Hi,
we are now in the final phase of planning and are facing the issue of how to best arrange ceiling outlets and recessed ceiling lights. I would like to get some opinions on this. Since recessed ceiling lights, especially when installed directly in the concrete ceiling, are quite expensive with our general contractor (90€ in a suspended ceiling, 180€ directly in the concrete ceiling), I have tried to use them sparingly, but still enough to ensure sufficient brightness.
The ground floor:
The biggest question here is the lighting of the kitchen island. My idea is to install a dropped ceiling directly above the island and use 6 recessed lights along with indirect lighting around the perimeter.
The upper floor:
we are now in the final phase of planning and are facing the issue of how to best arrange ceiling outlets and recessed ceiling lights. I would like to get some opinions on this. Since recessed ceiling lights, especially when installed directly in the concrete ceiling, are quite expensive with our general contractor (90€ in a suspended ceiling, 180€ directly in the concrete ceiling), I have tried to use them sparingly, but still enough to ensure sufficient brightness.
The ground floor:
The biggest question here is the lighting of the kitchen island. My idea is to install a dropped ceiling directly above the island and use 6 recessed lights along with indirect lighting around the perimeter.
The upper floor:
ares83 schrieb:
In the kitchen, there is no overhead extractor hood, but a Berbel Moveline downdraft hood, so we need different lighting because otherwise the entire island is not properly illuminated.Climbee schrieb:
I would reconsider the lighting of the kitchen island with recessed ceiling spots. Lighting at head height is more comfortable for working.I would consider that as well.
You should be aware that recessed spot lighting is a modern but expensive form of area or accent lighting. It is suitable if you want to create an effect by illuminating a surface or a row, for example a run of cabinets or a long corridor.
However, the light can also be provided by a regular fixture or a double or triple spotlight from a ceiling outlet. You have actually differentiated this well in the other rooms.
Some people really like these spots (like @Knallkörper) and use them everywhere. I find the feature that only 10% of them light up on motion, for example in the upstairs hallway, quite nice. But using spots everywhere can appear chaotic, and unpleasant reflections often occur.
Spots are not suitable as task lighting. If you place them over an island, you will cast shadows on your own workspace.
As a guideline: in our home, there was a spot placed every 80cm (approximately 31.5 inches) on surfaces. Therefore, I would recommend installing two rows with four spots each in your bathroom.
In the walk-in closet, I would add a third spot, because two spots seem insufficient.
The same applies for spots: establish a grid or linear layout for the room and plan them in rows or rectangles.
If that seems like too many spots overall, I would suggest using them in the closet and bathroom only and omitting them in the kitchen. Usually, task lighting is sufficient to properly illuminate every corner.
But: where exactly do you want to place task lighting in the kitchen? You don’t have upper cabinets, do you?
It is currently trendy to hang pendant lights in a row. If you want that, I would continue this above the island. Otherwise, I would install task lighting at eye level on the wall where the island is located.
I’ve briefly sketched some examples in your plan. In the living room — I don’t know how you plan to furnish it — I placed three spots on one wall as an example, which could highlight a nice wall painting or a stone wall.
P.S. I’ve just given you rough estimates. You should measure everything precisely yourself.
@ypg Wow, another long text with lots of tips. Thanks!
This is how the kitchen will look.
There are already 5 lights installed under the wall cabinets. We considered pendant lights over the island, but I’m not sure how they would look, and actually, we didn’t want anything at head height there. Some side lighting could be another option. We’ll think about that again. I had hoped that with the 2x3 arrangement of spotlights over the island, the shadow cast by one spotlight would be canceled out by the light from another.
Haha, originally there were 3 planned in the walk-in closet; I’ll bring that back into the original plan.
In the living room, the furniture arrangement with the TV and L-shaped sofa will roughly be as shown, but the lights really fit as you have drawn them. I somehow had a pendant light in mind over the sofa, but that doesn’t make sense. I think the 3 spotlights are a cool idea, but we want to keep the option open to possibly place the TV corner there as well.
Above the dining table, there will be a long pendant light that we already have; I wanted to avoid a 10cm (5 inch) “monkey swing” effect there.
@Evolith
Thanks very much for the tips. On the stairwell wall there will be a wall light, plus 4–5 wall-mounted spotlights for the stair lighting. A lamp will be installed in the storage room as well. Neither is included in this plan because they don’t affect the concrete ceiling and can be decided later.
In the bathroom: both showers will have doors, so the curtain issue isn’t such a big deal.
In the first draft, there was no central light in front of the mirror cabinet, precisely because of concerns that direct overhead lighting might not be flattering when looking in the mirror. We will reconsider this.
This is how the kitchen will look.
There are already 5 lights installed under the wall cabinets. We considered pendant lights over the island, but I’m not sure how they would look, and actually, we didn’t want anything at head height there. Some side lighting could be another option. We’ll think about that again. I had hoped that with the 2x3 arrangement of spotlights over the island, the shadow cast by one spotlight would be canceled out by the light from another.
Haha, originally there were 3 planned in the walk-in closet; I’ll bring that back into the original plan.
In the living room, the furniture arrangement with the TV and L-shaped sofa will roughly be as shown, but the lights really fit as you have drawn them. I somehow had a pendant light in mind over the sofa, but that doesn’t make sense. I think the 3 spotlights are a cool idea, but we want to keep the option open to possibly place the TV corner there as well.
Above the dining table, there will be a long pendant light that we already have; I wanted to avoid a 10cm (5 inch) “monkey swing” effect there.
@Evolith
Thanks very much for the tips. On the stairwell wall there will be a wall light, plus 4–5 wall-mounted spotlights for the stair lighting. A lamp will be installed in the storage room as well. Neither is included in this plan because they don’t affect the concrete ceiling and can be decided later.
In the bathroom: both showers will have doors, so the curtain issue isn’t such a big deal.
In the first draft, there was no central light in front of the mirror cabinet, precisely because of concerns that direct overhead lighting might not be flattering when looking in the mirror. We will reconsider this.
K
Knallkörper26 Oct 2016 14:33ypg schrieb:
However, spotlights are not considered task lighting. If you place them above an island, you end up casting shadows on yourself.I don’t think that can be said so generally. The spotlights just need to be positioned directly above the island, not to the side or elsewhere. In our old house, we had spotlights spaced every 80cm (31.5 inches) above the work surfaces, and that worked very well. Ceiling height is 2.90m (9.5 feet).
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