Kitchen Lighting / Tiling / Upstands

Jag1978

Hi All

Three questions - Before having my kitchen put in next week. I seriously need to look into my lighting situation in the kitchen. Currently I have a bog standard tube light. This gives good coverage but looks very dated. As we’re having a bran new kitchen I need to modernise on the lighting.

I can’t go down the spot light route for various reasons. My fitter recommended that I should look at track lighting – the ones where you can adjust the light to the idea position (4 lights to a track) so possibly having 2 set of them. He also suggested looking at under unit lights. Considering the work top is a black gloss it might be a good idea.

Does anyone have any experiences with this type of lighting. Also my ceiling is quite low only 2200mm from floor to ceiling and I’m 6’4” (1930mm – I think!)

Second Questions I still need to buy the tiles to go between worktop and top unit. Does anyone have any idea what kind of tiles I should be looking at. Also whats the standard ideal measurement between worktop and top units. As our cooker is a 600mm one it has it’s own splash back lid so we’re not going to have a separate splash back. The floor has been tiled using a dark grey square tile. The units are a Cherry Verona type (homebase) with black gloss

Finally what are peoples opinions on upstands to go onto of the worktop!. I’ve bought them with my kitchen and now I’m having second thoughts.

Opinions much appreciated

Regards

Jag

adaze

The space between the wall units and worktop can vary, but would usually be about 500mm (it can depend on if you have a larder unit for instance). Under unit lighting is deffo a good idea, it is really cheap (screwfix) and easy to fit, and if you are tiling too you can hide all the wiring.

Those other lights sound like a good solution.

Tiles are completely upto you, you can use any wall tiles really.

We don't have an upstand on our kitchen, we're just going to have tiles all the way up, with a splashback behind the hob.

Doozergirl

I'd only have one track really. We went for more in one house and it was ridiculous. Four directional lights in most kitchens will be absolutely fine, especially with under cabinet lighting as well.

I'd only have upstands without tiles. Beware that the laminate upstand isn't waterproof and not recommended near sinks as it will take the opportunity to suck up any standing water in the crease.

Jag1978

Some very good points there...

We do have larder units so I guess I just need to deduct the top and bottom unit height against the lader height and that would give me the distance for the tiling area - Problem is what tiles will look good.

Good thinking about the hiding wiring behind the tiles.

I think I'll return the upstands back to homebase if they will have them.

Now to find some decent lights!!

Regards

Jag

Doozergirl

The tiles that you like will look good. There's little other colour in the room, just wood, black and grey so it doesn't really matter what colour tile. Just choose what you want.

TimBuckTeeth

If you are used to a fluorescent tube then spot lights might be a bit of a disappointment.
Spotlights will not light the ceiling so the room will appear darker. Some types of spotlight eg. GU10 bulb do not last very long and they will use more power than a fluorescent. It might be worth considering fittings with circular or square fluorescent tubes, otherwise check the spotlights will be adequate eg. in a display kitchen.

Under cupboard lights are a good idea, it will be more important to have them if you use spotlights on the ceiling as standing infront of one will cast a definite shadow.

With a black gloss worktop the type of under cupboard lights should be chosen and positioned carefully as you could see a reflection of the lights or glare on the worktop.

Doozergirl

TimBuckTeeth wrote: »

With a black gloss worktop the type of under cupboard lights should be chosen and positioned carefully as you could see a reflection of the lights or glare on the worktop.

Indeed. Probably a good idea to go for fluorescent tubes!

Jag1978

Back to square one... Can anyone recommend any modern looking flurescent tube lights that would look good in a modern kitchen. Also what are the best types of under unit lights??

Canucklehead

Good morning: We used linolites under the cabinets and 2 of something similar to this on the ceiling (height issues as you have;) ). I'm not a fan of overhead fluorescent strip lighting (it is energy efficient but has an institutional feel about it...so says the reformed teacher).

HTH

Canucklehead

andrew-b

We did much the same as Canucklehead...flourescent strip lights below the wall units and 4-spot plate on the ceiling. We fitted the spots with 50degree GU10 bulbs and pointed them at the four main areas of our kitchen - sink, main worktop, hob, larder. The 50 degree angle is the measure of how wide the light from the spot is dispersed - alot of GU10s are a much narrow angle than this.

Regards the height of wall units relative to the base units...if there are no larder units (or similar) that dictate what the height must be, decide which size tiles your going to have so you can work out what height will mean a whole number of tiles and hang the wall units to match (not forgetting to allow for grout lines!). I did that when we had our kitchen done...then found out after that the fitters had completely ignored my instructions so i ended up having to cut thin 1.5cm slithers of tile all the way round - very fiddly!

Andy

Jag1978

Because of the low ceiling in the kitchen it's going to make it very difficult for any kind of spot or down lights to throw enough light around the kitchen. I wish it was possible to find a track based light which distributes the light more evently. Another option is to by a ceiling bar light like the ones mentioned but maybe have more spots on them (6) e.g.

http://www.johnlewis.com/230227502/Product.aspx?source=16667

Maybe not from John Lewis as it might be a bit pricey...

As my kitchen is 4.5m x 3m it might allow for more light to be thrown round the kitchen. Also buying under unit lights will help the situation.

Regards

Jag