We moved to Florida a year ago and found the house dark. We installed Tubular Skylights in a few rooms including a bathroom. I love them, although ours does not have a dimmer. I'm not sure why you would want that unless you put them in a bedroom.

They are not the greatest looking but they provide so much light it is unbelievable. We have them for a year and no leaking. What I liked was that these can be installed around beams, duct work, etc. They don't have to go straight up and can go around barriers.

Jane

Here is a link that might be useful: This is who we used

We put two 10" Solatubes in our dining room a couple of years ago, and I love them! My dream was to be able to sit at the table and read the paper without turning on the light. Score! I love how the moonlight shines through, and they provide a warm glow on the roof from the outside at night.

I didn't install them myself, though they are advertised as DIY. I get a little nervous messing with the roof, so I had a contractor friend install them for me.

I've never seen one with a dimmer.

I've seen both Velux & Solartubes installed well
with great results. I liked the flashing of the
velux better though. haven't seen dimmer though!

do you have links to your prefrences?

best of luck.

We put in Velux tubes with dimmers in our bedroom several years ago. We loved them, but the dimmers did not work well, at all. They made a very slight difference in the amount of light coming in - certainly not worth what I paid for them! However, there isn't much glare from the tubes, so I think your TV-watching will be fine.

Thanks for all the info. I am still a wee bit unsure about which brand... which means I will punt on the whole thing until the kitchen is done--I can always put one in afterwards.

I do wonder whether the extra natural light would be worth a) the cost, b) hassle, c) risk of leakage, and d) potential thermal loss.

We had 2 SolaTubes installed in our last house, liked 'em so well we added a 3rd. The dealer installed them, no hassle for us, but it looked like it would certainly be something someone handier than I am could handle.

10 years, no leaks. We did notice that the air right at the lens was warmer, but not as warm as a ceiling light. It was very well sealed. That was 13 years ago, and there is even better technology and features in them now.

I don't think I would be concerned about total light dimmers for this purpose. Do you have to close the kitchen blinds and turn out all the lights to watch TV now? Half the year it's dark when you're watching p.m. TV anyway. Since the screen is not actually facing the light, as it's diffused from above, there shouldn't be glare.