Layout of downlights in kitchen - positioning around cupboards

Hi folks, could I ask for some advice please on laying out some downlights in the kitchen?

I have 600mm work surfaces all the way around the kitchen. On the one wall though, I have 300mm cupboards above. To reduce shadows being cast across the work surfaces, I planned to have the lights 500mm centres from the wall. However, as the one side does not have wall-mounted 300mm cupboards, won't the lights look a little odd being further away from that wall?

I could take the downlights closer to the wall without cupboards, but I'm thinking, what if down the line I may want to mount some more cupboards to the wall?

I've attached a pretty bad diagram if that helps. Cheers!

With down lighters it is difficult to get shadow free illumination over the work surfaces. A lot of the light on the work surface is not direct from the lamps but reflected from floor, walls, doors etc, If the cabinets are dark colour more down light is needed.

Strip lights under the wall cupboards give near perfect illumination of the work surface. LED light strips are excellent for this. Easy to fit and ( if bought from a reputable source ) long lasting.

http://www.lyco.co.uk/integral-30w-waterproof-daylight-led-light-strip-ip67.html

is one I fitted recently.

If you want no shadows then use up lighters. There is basic ways to get light out of a bulb. 1) Use a diffuser to spread the light. 2) Use a reflector to spread or intensify the light. 3) Use a lens to direct the light. 4) Use the light straight from the bulb. Or of course a combination of all four. Down lighters tend to intensify the light and prevent it being reflected from the ceiling. This has an advantage with a orange ceiling of not making everything look orange, but we tend to paint ceilings white so in the main using the ceiling as a reflector will help spread the light and get rid of shadows.

Using 300mm down lighters or the square down lighters that replace a ceiling tile allows the false ceiling to be lowered so saving heat, however we tend not to use false ceiling in the home, and for a kitchen we need to get rid of heat not retain it. Using small 2 inch (50mm) down lighters aimed at orange walls can reflect the colour giving a warm feeling to the room. However unless you have white floors aiming them at the floor is useless. In the main we have dark floors. Again the colour of the work top and kitchen cupboards is going to make a huge difference to the lighting.

Using 2" spots to supplement the lightings is good aimed diagonally across a work top they can avoid the shadows cast by the central main light or can illuminate pictures on the wall. But they are useless for general lighting. 60° is common and at 1 meter from light to worktop it will light up a circle 1.16 meters diameter since circles they will need to overlap. So a lamp every meter would be required remember not lighting the floor lighting the counter. If you can get 120° lamps then 3.5 meters which is better so every 3 meters you need a lamp.

My GU10 lamps used as reading lamps in the bedroom have an angle of 30° and 25 ~ 35° with the latter the light is not sharp as a finish now to use these would be silly a lamp every half meter. Yet if I aim these lamps at the ceiling and use the ceiling as a reflector it lights the whole room (they are mounted on the wall above the bed head).

My 5 foot LED tube in the kitchen is not the best looking, but it works. And as an electrician I don't want visitors to think I am useless at my job. Size is 24W output 2400 lumen, my son used 7W LED spots in his kitchen, It is half the size of mine he has 6 lamps so 42W output 420 x 6 = 2520 lumen yes near double the wattage but about the same lumen output and when I came to help him with central heating I had to get a touch to read the pressure on the boiler. They are simply useless.

Lighting is not easy at the best of times. For my mother I fitted a 2D round flush lamp on the ceiling plus under counter lights and light in the cooker hood she only uses the 28W 2D lamp on ceiling although it is rather a high ceiling.

If you were thinking about 2" down lights I would think again, the 2D light in my mothers house is a down lighter i.e. no light is sent up. But the angle is around 170° so it sends down a circle of light around 22 meters diameter so lights all the work tops. At 28W and just over 2000 lumen about the same output as 5 x 7W GU10 LED lamps so yes more efficient than small LED lamps.

As I said to start with placing GU10 lamps to reach dark corners using ones you can tilt of course is a good idea, but they are useless at general lighting.

Hi there, thanks for your detailed responses.

I suppose it's worth saying here that I do actually have under cupboard lighting so there is that. I was particularly set on having downlights as it seems the fashionable thing to be doing. I understand what you are saying in that by themselves, they aren't a good light. But with the combination of having under cupboard lighting too I can't see how I can go too wrong really. Plus I have light coloured cupboards, and a light painted kitchen.

Ultimately though I'd like to know people's opinions on positioning of downlights, as opposed to whether they are, in general, ideal or not.

Thanks

ritchieee said:

I was particularly set on having downlights as it seems the fashionable thing to be doing.

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Some people think the same of stone cladding.