Under cabinet lighting illuminates the work area below with fixture installed on the underside of the cabinet. Ideally, the fixture(s) used in under cabinet lighting should minimize their physical presence and conceal physical wiring as much as possible. While this form of lighting is technically geared toward practical activity, it is important to maintain aesthetic harmony with the surrounding environment and also produce the right type of illumination over the work area. Counter tops and food preparation need an evenly distributed field of linear lighting rather than hot spots of light that appear brighter than the rest of the work area. This light should blend comfortably with the general lighting of the room without producing discomforting glare.
Until recently, the most cost effective under cabinet lights were fluorescent. In fact, fluorescent was the lighting industry's power saving mainstay since being invented in the early 20th century. People never really preferred them to incandescents because of the glare and flicker they became notorious for producing. Today, better circuit designs and superior fixtures have since made it possible to use incandescent and LED replacement bulbs in under cabinet lighting fixtures. Low voltage technology can also make any bulb type less of a power hog. Selecting LED under cabinet lights now requires more of a designer's eye than an electrical engineer's technical skills. The ultimate goal in choosing the right fixture has now moved toward producing optimal lighting levels for work areas and creating balance and comfort with surrounding layers of light.
Under cabinet lights fall into one of two categories: puck lights and linear strip lights. Puck lights are circular in shape and mount in the center of the cabinet's under side. Linear strips mount underneath either on the front end or the back end of the cabinet. Until recent years, display cabinet lights used fluorescent lamps designed to create an even spread of light and reduce energy costs at the same time. Both types of fixtures now, however, present certain drawbacks when it comes to optimal under cabinet lighting.
Puck under cabinet display lights experience difficulty creating an even field of illumination. If a puck light is installed in the center of the cabinet underside, it will create a bright circle of light called a ?hot spot? immediately beneath itself. Also, by design, surface puck lights require exposed wiring and low voltage transformers that may be unsightly and appear as an afterthought. If sitting at tables, banquets or bar stools, one's viewing angle changes and provides a clear view of these light sources. The only way to compensate for this is to install several of smaller puck lights in a series. Why do this if you can use a strip light products? In fact, with only rare exceptions, linear LED strip lights for under cabinet generally provide the best levels and distribution of light all around. Fluorescents will fit the bill in many respect, but in many instances will also create glare and seldom come with dimmable functionality. Furthermore, fluorescent strips are typically mounted near the back wall with the light thrown forward; putting too much illumination into a person's eyes from a sitting position.
LED strips for under cabinet lighting offer a number of advantages over both fluorescent strips and puck lights. For one, LED linear strips mount near the front of the cabinet and throw the light backward. This keeps the light from directly blinding the eyes works very well on surfaces such as granite and marble counter tops that are highly reflective by nature. Because each under cabinet light strip uses lamps that snap readily into the light strip itself, they do not require inconvenient bulb replacements that are common with puck lights. Also, unlike halogen bulbs in puck lights that become easily damaged by the oil from human fingers, some manufacturers such as Phantom Lighting design lamps of all varieties (incandescent lamps, xenon lamps, and LED light bulbs, to be handled and switched out by the end user without hassle to the person or damage to equipment.
Remember always, please, that under cabinet lighting innovation, options, and energy efficiency should always be balanced with aesthetic and topped off with end-user friendliness.
Under The Cabinet Lighting
Homes today are more like small buildings than the traditional houses of 40 years past. They contain more rooms, more furniture, and more interior custom build outs than previous designs afforded. As such, cabinets have moved beyond the kitchen and bathroom into other portions of the home as well. Workrooms and home offices contain both functional and decorative fixtures constructed to make life more convenient on a room-by-room basis. The specific purpose of cabinet lighting thus varies accordingly. It can be either exclusively task oriented, exclusively decorative, or a subtle blend of both. With specialty and custom cabinets, the decorator is often hard pressed to find standard fixtures that will fit the unique dimensions and eclectic materials used by today's builders. Particularly on the decorative end of the spectrum, puck lights are becoming increasingly unpopular because their high visibility often detracts from the visual aesthetic of specialty design. Linear strip lights are now the dominant fixture in this discipline, and linear lighting manufacturers who can custom manufacture fixtures to fit precise vertical and horizontal dimensions becomes an increasingly valuable resource in today's rapidly changing world of lighting design.
Phantom was one of the first cabinet lighting manufacturers to notice this movement toward specialization and customization in home interior design. They realized that in order to make truly superior linear lighting products we would have to accommodate aesthetics, practical usage, and power saving features all in one bundled value offering. Knowing as well that cabinet lighting itself would become increasingly decorative in its intention and simultaneously mores sophisticate in functional applications as well, we designed a shelf lighting strip that would be all things to all workers, homemakers, collectors, and professionals from a wide range of vertical markets.
This resulted in the patented design of six linear strip light series, five of which will fully accommodate the demands of any commercial, office, home, or specialty cabinet lighting requirement that a client may bring to the table. Each strip light features a specialty; niche functionality combined with features shares by all six linear strips to make them both the most unique lighting fixtures of their kind and the most readily adaptable to any environment.
The first thing Phantom Lighting accomplished when it first designed these fixtures was to develop a new method of conductivity that would completely eliminate visible wires. We perfected a technique that allows us now to send current to low voltage festoon lamps by means of existing metal shelf standards that allow for reshelving without tools or risk of short circuit. This has made them a hot item in display cabinet lighting. Their low profile design makes them undetectable to the casual viewer, and their proprietary conductivity features allow decorators to move or replace entire shelves when the time comes to modify or switch out displays. In the retail world in particular, Phantom cabinet LED strip lights have proven themselves exceptional accent lighting tools whose compact, wireless presence is ideal for glass accessory cabinets and specialty showcase displays.
Office managers also prefer Phantom low voltage cabinet lighting strips to traditional fluorescent linear strips when it comes to delivering essential task light to break rooms, bathrooms, and kitchens. It was proven in the 80's that fluorescents flicker causes eyestrain and headaches, so replacing fluorescent strips with cost effective, superior lamping technology such as low voltage incandescents or super energy conscious LED festoons does a great deal to make for a more pleasant and comfortable environment.
Along similar lines, kitchen under cabinet lighting has had to evolve beyond the rudimentary task oriented focus that also relied upon fluorescent strip lights in past decades. Kitchens now are bigger and often the center of home sponsored events. In fact, they are often one of the first rooms that interior decorators and lighting designers pay attention to accent lighting fixtures because kitchens and bathrooms are the two rooms every guest will eventually visit at some point during his or her stay.
Our technology offers a number of color trim choices that allow decorators to combine glare free functional cabinet lighting with an aesthetic sensitivity to adjoining layers of room and accent lighting and specialty interior designs. We offer each client low voltage fixtures that can be dimmed upon command to create different levels of light for different times of day and different activities. We also provide an impressive selection of colour temperatures in incandescent, xenon lamps, and led festoon lamps.
Russell Neal has sinced written about articles on various topics from Home Management, Architecture and Arts. For more information on cabinet lights and other strip lighting applications, visit
Cheap Christmas Vacation Packages Make your Christmas celebrations exclusive this year by enjoying it in a unique manner. Undoubtedly, you will find the occidental traditions as beautiful and interesting as the oriental ones.