Kitchen Lighting?

wraiths

Have a customer wanting some 4" can lights in her kitchen. Heres the dilemma I have, the dimensions for the kitchen are 17' long by 7' wide an I'm trying to figure my spacing of the cans for the most light . I'm afraid there want be enough light . Thinking about 2' off of cabinets an spacing bout 3' apart what do you think will this be sufficient? The 7' wide dimension is from cabinet to cabinet . Thanks in advance ....

send_it_all

In my experience, the 4" lights put off some pretty good light when you use the halogen par 20 bulbs. 3' apart is a little too close for my taste. I usually put one directly over the sink on a separate switch, then space them about 4' apart. But, I also use undercabinet lighting and pendants over an island if applicable, so I usually need less overhead light. Maybe you could upsell some undercabinet lighting by telling the HO that by only having recessed lights in the ceiling, you are always working in your own shadow when using countertops as workspace. Undercabinets also putoff a nice glow effect that adds visual appeal to the kitchen...you know, crap like that.

goose134

Spacing depends a lot on type of lamps used. Floods you can probably space them out more. The ceiling height also plays into it as well. Taller ceilings, and you can space them more. In short, there are a lot of different factors that come into play. In my experience your spacing sounds fine for an eight or nine foot ceiling. Start spreading them out too much and you end up getting a spotty effect.
Undercabinet lights are a good way to mitigate the work space shadow issue as well.

Jim M

I don't think that I would try to light a kitchen with 4" recessed. I feel that it would require too many considering the amount of light you get out of that small of a fixture. I prefer 6" with a step baffle trim and PAR 30 bulbs.

mdshunk

I agree... don't use (or try to use) the recessed lights for the general lighting. Use them to light specific work areas, and choose a more suitable fixture for the general lighting.

goose134

6"in. cans are an option, but if the HO wants 4" then so be it. Another 4" can you could go with is a low voltage MR-16 type. I've got them in my place and if you crank the dimmer all the way, it looks like the inside of the ship in close encounters. Bear in mind these need magnetic dimmers (at least mine did)

dlcj

whatever type of light i use or no matter the size of the room, i like to space the lights,fans,etc where the distance between them is twice that of the distance from the end fixture to the wall or cabinets. In your case maybe 21" from cabinet then 42" to next light and 21" to cabinet. measured to center of cans of course. That way all fixtures are covering the same amount of area.

220/221

Two feet off the WALL....12" off the cabinets will put the light where you need it....on the counter tops.

4" cans will cover about 3" wide from an 8' ceiling. Place them strategically over the working counter space. I always try to talk them into 6" cans w/ 75W par 30 halogen lamps. Much better light.

Sparky Joe

4" cans look much better than 6" holes in the ceiling, but under cab lights are much better for countertop tasks. I've done cans in the past 12" off cabs 4' apart on a seperate switch for task lighting, then 2 or three in walkways and center for general lighting. And also what was said above about over sink seperate switch and pendant's over islands/bars switched seperate.
I think that options are the key for kitchen lighting since so much time is spent there, but for many different reasons