LED Lighting

Kitchen with a continuous light cove

Lighting plan for a whole house renovation project

A couple of us went up to Lighting Inc. this morning to get updated on current LED light fixtures. We need to constantly check in with the lighting industry, as this technology is changing quickly. Prices for LED fixtures are coming down, color rendition is getting more like our dear old friend incandescent, and brightness is getting, well, brighter.

Today we were looking into using LED for cove lighting in a cool project we're working on in Westlake. I've included a preliminary sketch of the lighting plan, along with an interior elevation/section of the kitchen with the light coves each side.

LED's would be perfect for this application: They are energy efficient, fairly bright, produce no radiant heat, dimmable, extremely small, and require virtually no maintenance for the life of the home. No climbing on ladders to change light bulbs!

But, alas, our perfect solution comes with a catch: High initial cost. If you can swallow this, though, you save money over the long run. Payback times are estimated at three years when compared to a fluorescent, and only one year when compared to incandescent. That's not at all bad in my book.

So we're comparing costs, and our clients will make a decision soon. I'm rooting for the new technology myself, but as always, I recognize it's not my money!

Luminously yours,

Stewart