Kitchen lighting with LEDs: options and installation

Chandeliers are gradually losing their leadership positions, and they are being replaced by original and stylish lamps with LEDs. This option is especially relevant in the kitchen, where it is extremely important to evenly illuminate every square centimeter of work surfaces.

The subtleties of the organization of Led lighting in the kitchen

In kitchens, the best lighting option is bright, but not irritating light.

Recommendations about the organization of LED lighting in the kitchen:

• The backlight should be uniform, without shadowed areas and glare – this is necessary for the comfortable preparation of culinary delights.
• The most convenient option for the location of light sources is under wall cabinets. Then the light will be comfortable, it will not dazzle.
• Furniture spots not only illuminate surfaces, but also decorate the space. They visually raise the ceilings, increase the area, and can even replace the main lighting in the evening.

You can highlight the kitchen using a diode tape or spots (lamps) of various types.

Tape with LEDs

This is a universal lighting element that can be placed on the walls or on the kitchen set. The tape gives a uniform and glare-free illumination that does not give shading.

The tape is attached to the bottom or to the interface line with the apron. If you put a few more lamps on top of the cabinets, then you can do without a central chandelier.

The LED strip has a neat look and is suitable for a variety of interiors. Manufacturers offer monochrome (single-color) and multi-colored models. The best solution is the white version, as overly bright models are prone to light distortion.

open tape

They are allowed to be used in places that completely exclude the ingress of moisture. Open tapes have a low moisture protection class and insufficient sealing (IP 20-33). Open tapes are placed exclusively in the upper zone of kitchen cabinets. Otherwise, moisture or grease will definitely get on the tape.

Single sided tapes

One-sided option – a tape that is protected from the side on which the LEDs are placed. There are hundreds of different models of single-sided tapes on sale, differing in a wide variety of parameters.

Single-sided type tapes are recommended to be installed on the top of the cabinets, away from the sink.

Double sided tapes

Double-sided LED strips are good because they are completely sealed. Such models are reliably protected from water on both sides. They can be installed anywhere, including on a kitchen apron.

Spots over work surfaces

LED lamps installed in the kitchen differ in design and mounting method. There are overhead, mortise and mounted options. To eliminate shadows and glare, it is important to correctly mount the spots.

outdoor 

These fixtures will come in handy in kitchens with high ceilings and large cabinets. Such models are usually installed directly on the ceiling.

Outdoor lamps with suspensions are attached to stretch, plasterboard and other ceilings. Fasteners are made by means of special cables and brackets.

Overhead on furniture

Surface-mounted lamps are installed on metal profiles, wooden gratings, and furniture. To attach such lamps, no special knowledge and skills are required – even a beginner will cope with the task.

Overhead spots can be removed and rearranged to another place. Over time, such lamps do not deteriorate, and after re-installation, too. Lamps are usually made with the function of rotation – so that you can direct the light in the right direction.

Manufacturers offer a wide range of spots. They are made of metal, plastic, plaster moldings. The lamps also differ in thickness. Thick models add solidity to furniture, thin ones save free space.

Mortise spots

Such lamps are also called built-in. They are used mainly in false ceilings, but they are also suitable for kitchen cabinets. In the cases of mortise spots there are spring-loaded tabs, through which they are fixed on flat platforms.

Built-in lights are placed on the doors or on the covers of kitchen cabinets, as well as in niches – on the walls between the elements of the headset.

Manufacturers offer mortise spots of various shapes:

• square;
• rectangular;
• triangular;
• round;
• asymmetrical.

Built-in spots are mounted during the installation of furniture – according to a pre-designed scheme.

Overlay panels

Luminaires of this type are widely used in commercial and government institutions. They allow you to create high-quality lighting that looks spectacular in offices, retail premises, medical and educational institutions.

Benefits of overhead LED panels:

• beautiful lighting;
• give a soft and diffused light that does not tire the eyes;
• comfortable operation.

Overhead Led-panels of small dimensions can be used to create lighting in the kitchen. Such devices are equipped with LEDs, so they serve for many years. You can install them without the help of a specialist, only self-tapping screws are needed for installation.

