Kitchen lighting help!

[Dontwanttooutmyself]

Hi there,

We are just getting to the point where the builder needs to know where to put the lights in our new kitchen/diner extension - much earlier than expected due to the rain keeping him off the roof! Kitchen is south and west facing, with massive windows/French doors and veluxs.

I know downlights are a faux pas on MN but I don't see what other option I have for the kitchen bit- we want pendants over the island (another no no, gasp!) and a chandelier over the dining table. Will also have under cabinet lights under the wall units.

So main question is- where do you place the led downlights? Directly over the countertop or (imagine you're standing at the sink) over your head, or behind your head? I'm worried about shadows and glare.

Second question is, how far apart?

Third question is- any other lighting tips?? There was a thread on recently here about siting the pendants but I can't find it.

Thank you in advance!

[Dontwanttooutmyself]

Also, how the blardy he'll do you spell the plural of velux!!

[Dontwanttooutmyself]

*hell

[OnePlanOnHouzz]

tee hee ! what a dilemma !! well as a rule I would normally position them 1200mm apart and I put them on a grid that best covers the whole area rather than putting them in more random places - I do aim to have them over the worktop area in key places - so if you have a plan - draw a grid of 1200x 1200 on another piece of paper and move it over the plan until it looks right ! and pendants over Islands look great ! no faux par as far as I can see !

[snailsontour]

Goodness I had to keep checking this as I thought I'd posted this question!!!
Similar (identical?) situation here. Electrician started first fix today, and we've got to decide on the position of the pendants over the island for tomorrow - tricky and the kitchen plan is not finalised!
Our electrician is proposing to fit the downlighters about 800 mm apart but I think this may be because our ceiling is vaulted?? And they will start roughly overhead at the point where you stand in front of the worktops.
I shall be watching for more tips:)

[pootlebug]

We have some shining down onto the worksurface and some around. But I have no real idea what I was 'supposed' to do in this respect.

One thing I will say is make sure you can control different bits of lighting separately. So in our kitchen/dining/living area we have:

• Light in extractor over hob
  
• Lights above central island
  
• Lights to light area around central island but not shine down on it
  
• Ceiling spots above dining table
  
• Pendant above dining table
  
• Feature wall light
  
• Lights in sitting area
  
• Uplights in floor along edge of sliding glass doors
  
• Under cabinet lighting
  
  Each with a separate dimmer switch. So you can choose which areas to light, and how much.

[LemonEmmaP]

We've just gone through this. Our main preparation area is the island in the middle of the room, so that has a row of LED downlights almost central above, which is fantastic whichever side you work from. Our sink run is under a sloping roof, where we weren't able to put downlights, so here we have pairs of lights in between each of the veluxes - do make sure you position the veluxes in such a way that you're left with enough ceiling between them to place the lights you'll need when it's dark outside.

The lights above our sink are set behind the worktop, which would be really irritating if that was our main preparation area, as the shadows are annoying. Fortunately (and more by luck than planning) the sink itself has a velux almost directly above it, and is lit by the lights on either side, so the shadows fall left and right of you as you stand at the sink, rather than into the sink itself.

Our cooker run has under unit lighting in the wall units above, without which the downlights wouldn't be sufficient, so I'm really glad we got those (they were a bit of an afterthought!).

[Dontwanttooutmyself]

Your kitchen sounds exactly like mine, emma.... Are you me from the future??

I'm now wondering if I need down lighters AND pendants above the island...? I'm thinking I'll have the down lighters around the edge of the kitchen bit and jut pendants above the island. The velux Is right above the sink, but obviously the lighting is mainly needed for nighttime!

[snailsontour]

Just been checking, we have down lighters between the velux's - phew.