Kitchen light advice

[brk1]

After some advice please, doing up my kitchen and want some advice about suitable celing lights, the ceiling is only 2.53m x 2.25m so not a big celing, it's only ever had one pendant with a 100 watt bulb in it, but it is a fairly high at 2.65m . I wish to modernise the kitchen but don't want downlighters, the reason for this being its only got 5" celing joists and with a teenage daughter just above them, it's a bit on the bouncy side and didn't want to replace bulbs on a weekly basis. The idea of spots on bars appeals to me or even on a base/ceiling plate.

Now from people who fit them regularly, would one central bar with 4 spots be adequate without too many shadows, I've read about cheap bulbs maybe only having a 12° scope and would be like a narrow torch, others have more like 120° range so would obviously spread a lot more light. my other option would be to put 2 lights in so I can spread the light, then either use a bar again with 2 or 3 spots or a triple spot from a ceiling base type light that could use something similar to the retro eyeball lights so the light could be set up to any position that I needed, obviously I don't want a celing full of spot lights nor do I want shadows cast everytime your doing something in the kitchen.

Any useful comments could be most helpfull to me. Unfortunately when you look at them in shops they don't give you any idea of what light they will give, they're basically about as good as having a torch shone in your face , half the bulbs aren't even on so you get no idea of what they might be capable of.

 

[TicklyT]

There is much to be said for fitting fluorescent lights in a kitchen. Some consider the fittings too industrial looking, but a kitchen is a place of work, so you need good, efficient lighting.

Spotlights are not such a good idea - they are specifically designed to cast small pools of light, and throw shadows everywhere else. That may be good for mood lighting, but not much good for task lighting. There's a good chance the light from the ones you have seen on display is truely representative of the way they would light your kitchen.

Another possibility is adding task lights concealed under the wall units to illuminate worktops below. Again, fluorescent or LED lights are available.

 

[brk1]

Thankyou Tickly T, was hoping for something a bit more fancy than a tube as the main light, as you say they're a bit industrial looking, that's was what I was afraid of that the spots were basically like torches pointing straight down, especially the downlighters, that why I was hoping that the bar type spots with wide beam bulbs might have been good enough. Might pay me just to stick 2 pendants up there for now, only problem with bayonet bulbs getting discontinued these days, anf the crap performance of some of those long lfe energy bulbs leaves a lot to be desired, those flat disc type ceiling lights are like candles in jam jars regarding light output.

I've actually already purchased 3 mini tube to go under the wall unit plinths, they'll help but the way my kitchen has to be set out makes them liimited as well

 

[vibrobullit407]

Fluorescent fittings do not have to be just tubes. Just have a look on google to see the vast range of modern fluorescent's. Here's a link to get you started http://www.universal-lighting.co.uk/home_lighting/kitchen_lights/kitchen_ceiling_lights.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2012913#2012913

 

[brk1]

Thanks for those links guys, most of the houses I work in seem to have bespoke kitchens fitted to customer requirements, a ceiling full of about 20 spot lights all round with under unit lighting, show-piece type kitchens, not "I'm home now , where's me bloody tea" type kitchen mine will be .

Can honestly say I've never seen any of those fancy new Fluorescent lights.
That means I can leave my pendant where it is then put up my new ceiling ,get it plastered this weekend ,then look for a fancy fluorescent light , I take it the wiring will be similar to that of a pendant fitting ? All I have at the pendant is the switch wire and the loop in , I take it that's all that will be needed.

I can also say I still haven't had time to look in a proper lighting shop, only the DIY stores near me, none of them have fancy tubes on display, at least I can get an idea of what I want from those links

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The wiring will be the same - you may need to add a bit of choc-block if there's no loop terminal.

 

[brk1]

Thank you, my main concern in the first place was one light or two, while the ceiling was down, cable could have been left in place and connected up when the time came from my daughters bedroom, all the electrics run down the middle of one floorboard for the kitchen, lobby and bathroom, now I can just leave the pendant hanging in the middle and plasterboard either side of it, won't even need a sparky till after Easter now.

 

[brk1]

Could somebody tell me where the cable enters in these modern lights, If I remember correctly last time we had to take a tube light down in a garage the cable entered the light to one side rather than in the middle, is this still the case or do they very from light to light, if I bought one with a long tube and a short base I suppose it must be some where near the middle of the fitting.Just if I leave my ceiling rose up it will be in the centre of the ceiling, then if the new light isn't then there will have to be some joining inside the light ??

Was really hoping to get my ceiling up this weekend and skimmed as well.

Also what is classed as Switch Start Gear, is that another name for the little starting motor inside the fitting?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

It's not actually a motor, but yes, that's what it means - the long-standing design which flickers and often thumps on startup.

The alternative is high-frequency control gear, which doesn't flicker, and which is more efficient to run. Also prevents the strobing effect of a 50Hz light - unlikely to be particularly relevant in a kitchen,but jolly useful in any workshop or garage with rotating finger-choppy things.

You have to get the right sort, but HF ballasts can allow you to dim fluorescent lights, and can be got with, or converted to have, emergency battery packs.

 

[brk1]

So is it just the little switch gear that could be changed, or are they totally two different types of light, ballast wise ,looked round B & Q yesterday, what a poor selection of lights they had, bog standard Fluro lights or a whole 5 pendant fluro lights, that was it, I'm just not going to be get out the rest of this Easter break now to look round , mind you B & Q had a lot bigger selection than Wickes ,I know I need to look in a proper retailers to find something decent

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Everything is different apart from the tube and the non-electrical parts, i.e. case/body/cover/glass/reflector/whatever etc.

 

[brk1]

Thank you very much, I'll have a better idea of what to look at for now