To test my theory, I first purchased one 4-inch and one 5-inch recessed can and a variety of lamps. Placing and Testing Fixtures in the Kitchen It also throws light directly into open drawers. This location puts the beam right above the work surface and, equally important, it prevents the cook’s body from blocking the light when he or she stands at the counter working. My opinion, based on common sense-and now also on empirical evidence-is that the proper place for canned lights iin the kitchen ntended for task lighting is directly over the edge of the countertop, which is roughly 24 inches out from the wall. Now I measure, before and after, every kitchen I’m asked to redesign. This launched me on the path of putting numbers to good and bad lighting. Then, a few years ago, I met with a prospective client who complained of really bad lighting in his newly redone kitchen. But it has bothered me that this bad advice is still being disseminated. I bought that book, but the advice in there to center the cans in the aisles made no sense to me, and I stopped following its guidelines after one or two projects. The book’s theory was that lights centered in walkways wouldn’t create “hot spots” on the upper cabinets and that under-cabinet lights would do the heavy lifting (see “ Under-Cabinet Lights Won’t Save You,” below). This spec seems to have originated in a kitchen lighting book that was popular in the ’90s. In doing so, I found that one illustration shows the cans 49 inches out from the wall and another shows the cans a whopping 56 inches out. The illustrations don’t include dimensions, but out of curiosity I traced and enlarged them, then scaled them using the 25-inch countertop as a guide.
In a couple of books used by kitchen designers, I’ve seen illustrations showing recessed can placement well away from the task. I believe there’s considerable misinformation about where canned lights in the kitchen should be located in relation to countertops. Ideal Location for Recessed Canned Lights in the Kitchen But I also put everything on dimmers, which enables users to soften the lighting while also saving energy and extending lamp life in halogens and LEDs. My personal target is a 100 fc minimum, and even more for clients older than 60 (see “ Aging Eyes Need More Light,” below).
KITCHEN RECESSED LIGHTING LAYOUT GUIDE UPDATE
This jibes with the January 2017 update of the Illuminating Engineering Society’s (IES) “ Lighting and the Visual Environment for Seniors and the Low Vision Population” (ANSI/IES RP-28-16), which also recommends a minimum of 50 fc at the countertop surface. In the book Kitchen & Bath Lighting: Concepts, Design, Light,which the National Kitchen & Bath Association ( NKBA) released in 2015, the text suggests 50 fc for prep counters. Industry groups also weigh in on the topic. That will help you avoid banging your hip on the corner of the island countertop, but it’s very dim light for working in the kitchen.
KITCHEN RECESSED LIGHTING LAYOUT GUIDE CODE
The code isn’t much help: IRC 2015 requires just one light fixture for the entire kitchen, yielding perhaps 6 foot-candles (fc). There has been almost no new research on this topic for the last 30 years, and competing expert opinions leave designers confused about how much light is needed in the kitchen. Here are some considerations for kitchen lighting layout.
I’ve written about this before (see “ The Right Way to Light a Kitchen"), but I recently measured comparative light levels on actual jobsites, and the data backs up my contention that, in most cases, the wrong fixtures are being placed in the wrong locations. In what follows, I’ll look at factors such as the number of fixtures and the type of lamps (bulbs) used, but I’m particularly interested in the size and location of recessed can lights for best practices for lighting in the kitchen.
Lighting is often an afterthought, yet even when it’s carefully planned, designers and lighting experts often don’t agree on which lamps work best in particular fixtures and where those fixtures should be located.
0 kommentar(er)