Recessed LED luminaires

Installing built-in spots can be difficult for people who do not have experience installing such devices. To fix the built-in spots in the furniture, you have to make holes in it – to pull the wiring.

In order not to spoil the furniture, it is recommended to order lighting in advance – at the stage of designing a kitchen set (on order). Recessed spots give a bright and directional light, they are beautiful and practical – ideal for the kitchen.

Types of embedded spots:

• Touch. Such models are recognized as the best solution for installation in the kitchen. There are lamps that turn on with one touch, others light up if a person is in the working area – these have a motion sensor. Such spots save electricity and time of consumers.
• Linear. They have an elongated shape. Case color – white or silver. With a very bright glow, they have little power. They work both from 220 V and from 12-24 V. In the second case, they are mounted through a voltage converter.
• Furniture. Such lamps are installed if you need to brightly highlight a certain area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe kitchen, to focus attention on some object. Furniture spots emphasize the design of kitchen furniture, illuminate the work area with high quality.
  Furniture lamps are small in size, they look beautiful and stylish on the facades of cabinets.

Features of the choice of backlight

When choosing fixtures for kitchen lighting, you need to pay attention to a number of parameters that will allow you to choose the model that is most suitable for your goals.

LED power

The characteristic, measured in Watts, allows you to evaluate the luminous efficiency of devices, and also indicates the amount of electricity consumed. If for all other lamps power is a value that describes the strength of the glow, then for LED counterparts this parameter is absolutely secondary.

Led-lamps, unlike other light sources, even at low rated power give a very bright glow. One that could fill a dozen incandescent lamps. To get the light given by a conventional 100-watt light bulb, a 9-10 watt LED lamp is enough.

Glow power

This value is measured in lumens (lm) and is directly related to the power of the lamp. The luminous flux emitted by LEDs is the power of the beam or quanta emitted by the light source. The more power the LED has, the stronger the luminous flux of the lamp .

For example, a Led lamp with a power of 5-7 W produces a flux of 250 lm, 25-30 W – 1,200 W.

When choosing a LED lamp, you must also take into account the glow temperature, measured in K (kelvins). The higher this value, the colder the glow, the lower, the warmer.

Glow temperature and light:

• warm white – 2,500-4,000 K;
• neutral white – 4000-6500 K;
• cold white – 6 500-9 500 K.

The most favorable for the human eye is a white glow. It is these lamps that are recommended to choose for fixtures.

Protection against dust and moisture

After reading the instructions for the LED lamp designed for installation in the kitchen, you can find a parameter that describes the degree of dust and moisture protection. It is denoted by the letters IP and two numbers.

Degrees of protection:

• 0-5 – from solid pollutants;
• 0-8 – from water.

Type of LED bases and lamps

The luminaires are equipped with cartridges into which LED lamps are screwed . Therefore, when buying light bulbs, pay attention to the compliance of their base with a cartridge. There are types of socles – B, E, P, G, S.

LED lamps are also classified into the following types:

• SMD LED. Here, on crystals located on a copper or aluminum substrate, there is a coating – a phosphor. They are powerful, white in color, emit light at an angle of 100-130 °.
• Filament LED. Usually they are used as decorative lighting. They have an extremely pleasant glow for the eyes, reminiscent of the spectrum of incandescent lamps. Thanks to the cylindrical substrate, the light flux is scattered at an angle of 360°.
• COB LEDs. These are the chips installed on the board. They consist of many SMD crystals assembled in one package, which is covered with a phosphor. The luminous flux of such lamps is very powerful, and the scattering angle is 180 °, so they are not suitable for creating a directional light flux.

switches

LED lamps are equipped with different types of switches. They affect installation, operation and comfort of use.

