Understanding Lighting

Share on Facebook

December 4, 2016

Lighting your new kitchen or bathroom is extremely important.

Your lighting will accent the look and feel of your room. And of course, you want your lighting to be effective based on the colors and space of the room.

Let’s start with the basics.

There are four types of light bulbs you’ll use in your home…

1. Incandescent
2. Halogen
3. Fluorescent
4. LED

Now let’s briefly dig into each starting with “Incandescent.”

The Incandescent light bulb is the most commonly used light bulb.  And it’s also relatively cheap to buy.

Incandescent light bulbs provide a warm and engaging quality.  They’re also complimentary to skin tones.  Incandescent bulbs typically have a life of 700 to 1,000 hours.  They can be used with a dimmer.

Now keep one thing in mind — they’re not very energy efficient.

Now there’s a variation of the incandescent bulb and it’s called “Halogen.”

Halogen bulbs are very bright and can last twice as long as a standard bulb.  They are the closest brightness to actual daylight.  Colors in rooms appear far sharper under halogen light and the bulbs can be dimmed.

Halogen bulbs are more energy efficient than regular incandescent bulbs and are more expensive.  They also burn at a higher temperature.  Halogen bulbs are typically used in under-cabinet lighting, pendant lights and recessed cans.

The next type of light bulb is called “Fluorescent” — a common choice for ceiling lighting.

Fluorescent lighting gives a flat, cold light — sometimes it appears bluish and somewhat harsh on the eyes.  They are the equivalent of daylight as far as tone and brightness and cannot be put on a dimmer.

There are many types of fluorescent bulbs such as warm tones, cool tones, and ones that are special-colored.  They also last much longer than incandescent bulbs.  Fluorescent bulbs are so bright that they’re used to completely light large areas like attics or basements.

Now, using compact fluorescent light bulbs is an easy way to save energy.  Compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) consume a quarter of the energy that incandescent bulbs do and last 10 times longer.  CFLs are quiet, instantly turned on and have warmer, color-corrected tones.  CFLs can be used anywhere you would use a typical incandescent light bulb and they contain trace amounts of mercury, a harmful substance.  While fluorescent bulbs contain far less mercury than other household items — care needs to be taken to prevent breakage.

When CFLs burn out, you need to recycle them.

The last type of bulb is called “LED” which stands for “light-emitting diode.”

LED is a lighting technology that lasts a long time and is extremely energy-efficient.

LED lights are only directional light, not diffused light — making them ideal for under-counter task lighting — not general illumination.  To get around this, new LED light models consist of multiple LEDs clustered together.  As far as cost — they cost five to six times more than CFLs.

So choose your lighting wisely based on your specific kitchen or bathroom with your Edge Kitchen and Bath Designer.

To schedule an appointment with an Edge Kitchen and Bath Designer, please click here.