If you’re only going to choose just one lighting feature to add your kitchen, make it under cabinet lighting. It provides task lighting for your countertops to make them ideal for food preparation and cooking, it illuminates the backsplash on your wall to create beautiful accent lighting, and it can also be used as night lighting for your kitchen. Once you install under cabinet lighting, you’ll never want to go back.
Many lighting designers talk about creating “layers of light” for your kitchen. Under cabinet lighting serves as a crucial “layer” for great design.
That being said, there are a ton of options to choose from. How do you know what style of under cabinet lighting is right for your kitchen? Hopefully, this guide will make it a little easier to make your selection.
It’s a good idea to choose your light source first.
1. Fluorescent, Xenon, or LED?
Fluorescent Under Cabinet Lights
Fluorescent under cabinet lights are the most energy efficient in providing a given amount of light. Moreover, fluorescent light sources give off very little heat. This is a great feature depending on what is stored in the cabinet immediately above the under cabinet fixture or, perhaps, what is lying 12 to 18 inches below the light. While most fluorescent fixtures cannot be dimmed, they can be a wonderful, inexpensive option. In addition, our Microfluorescent Fixtures or Fluorescent Swivel Sticks are probably the easiest products to install – a definite plus. Continue reading 'How to Choose Under Cabinet Lighting'»
Buyer's Guides
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dimmers, energy efficiency, fluorescent lighting, halogen lighting, interior design, kitchen lighting, led lighting, low voltage, puck lights, recessed lighting, residential lighting, task lighting, under cabinet lighting, xenon lighting
Low voltage lighting is not new. According to Popular Mechanics magazine, “Low voltage outdoor lighting got its start in the early 1950s when Bill Locklin, an electrical contractor in Redlands, Calif., was asked by a client to put up some outdoor lights.” It took a few decades for homeowners to catch on and take advantage of all the benefits that low voltage lighting has to offer. Nowadays, homeowners installing outdoor landscape lighting often choose low voltage lighting fixtures.
But what about low voltage indoor lighting? Almost 60 years after Bill Locklin’s innovation, low voltage indoor lighting has finally become mainstream. There are several reasons why low voltage lighting has become more popular. Better quality fixtures, long-lasting bulbs and easier installation methods are just a few of the reasons. Further, many Americans are more aware of the importance of energy conservation and the savings that result from using low voltage fixtures and energy-saving light bulbs. Low voltage lighting fixtures, and the bulbs that are used with them, provide a higher quality light. Low voltage lights have also become more versatile than in the past. There are many low voltage design options. Some popular fixture types include track lighting, under cabinet lighting and hanging pendants.
Continue reading 'Low Voltage Indoor Lighting: Pendant Lights for Every Room'»
It is that time of the month again – announcing our newest monthly Pegasus Associates Lighting Forum $50 gift certificate winner. I really do like writing these blog posts. This month our winner is forum member kalieaire. Kalieaire joined our forum in May shortly after it was launched.
To help build our new online lighting community, Pegasus Associates Lighting is giving away:
- Free lighting gifts to the first 100 members who join the forum. To date, we now have 70 members.
- Free lighting gifts to the first 50 members who post in our forum 10 times.
- A $50 gift certificate to one lucky forum member each month for the rest of 2009. There is only one month remaining to be eligible to win a $50 gift certificate.
The Pegasus Associates Lighting Forum is an online lighting community with a primary focus on helping to answer our website visitor’s lighting questions. Answers may come from one of our technical customer service representatives monitoring our lighting forum or another forum member. In addition, our forum is also a place to allow people to share their lighting projects (including images), post lighting articles, and to provide feedback on our products or website.
Our most recent post asked a question about which type of dimmer needs to be used for a 150-watt electronic transformer powering under cabinet puck lighting. The best type of dimmer to use is an electronic low voltage dimmer. If a regular line voltage dimmer is used it may shorten the life of the transformer, cause a slight humming from the transformer, and reduce the range of dimmability.
Our monthly forum winners:
| May: |
cmgeupel |
| June: |
Joe B. |
| July: |
Premium |
| August: |
pbcomm |
| September: |
bigguy |
| October: |
Chloe & Co. |
| November: |
kalieaire |
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