Comments (6)

iamtiramisu
7 years ago
Not an expert, but I’m struggling to understand why it would be said not to do LED recessed lights in a one story house. Unless it’s an overhead space constraint concern, but with LEDs that isn’t a concern because they don’t need as much space as traditional cans.
As for undercabinet lighting, we were also concerned with the spots from tape so we went with tape lights in diffuser panels. Check out Inspired LED online. They were great to work with and our UCLs are fantastic.
Suki Mom
7 years ago
The traditional can lights emit too much heat in the attic. New LED lights that look similar to can lights are fine in any ceiling.
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M Chap
Original Author
7 years ago
I have read the issue now is the fact that the opening is going into my attic space with insulation. My husband has done most of the research and said something about a concern of ice dams?
M Chap
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks for the recommendation on the UCL I will check that out :-)
wdccruise
7 years ago
Recessed lights: You just have to make sure that the fixture or can is IC-rated which means that it can come in contact with insulation. A commenter on houzz wrote that he had tested a number of 4" recessed LED fixture and found that the Juno fixture worked best. So you could install a Juno 4RLD in a Juno IC1R LEDT24 inside an insulated ceiling. Note that there are also very shallow fixtures such as this Commercial Electric kit that require no can at all; just drill a hold and push it up into the ceiling.

Every designer recommends not installing recessed lights larger than 4" (bigger=ugly).

Undercounter lights: Fixtures such as this GE Enbrighten Under Counter model contain a diffuser which reduces the likelihood the LEDs will reflect in the countertop. If you have a run of cabinets, choose under counter lights that can be linked together (ganged) so you don't have to connect each light to an electrical box.