![]() Ideal Location for Recessed Canned Lights in the Kitchen But I also put everything on dimmers, which enables users to soften the lighting while also saving energy and extending lamp life in halogens and LEDs. My personal target is a 100 fc minimum, and even more for clients older than 60 (see “ Aging Eyes Need More Light,” below). This jibes with the January 2017 update of the Illuminating Engineering Society’s (IES) “ Lighting and the Visual Environment for Seniors and the Low Vision Population” (ANSI/IES RP-28-16), which also recommends a minimum of 50 fc at the countertop surface. In the book Kitchen & Bath Lighting: Concepts, Design, Light,which the National Kitchen & Bath Association ( NKBA) released in 2015, the text suggests 50 fc for prep counters. Industry groups also weigh in on the topic. That will help you avoid banging your hip on the corner of the island countertop, but it’s very dim light for working in the kitchen. The code isn’t much help: IRC 2015 requires just one light fixture for the entire kitchen, yielding perhaps 6 foot-candles (fc). There has been almost no new research on this topic for the last 30 years, and competing expert opinions leave designers confused about how much light is needed in the kitchen. Here are some considerations for kitchen lighting layout. I’ve written about this before (see “ The Right Way to Light a Kitchen"), but I recently measured comparative light levels on actual jobsites, and the data backs up my contention that, in most cases, the wrong fixtures are being placed in the wrong locations. ![]() ![]() In what follows, I’ll look at factors such as the number of fixtures and the type of lamps (bulbs) used, but I’m particularly interested in the size and location of recessed can lights for best practices for lighting in the kitchen. Lighting is often an afterthought, yet even when it’s carefully planned, designers and lighting experts often don’t agree on which lamps work best in particular fixtures and where those fixtures should be located. ![]()
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