Switch options:

• Chain and button type. These are ordinary models that do not require the purchase of additional equipment and accessories. The chain switch can be inserted almost anywhere. This option, although morally obsolete, is still chosen by consumers because of its simplicity and reliability.
• Contactless. They allow you to turn the light on and off with a wave of your hand. They can also be set to any other movement. The option seems convenient, but there may be problems when triggered – you need to put it in such a way that it works at the right time.
  This does not always work out – the light can turn on / off in response to random movement.
• Remote control. This is a convenient and practical solution, ideal for users who don’t tend to lose their remotes. This option requires the installation of a receiver to capture and convert commands coming from the remote control. As a rule, such a device is equipped with a lamp with a remote control.
• Combined option. Choosing a remote control to control the lamps, you can play it safe and put in addition the most common switch – just in case. He will help out if suddenly the remote is lost somewhere.

Power Supply

Not all LED strips are suitable for a 220 V network. And most importantly, they are not suitable for installation in furniture. Here we need tapes powered by a voltage of 12 V. In order to connect them, we need power suppliesconverting 220 V to the desired value.

Power supplies are designed for different power, so before buying them, you need to calculate the future lighting system. To do this, the linear power (P, W) is multiplied by the length of the entire system (l, m). The product is multiplied by 1.25 (reliability factor) – to provide the system with an additional power reserve.

Controller for RGB tape

When using an RGB strip , you need to buy a suitable RGB controller. As a rule, it is equipped with a remote control that allows you to turn the light on and off, as well as change its settings.

Manufacturers offer simplified versions – in them the color switch button is located on the case.

There are several types of remote controllers:

• with infrared remote control:
• with radio-controlled remote control;
• with Wi-Fi system for control from a smartphone or other gadgets.

Controllers differ in output power, varying in the range of 72-288 watts. It is calculated exactly according to the same scheme as the power supply.

When choosing a controller, pay attention to its functionality. Modifications differ in the way of switching colors, in some versions there is a flickering mode, a change in the operating mode and the brightness of the glow.

Where can the device be installed?

The main task of installing LED backlighting is high-quality lighting of work surfaces on countertops. It is this condition that dictates the rules for installing LED lamps in the kitchen. Plus, you need to think about the aesthetics of the solution.

There are 3 options for mounting LED backlight. Considering them, it should be noted that the width of the tabletop is 600 mm, and the depth of the wall cabinets is from 280 to 320 mm.

Against the wall of the kitchen apron

From the standpoint of aesthetics, the best option is to install the backlight directly at the kitchen apron. The installed profile looks neat, without introducing dissonance into the design of the kitchen. The disadvantage of this solution is the presence of darkened areas on the countertop.

The problem of shading is solvable – an angular profile is selected, which is placed at an angle of 45 ° to the countertop. This allows the flow to be evenly distributed over it. In addition, corner profiles look perfect at the junction of the kitchen backsplash and the bottom of the wall cabinets.

Center cabinets 

To illuminate the work area more evenly, the profile fixing the tape is moved to the front planes of the wall cabinets. This solution has a drawback – the extension of the profile in the center of the lower shelves. This is not critical – the system is visible only from below. This option involves the use of a standard patch profile.

At the front plane 

Currently, a fashionable solution is the location of the LED strip directly under the facades of wall cabinets. This is a beautiful and practical option, as the light falls immediately into the middle of the countertop, evenly distributed over all work surfaces.

The option described above is not suitable for self-installation of lighting. The ends of the profiles fixed near the facade planes are visible from all sides, which negatively affects the aesthetics of the kitchen set.

You can mount LED lighting near the doors. In this case, it is necessary to use special profile handles and other mounting technology.

Mounting options

You can install profiles on a kitchen set in different ways. The most reliable option is fixing with self-tapping screws. Also, profiles can be glued or put on tape. Each method has its own characteristics, advantages and disadvantages.

How to choose and install a profile for an LED strip – read about it in this article .

For self-tapping screws

This is a fairly simple and affordable way to accurately and securely fix the backlight. Self-tapping screws will not be visible – their caps are recessed inside the profiles and covered with a tape with LEDs.

The method has one drawback – if the lighting is subsequently dismantled, holes from under the self-tapping screws will remain on the wall cabinets. It is for this reason that this option is suitable only on the condition that the kitchen set will not be moved anywhere, since it will be impossible to remove and move the cabinets without violating the aesthetics.

