Hey Kelly,
We just finished our kitchen and I’m struggling with the over cabinet lighting. Our cabs don’t go all the way to the ceiling (9’ ceilings) and they are all at different levels. Above fridge (12” from ceiling), next one drops down (15” from ceiling), above hood (8” from ceiling), next one drops down again (15” from ceiling), then the corner unit goes up (12” from ceiling, turn corner and next one goes down (15” from ceiling)…Then our window. Then one more cabinet that goes up high (12” from ceiling)
Anyway, they are all wired ready for lights, but we started with just 3 on the lowest 3 cabs (15” from ceiling). Our lighting store here recommended fluorescent tubes, T5, 3500k, 2-21watt (36”cabs) and 1-14watt (27” cab). These seem really bright to me, I can’t imagine putting these on all 7 cabinets, it would be awful. I wanted a nice ambient glow up there, we don’t need more task lighting, our cans, undercab, and rail system over island is plenty of light…
Like I said, I wanted all the cabinets to ‘glow’ up there so if we are watching TV in the adjacent room, we could turn those on and have a very soft glow coming from the kitchen…
Do you have any ideas? Can we dim these fluorescents? Is there the perfect light for this?
Thanks for your thoughts! J.
Good question! Ok, here's what I know: unless the manufacturers come out with something in the past year I've missed (which could happen!), I haven't been spec'ing the dimmed fluorescents.
My reasoning is because the ballast and the dimmer must be compatible and the light isn't a smooth dimness; it jerks from bright to brighter to brightest. (There really is no "dimmest" factor due to the electronic ballast--they must maintain a minimal output to light up at all.) There's been some industry mutterings (meaning unsubstantiated, so take with a grain of salt, please) that both the incorrect dimmer and constant dimming of the bulbs diminish a bulb's longevity.
Having said that, I agree your assessment of the up-lighting. That's a whole lot of ambient going on! :) I should point out that while bright, it's not as bright as you think it is once the other lighting is turned off. I've designed many kitchens with more than seven fluorescents without a complaint as to over-brightness--part of that is because we're seeing reflected lighting off the walls and ceilings. And it does depend on the kitchen size, paint color and materials too.
However, for purposes of this question, I'm assuming you really want enough light for safety so no one needs to blind everyone when getting something from the kitchen, correct?
So here's a suggestion: could you consider multi-switches and split the lighting in half? What I mean is:
a) Place one set of fluorescents, say the highest cabinet lighting, on one switch,
b) Place the second highest on another switch (or balance them as you see fit, as I haven't seen the layout.)
Or,
c) Separately switch each wall of up-lighting if you're concerned about dark spaces between.
In either case, you control the levels by turning on one switch or two (or 3 if it's a u-shaped kitchen.)
Also? If you find a really good dimmable that someone has used (just not the manufacturer's hyperbole) I'd love to hear about it.
