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ewills_va

Recessed and Pendant placement help. .

EWills_VA
12 years ago

I have a few questions regarding lighting placement on this kitchen re-do.

First with the recessed placement. I am thinking roughly 15 6" cans (Cree LED, 9' ceiling) for the 264 sq ft of space. With 102" of work/counter space on the "sink wall" I am guessing one centered on the front edge of sink (will have UCL throughout) then one on each side of that roughly 3� from the sink can (again on edge of counter).

The "oven wall" has roughly 45" of total work/counter space so I am thinking just one light centered on that counter edge. Should I just look at the remainder of the room as one big grid (save for the island area) and fill in accordingly?

Speaking of the island... there are 3 pendants for it - should they be placed over the center line of the cooktop (is a one level island - with odd shaped top/eating area) ...or over the center line of the overall dimension of the island?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Here is a link that might be useful: Lighting help

Comments (3)

  • renovator8
    12 years ago

    You didn't mention the wattage or lumen output but that seems like too much light to me especially since LED is usually such a cold bright white light.

    Use the 5" fixtures and space them 4 ft apart and put one on either side of sink to avoid shadows when working there. Place lights at task areas and allow the reflected and spill over to light the floor. Lights between the island and the work counter put shadows where you need light to work and a light directly above your head is uncomfortable.

  • hilltop1155
    12 years ago

    I have a recessed can directly over my sink (not over the front edge, but centered about a foot from the wall) and it works well; as Renovator8 said, I wouldn't want it directly over where I'm standing. Do you have cabinets or a wood enclosure directly over your sink area, or is that just ceiling between the flanking cabinets?

    I agree that 15 cans in 250 sf seems like a lot. My kitchen is about that size and I think 10 would be plenty, especially when you consider you'll get some light from the pendants as well. I do have under-cabinet pucks and they provide a good bit of additional (and pleasing) light.

  • David
    12 years ago

    If you use the Cree CR6, the max output per can is 575 lumens. The color temp is 2700k (soft white), so the light is definitely not cold white.

    If dimmers are used, shave 5% off the max output since modern dimmers only provide up to 95%.

    To provide myself with some buffer, I would discount the output per can to ~ 500 lumens.

    Assuming all lighting coming from the cans alone and ~ 35 lumens per sq ft,
    the number of cans required is 16 (Max output of 575) - 18.

    If you intend to layer your lighting / have multiple types of sources - pendants, ucl, cove, spotlights, track lighting, ... the total can be reduced, depending on the output of each source type and location.

    The final location of each recessed can depends heavily on obstructions in the space above the ceiling - water pipes, HVAC, vertical clearance, location of the joists, wiring, ... You may have to either change the pattern of cans, or reduce the number of cans and rely more on other types of light sources. If the ceiling is currently open, it would be relatively easy to figure out the location of each can.

    Cove lighting could be employed to augment the recessed cans and pendants.

    I would put a can over the center of the sink.

    I would place the pendants on the center of the island (if there is no cooktop).

    Where is the cooker hood? Or are you considering using a down draft vent system?

    If there will be a significant amount of cooking, you should plan on having a proper cooker hood installed.

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