Fastening by means of self-tapping screws is accompanied by the risk that their caps will protrude and interfere with the normal fixation of the tape. For this reason, it is recommended to use mounting clips. They are first screwed to the cabinets with self-tapping screws, and only then the profiles are snapped onto them. 

Tape fixation 

To fix the LED backlight with aluminum profiles at the base, you can use adhesive tape. But only one-sided. And be sure to be super heat-resistant, since the LEDs, although not much, still heat up and transfer heat to the profile.

Features of fixing on adhesive tape:

• If you use ordinary, non-heat-resistant adhesive tape, it will quickly lose its properties, and the entire lighting system will simply collapse onto the countertop.
• Lighting, planted on adhesive tape, can be easily and simply dismantled without violating the integrity of the furniture.
• Even the most heat-resistant adhesive tape loses its properties sooner or later. When choosing this mounting option, it is important to understand that the profile may come off and you will have to re-attach it.

gluing

This is the most inconvenient and difficult option for attaching profiles. The only advantage of this method is reliability. It will not work to dismantle glued profiles, unlike those planted on adhesive tape. After they are torn off, traces of glue remain on the shelves, the surface is often damaged.

Installation of LED strip

LED strips are most suitable for lighting the working area, spotlights and spots are more of a decorative function. The tapes give a uniform and powerful light – just what you need on work surfaces.

LED strips are commercially available in coils of 5 m. They can be cut into pieces that are multiples of a certain size – from 25 to 100 mm. They are cut in marked places with ordinary scissors. If necessary, the fragments are connected to each other.

For work you will need:

• LED strip;
• profile – it must have plugs and diffusers;
• power unit;
• switch;
• cable with plug 220 V;
• copper cable 0.75–1.5 mm²;
• degreaser;
• insulating tape;
• soldering iron;
• drill;
• scissors and knife;
• screwdriver;
• hacksaw for metal;
• roulette.

You may also need a mounting bracket, corner connectors and tape.

 Operating procedure:

1. Prepare the tape. Cut a piece of the desired length – along the dotted lines.

2. Run a test build. This will help avoid installation errors. Assemble all components in the system and check their performance. If you use a conventional switch – a key or a cord, connect one wire to the power supply, and cut the second, strip the ends and attach to the switch terminals.
   Consider how the wires will be located, find a place for the power side, determine the places where it will be necessary to drill holes for the wires.

3. Cut out the profile. Having measured the desired length, cut off a piece of the profile, and be sure to take into account the length of the plugs (otherwise they will stick out outside the cabinet). Saw with a hacksaw or miter saw.
   Cut directly with diffuser. To keep it from moving, secure it with two or three turns of masking tape.

4. Attach a profile. Attach it to your closet. If you use clips, fasten them with screws, stepping back from the edge of the guide 10-15 cm, and then snap the profile into them.
   If the profile is attached directly to the furniture, make holes in its base at intervals of 1 m. Or along the edges – if it has a short length. Use a 4 mm drill, and then drill them out with an 8 mm drill to make chamfers – the heads of the screws will be hidden in them. Or use adhesive tape to degrease the surface of the cabinets.

5. Glue the tape to the profile. Treat the profile with a degreaser – its inner surface. Glue the tape to it, removing the protective film from its inside. Firmly press it, pressing on each element.

6. Install diffuser. Remove the protective film from it and install it in the profile. Be careful not to break the part – it is made of their plastic. Then install end caps at the ends of the profile.

7. Install a switch. If you use a fixed switch, you must install it during the repair. If the switch is with a cord, embed it in the bottom of the cabinet by drilling a hole for it.
   When installing proximity switches, hide them in cabinets. And bring the infrared sensor out to the outside by making a hole in the bottom or wall of the cabinet.

8. Collect the wiring diagram. Put all the elements in their places – cables, power supply, etc. Insulate all electrical connections and ensure the tightness of the backlight – water should not get on it.

9. Check if the backlight works.

Video about installing LED strip in the kitchen:

LED lighting in the kitchen is an excellent solution that allows you to create the most comfortable lighting. The used LED-lamps and tapes create a soft, evenly diffused light that does not irritate or tire the eyes.