Cool Kelvin

First, Pat installed Google Reactions at the bottom of each post to gauge opinion. Think of it as particpation without commentary.

Now look at these two sconces...





The one on the left is a 15 watt incandescent...and the one on the right is a 5 watt fluorescent. You probably still hate fluorescent despite my pleas to think otherwise, but it does look better. This is a color rendering fluorescent, which has the same characteristics of an incandescent.

Now look at the benefits:

More light using 1/3 the energy

7 year lamp life versus 7 months for the incandescent

Less than 1/3 the heat output, which in a showroom of lights lowers the temperature and saves HVAC costs.

I want you to stop thinking about types of light in terms of light quality. Buy a bulb based on the Kelvin scale. Clean, white light is at 2500-3000 degress Kelvin, and poor lighting is 3500-5000 degrees.

The Lights Dim in Beantown

Have to confess, I am an insomniac..always have been. So here it is at 2:14 in the morning, and I am reading Boston.com. Two businesses, Boston institutions, are calling it quits, Yolandas and WBCN.

Fo the unfamilar, Yolandas was the place to buy a bridal gown in the city(I have deftly managed to avoid that scenario). She is 74, and simply calling it quits to spend time with her family. She is going the way of many, locally owned businesses. Between capitalization and succession planning, most businesses dont reach a second much less a third generation...

WBCN shutting down is a shock. The station created alternative rock back in 1968. I remember as a kid always listening. In fact, before I went to college in 1982, I used to wake up at 5 just to listen to Charles and The Big Mattress Morning Show. That was unbelievable, free form radio. Over the years, to quote J Geils(their frontman Peter Wolf was an early DJ) BCN "must have got lost"(great tune), and with competition from Itunes and satelite could not compete without a clear value proposition.

Sad day for this city especially since there is no clear replacement..as the CEO of Yale(an institution wannabe) the message resonates: Stay relevant, competitive and plan for the future or else

Buy This, Not That...Maybe

Love that book, Eat This, Not That...especially when I discovered my favorite tuna sandwich was 1200 calories with 75 grams of fat.

Our adaptation is Buy this, Not that.....(am I reaching?)

Buy this: The french door refrigerator will allow for greater lateral storage and more refrigerator room than a side by side. The doors are also split, which is better in tighter spaces and island installations.





Not That...Maybe. The side by side used to be the standard. It is not as hip, cool or functional as the french. It can be, however, almost $1000 cheaper in a shallow depth configuration. Some people have a different idea of cool with another $100 in their pocket

How to Light Your Kitchen...Part 4

To review, the other 3 components of a light plan:

Task Lighting: Track, recessed and undercounter lighting designed as the backbone of your lighting plan.

Accent: Designed to highlight objects

Decorative: Chandeliers and wall sconces designed to personalize the space. Decorative adds light, but is secondary to task for overall illumination.

This brings us to a forgotten, yet important element of your plan, Ambient lighting. Ambient provides pleasant(weak word, but I am just returned from the red eye), environmental lighting. It has been called the "roaring fire" by lighting designers.

I prefer to call it "uplighting" or fixtures, which light the ceiling. Pendants and semi-flushes can provide ambient lighting...Cove lighting. can achieve the same result as well

Let me show you a few applications...



You are confused? Just remember a pendant, for example, can provide decorative and ambient functions.

How to Light a Kitchen Part 3: Accent

Why am I spending so much time in the kitchen? When you watch TV in the living room or go to sleep in the bedroom, you are shutting the light down or off. Kitchens and baths are a different story and really the only true task applications in your house.

As the kitchen has become all encompassing to include the living space, there are many opportunities for different types of light. You may have artwork on the walls, pottery on a counter or crystal in a cabinet, which you would like to highlight. Accent lighting provides this function.

For example, Next time you are in a nice hotel and see a beautiful flower arrangement, look up. It will most certainly be highlighted by accent lghting. The most common accent lights (for now) are pinhole recessed, which looks like this(they can be smaller)...




Or track lighting




They both utilize a low voltage bulb, which is slightly whiter than an incandescent. This whiter light is great accent lighting. Crate and Barrel utilizes this light commercially better than anyone, especially glassware.

Off today...will respond to questions Monday.

Lighting a Kitchen Part 2: Decorative

So we have our task lighting, which is the most important. Most consumers, however, would believe the chandelier or decorative element is the most crucial. This is partly true, because decorative personalizes the space, but task lighting lights it.

Most people think otherwise. The old way was to size light, which was 24 inches off the table and 12 inches less in diameter. With islands and penisulas being the rage, finding a fixture with those specifications is not easy.

Forget convention, I am writing this at home. My chandelier is 36 inches off the table and way smaller. I think it fits the space. But here are some other ideas. Remember what I have said previously...Have fun with this.

Applications











We may as well show off a bit...Have a look at some new stuff.



Accent lighting is tomorrow. Then I am on vacation. We will finish and amalgamate a plan next week.

How To Light Your Space...Kitchens

Ok, now how do you light a kitchen?

This is a much hard question, because lighting is not direct replacement like appliances. There is so much more to proper illumination as well. First, there are 4 sources of illumination: Task, decorative, accent and ambient. I will cover task today, and the other three in separate posts.

Task is general illumination or backbone of any lighting plan and is most commonly track, recessed and under-cabinet lighting. I will provide the basic framework for a lighting plan. Ceiling height, angles, stud locations, etc. can alter the standard.

Basic recessed placement is 18 to 24 inches off the cabinet or at the edge of the counter. Place them 4-5 feet apart.





Couple of aesthetic tips: Use a 4-5 inch can rather than a 6 inch and for kitchens buy the white trim (industry term for decorative).

Second important part is the under-cabinet lighting. Typically an under-cabinet light is available in 7,16,24,30 and 37 inches. This type of task application will illuminate the shaded part of your counters and provide accent lighting as well.





Sample of one of our lighted kitchens....Don't worry in the next couple of weeks, you will be able to engineer your own lighting plan.