Kitchen Spot Lights

JayneH_3

Finally I am having my kitchen refitted, but have been left totally confused about spotlights. We went to a lighting consultant who suggested installing 35w downlighters (12v 60 degree halogen bulbs) to most of kitchen, and 20w (12v 38 degree halogen bulbs) over the worksurface. I seem to remember that he said the light would be whiter rather than yellow. Our ceilings are quite tall. When the electrician came he said that the recommended bullbs would be far too dim and we would be better off with mains voltage. I now have a lovely new plastered ceiling with 16 bits of wire dangling whilst we try and make up out mind!!

I am aware that some people seem to be changing their halogen bulbs very frequently - I saw the earlier post in the Grabbit section. We had hoped to avoid this is possible.

Has anybody got any advice as to which spotlight system is preferable??

All help/comments much appreciated

grumbler

JayneH wrote:

... When the electrician came he said that the recommended bullbs would be far too dim and we would be better off with mains voltage.

:mad: Mains voltage does not make any difference if you use bulbs with the same 35W power. Some 12V bulbs are available with 50W power.

I am aware that some people seem to be changing their halogen bulbs very frequently - I saw the earlier post in the Grabbit section. We had hoped to avoid this is possible.

Has anybody got any advice as to which spotlight system is preferable??

Admittedly low-voltage halogen bulbs last longer (because of thicker filament?). Also 12V white LED-based spot bulbs emerged with ultra long life of 50000hrs, but their power (equivalent) is less than 30W yet AFAIK.

Mrtickle_3

I used to be an installation engineer. You do not need to worry about the luminescence of the halogen bulbs - they sound about right to me, just make sure that there is good coverage of the entire kitchen. The bulbs are more like spot lights and produce little undirected light (You can also get varying beam angles). Also the high ceiling should reduce this effect.

Bottom line - Lighting engineer sounds like he knows what he is talking about (even if he is recommending the more expensive option!). Electrician is probably a bit old skool and doesn't want to deal with this new fangled halogen lighting :P

Give it a go and see if you like it - after all you don't really want to fill in all of those holes do you?

N

JayneH_3

Electrician is probably a bit old skool and doesn't want to deal with this new fangled halogen lighting :P

MrTickle I think you might have hit the nail on the head!!

I don't suppose you know if it is possible to fit a dimmer that does not buzz do you?

Mrtickle_3

JayneH wrote:

I don't suppose you know if it is possible to fit a dimmer that does not buzz do you?

You can get solid state dimmers although they are fairly expensive. They are completely silent. I believe a company called Lutron sells them (this is only my second post but I believe I have to declare that I am in no way affiliated with this company).

grumbler

Also be aware that not all 12V power supplies are dimable.