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Under cabinet led lighting

4 years ago

I have led under cabinet lighting. I had an Interior designer tell me I should change it out to 2700k so it’s warmer. I feel like this won’t be bright enough. We have a small North facing kitchen with Giallo Ornamental granite, dove white cabinets. Any thoughts?

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Comments (3)

Brad Smith
4 years ago
Color has nothing to do with brightness, at least not directly. Brightness is measured in lumens. What are the specs of what you have now in terms of color temperature & lumens? Do you have any brand/model info?
plwiley
Original Author
4 years ago
Sorry, I don’t have answers to those questions. An electrician installed our strip lighting so we assumed he knew what colour should be installed. I just don’t want my counters and cabinets to look yellow. Our designer said our current lighting is reading blue and suggested 2700 k.
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funny one click and I found the website. https://www.ls-light.com/en/residential L&S LIGHTING CORPORATION 1505 Pavilion Place, Suite A Norcross, Georgia USA Ph. +1 877 877 0757 fax. +1 770 800 7981 info@ls-light.us
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Brad Smith
4 years ago
Yeah, if it looks blue that'd be more towards the 5500k to 6000k range. Definitely a cold white (aka "daylight"). Some people like that look (I do, for one), but it will put off the other colors. Personally I'd find 2700k too far in the opposite direction, and come out much more yellow. The happy medium for a warm white is 3000k or 3500k (the lower the number, the more towards the red end of the scale it is). But personal taste plays a big role in this decision.

A lot of what you'll read says that the warmer temperatures (under 3000k) are good for ambient lighting, while the mid-cold (3500k to maybe 4500k) are better for task lighting, and above 4500k are best for reading. In my mind, kitchen lighting should be task-oriented.

Are you unhappy with the look? If you find it too cold/blue, that's one thing. But you could probably talk to ten different interior designers and get ten different recommendations for what color temperature to use.

The bigger question in my mind is, if you really disliked the color, how expensive is it going to be to swap out the LED strips? And it's possible the model of LED strips your electrician uses only comes in a small number of temperature options.

When I do my kitchen (later this year), I'll be aiming for 3500k myself.

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