Recessed Lights

[Smokey]

Starting to remodel the 50+ year old kitchen at the cabin, and trying to figure out the best option for lighting. The ceiling is only 7' high, so I was initially thinking of installing recessed lighting. That is, until I pulled off a couple of pieces of the 1/4" OSB that was being used as ceiling tile (will be replaced with something else). I found that the "joists" above the kitchen, holding up the loft above, are 4x4's, not 2x6's. So, I will only have about 3 1/2" to 4" of clearance to work with. I did find a very shallow (about 1" thick) LED recessed light on the internet that looked promising, but they are 50 bucks apiece, and I don't know much about them. The info says that they put out about 450 lumens each. The kitchen is 10' by 10', so I'm guessing maybe 4 of these? For $200 I really need to like these things, and would like to see them in person.

Anybody out there have any ideas? FWIW, I'm also thinking of adding under cabinet lights, but that's not definite yet.

[Tom7227]

I suspect that the LED at that price is of pretty low quality. We just re-did the kitchen and I wanted to put them in but the reviews on the cheap ones weren't good and the 'real' ones cost big bucks. If you have recessed lights you don't get much ambient light out to the sides. I have 15 of them in a room with 10 foot ceilings and I am not impressed with what we get when we turn on a few. I would think you'd be better off with a 2 or 3 bulb unit that has a low profile and can be found just about anyplace.

[SkunkedAgain]

When I started my basement remodel, I talked to my uncle who has been in the lighting business for 30 years. His opinion was that LED still doesn't warrant the price but will in the future as more people buy and adopt the technology. I went with a bunch of recessed lights and I've only got 7' ceilings as well. I agree with Tom though, you might be best off using a couple regular boxes with a low-profile standard light fixtures. It saves the cost and the hassle. Get fixtures where the bulb is parallel with the ceiling instead of hanging down. That will save you some height since inches WILL matter if you've got tall people around.

[Smokey]

Thanks for the input. Now I'm leaning towards some sort of low profile surface mount light in the center of the room. There is one already above the sink, and I will add another overhead track or pendant style light over the new work "island" that will not have overhead cabinets above it.

Those, along with the light on the range hood should be enough I think.

[Tom7227]

I put in under counter lights as part of my recent kitchen remodel. We got some high end halogen rigs that were terribly expensive. Prior to this I had bought some cheap puck style lights that had a transformer. They did the job but were pretty finicky - work sometimes and not others. Might be OK for a cabin. The did get extremely hot so I would be cautious about where they are put to avoid someone getting burned. As for our setup we could live without them but they really show off the huge buck counter tops and back splash. That may not be important to you - me either.

[JohnMickish]

Unfortunatly with such a low ceiling and shallow recess above you are pretty much limited to a low profile flourescent fixture.

I personally love LED lighting and what you can do with it, but the good stuff is still expensive. Give it another 5 years and it will be a different story but for now, flourescent is the cost and energy effective way to go.

[Smokey]

There is a low profile flourescent there now, I put it in when we bought the place to brighten it up. Hopefully we can find something a bit more stylish, if not, No Big Deal.

Tom - when you said Huge Buck countertops, I got excited. Then I realized that you were talking about the cost of them

[Tom7227]

Sorry to use that phrase. Too close to deer season. The Cambria style counter tops cost as much as the cabinets. The recessed lighting was over $600 for 7 fixtures and two of those were only 6 inches long.

If you are going to redo the ceiling anyway you may want to put a light directly over the sink, another over the food prep area and a third over the eating area. More light than you need but fewer shadows on what you are actually doing. I suspect the Mrs would be happier as well, which is maybe all that counts. I put CFL's in all the new ones and it works well.