how to determine number of lights needed for my kitchen?


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Old 10-21-19, 04:01 PM
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how to determine number of lights needed for my kitchen?

I have a 10' x 12' kitchen. I want to install LED recessed lights for it. The ceiling height is 8'. I probably will use 15W LED recessed Ceiling lights like this kind. My questions are these:

Q1: usually which light, 12W, 15W or 18W will be used in the kitchen?
Q2: how many do I need them and how should I layout them?

Thanks
 
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Old 10-21-19, 08:36 PM
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Do you have upper cabinets ?
Four in the kitchen and one over the sink.
 
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Old 10-22-19, 04:33 AM
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When I did kitchen rebuild we now wish we had put in under cabinets lights.
 
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Old 10-22-19, 04:44 AM
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Much will depend on your preference. As I get older I am tending towards more and more light. More lights will help reduce shadows so I would install more, lower powered lights instead of fewer higher powered ones. The low ceiling height also means the light won't be able to spread out as far by the time it gets to counter height so you may need them closer together than you might think.

I would not install a non-standard ceiling light like the square ones you linked. I would install a traditional round can in the ceiling with an LED bulb. This will help insure that you can easily find replacement bulbs in the future.

Definitely install under cabinet lighting if that is an option for you. It is the most used and most useful lighting in our kitchen.
 
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Old 10-22-19, 06:20 AM
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The terms are ambient lighting for the room, this would be the ceiling cans.

The counter/under cabinet light is considered task lighting.

Kitchens are probably the one room where you need/want both and should be on separate switches.

Under cabinet lighting used to be a pain with transformers and halogen bulbs it's a simple LED solution today!
 
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Old 10-22-19, 08:17 AM
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I have to agree with PD. The older we get usually the more light we want. But not just the light itself but the color. You might want to install a double set of lights. One set with a subdued 2700 Kelvin temp and another with a 5000 Kelvin temp. Use the 2700 Kelvin over the dinning area while use of the 5000 Kelvin would be over the food preparation (stove, sink, counter top).

At least get a under counter light that provides both types. The 5700 Kelvin will provide high contrast for detail work and the 2700 Kelvin for a subdued relaxing light.

I would highly recommend the GE under counter LED plug in light 18" 629 lumens. 4 settings
 
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Old 10-22-19, 10:30 AM
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When I renovated our ki tchen I had the same question. After looking around the internet and lighting manufacturer's websites I solved my problem by going to a lighting store. The manager of the store spent a half hour with me and provided a lighting layout for our kitchen. Naturally we bought our lighting fixtures from them. They may have been a few dollars more than from a big box but the lighting was exactly what we needed.

My recommendation is more light is better, coverage is important but control even more so. We ended up with 8 six inch cans and 5 five inch cans in our relatively small kitchen. The 6 inch cans were on a dimmer. One of the 5" cans was a spot positioned over the sink on a separate sink. The picture was taken near the end of the renovation. I had not installed the soffit/crown molding above the cabinets.


We added task lighting that wasn't part of the lighting plan the store provided. We removed it after a year or so - it was not needed. The only task lighting we kept are the pendants.

It's all in a landfill now.
 
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Old 10-22-19, 10:57 AM
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CW...That is nice!_______________________________
 
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Old 10-22-19, 11:35 AM
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I agree with Pilot Dane go with cans and bulbs.
Need a brighter light in one area just get a stronger bulb.
Also bulbs should always be available but if a fixture with built in LEDs goes bad the odds of finding an exact match in the future are slim.
I would also get dimmable bulbs and install a dimmer, it will give you options on how much light you want.

Have one can over the sink and if you do not have a range hood one over the stove for sure.
Then fill in the other areas.
You could wire it in two zones also.

As far as using different temperature LED's I would not do it as it could end up not looking very nice.
I have a couple 4 foot fixtures that have different temperature bulbs in them and it bugs me but the price on the second one I installed was right and it is in a utility room so I will live with it.

It is a kitchen so I would go with a hotter bulb 4000K or 5000K but then I am not a fan of warm white so it is a personal choice and depends on the colors etc. in the room.
 
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Old 10-22-19, 01:52 PM
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WAS nice. It's all in a landfill now.
 
 

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