The old and ugly track lighting in my kitchen is finally failing and I can’t get replacement parts. So, now is the perfect time to put new lighting in. I’ve already got fluorescent undercabinet lights, so what I’d like to do now is put in recessed lighting in the ceiling to provide the ‘all-over’ light that the track lights are currently doing (poorly).
The ceiling is angled at a 4:12 pitch, so I’ll need angled cans to accommodate that. The cans will be projecting into an insulated attic space, so I’ll want them to be rated for insulation contact and also be ‘airtight’. I can reach the space from both above and below, thankfully. There are a few more decisions to be made, though, and I could use some advice.
I like the idea of using CFL bulbs, both for the energy savings and because it’s a pain in the ass to get out my 10’ ladder to change bulbs all the damn time; the ceiling is 10’ at one end of the kitchen and over 13’ high at the other end. I am trying to decide between using dedicated CFL fixtures that have their own electronic ballast and use TTT or DTT bulbs, and regular incandescent fixtures with a screw-in CFL bulb. My folks use the screw-in CFLs in their home, and I have a few scattered around my house as well, and I’m not thrilled with their performance. Of course, this might simply be because I have chosen cheap bulbs. On the other hand, my undercabinet fluorescent fixtures work great - instant on, good color, silent. If I can get the same performance out of the ceiling cans with screw-in CFLs, I’ll give it a try, but if getting the same effect requires a dedicated fluorescent fixture and more specialized bulb, I’ll go that route.
Any other thoughts or words to the wise would be appreciated. With the recessed lights at one end of the kitchen being 7’ above the counters vs. 10’ at the other end, should I vary the spacing or put brighter bulbs in at the high end or something, or will that not produce a noticeable difference in light intensity?
Not a big fan of fluorescent. Maybe just go basic cans and plan on putting in LED bulbs as the price comes down?
I don’t know… I just redid my kitchen… with access to ceiling from above, and I went with cans rated for insulation contact, and put regular flood lights in them.
I am not familiar with TTT and DTT bulbs. I think I am going to be happier with traditional incandescent style screw-in lights and then switch to LED.
I think the CFL is a sky rocket, very popular for a while, but will gone soon, replaced with halogen,zenon, LED’s, or something else. For hard to reach fixtures, I would look at the LED’s. In exit lights at the church I used to attend, on 24/7, I have gotten as much as 2 years on the early CFL’s. Newer ones may be cheapened and shorter lived. In the addition they build 30 years ago, they splurged on LED exit lights and I think the originals are still there. There are some exterior high pressure sodium vapor light that have gone 20 years or better.
I would really do some digging. Will this be DIY or a contractor? Some contractors are up to date. You could wonder into an electrical supply. They may not be real DIY friendly, but if you catch them on a slow day, they could steer you to a great product. Some of the newer stuff is very expensive initially, but have a long term pay back due to low power usage. You might never have to change a bulb.
Off topic. My son tells me there is something about in rating the efficiency of a commercial building, you count hardwired in light fixtures, but not ones that plug in.
I highly recommend LED, especially for the kitchen. It’s got a brighter white light than CFL, is lower wattage and they’re dimmable! Also, they don’t have that warming up period that CFLs do. They’re pretty expensive but I’m slowly replacing every light in my house with them.