Nowadays the kitchen is the centre of the whole house or apartment, which places increased demands on good lighting of the kitchen. As with most other rooms, just one light simply is not enough. The most popular type of light in the kitchen are chandeliers, which are either placed in the center of the room or above a dining table. It always depends on the specific shape and size of the kitchen. Moreover, it is also necessary to light up a kitchen worktop and to do so we can recommend several types of lights.
The most popular are fluorescent tubes
The most often used are fluorescent lights. Basically, it is a long thin tube in which there is a fluorescent light inside. Of course, you can select the length based on the length of your worktop, however, we recommend not to skimp on the light, as you need to see properly, especially when working with a knife. The rule of thumb is, that the worktop should be illuminated by about 300 lx (you can read more about the number of Lux in our article How powerful light bulb do I need?
The benefit of fluorescent lights is high luminous intensity over the whole worktop, long lifetime, safety and low energy consumption. Moreover, they don’t take up too much space, therefore they are suitable for placement under cabinets. These fluorescent tubes are either equipped with a direct connection or a connection using a power cable. And if you are lacking sockets at to the worktop, you can also purchase fluorescent light with one or two built-in sockets. Fluorescent lights have different length and are controlled with small switches located on sides and they can be also connected to another switch on a kitchen cabinet.
If you want colors, choose LED strips under kitchen cabinet
To light up a kitchen worktop you can also use spotlights, which are the most suitable when they are placed in the ledge. Also LED strips have become very trendy lately. There are several reasons for that. First of all, very modern design and interactive aspect of LED strips, as you can change color and light intensity of LED strips with a remote control. However, LED strips also have practical benefits. The are available in different lengths (moreover, they can be shortened at marked spots), so you can choose, how large area you wish to illuminate. Small LEDs built-in in the strips provide sufficient even light, yet they are very energy-efficient.
LED strips are also very popular thanks to the fact, that they are very easy to install. There is an adhesive layer on the bottom, so you can easily install them even without an electrician. However, do not forget, that they require a power supply, you must always have a transformer corresponding to the length of the LED strip. Sometimes a transformer is already included in the set with LED strip, if that is not the case, you have to purchase a transformer additionally. Approximate necessary wattage for one metre is 4,8 W, logically, as the length increases, you will need a more powerful transformer. At our online store in the category called LED accessories, you can purchase transformers for sockets or transformers directly for electrical distribution.
