Lighting up a galley kitchen - ideas?

[JohnJohns]

G'day everyone,

I have been using these forums for the good renovation advice for ages and today I thought to myself "JohnJohns, why don't you ask a question yourself?". So here goes.

I have a 4m long galley-style kitchen with a single lonely light in the centre. I have a cathedral ceiling with the exposed rafters and no cavity to play in. I have no wall cabinets to install task lighting under and the only wall I have is mostly covered in window and rangehood and made up of core filled block.

I want to get suitable light down the whole 4m of kitchen powered from that existing power source in the centre of the room. I am thinking a series of fluoro's running down the centre of the room suspended on wire (to get the lights away from the rafters). I hope to find some snazzy ones with nice casings covering the bulbs, I have seen some cool-but-expensive commercial products.

Has anyone got a situation like this themselves or has anyone got some ideas?

I looked at a trapeze 12volt system but I hear reports about excessive power usage, heat and regulary replacing bulbs that scared me off.

Thanks,

[pawnhead]

If you have trouble getting switch wires down then you could take off the roofing and use the existing light/power to run cable to other parts of the ceiling and have separately switched lights operated by remote (http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=remote+controlled+lighting&btnG=Google+Search&meta=) control (http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/knowhow/electrical/article/0,16417,1142057,00.html).

[Honorary Bloke]

JohnJohns

I would take a look at track lighting, either 240V or low voltage. You can purchase tracks which can extend any length right and left of the single power source and place pendulum lights or spot lights (or both) along the track as you see fit. The lights and tracks are available in pieces, so you can get only what you need. A good lighting showroom will show you what's what.

The pendulums typically come with 2-3 metre cords which can be cut to length, so you get the correct height based on your ceiling height. Fairly easy to install as well.

Good luck. :)

[JohnJohns]

Thanks guys,

I will be getting a sparkie to do the work when he does my kitchen. I wont dabble in sparkie work again since a mildly horrible experience when installing a ceiling fan.

I saw the rail system at the light shop and almost got it but I guess when the salesman said I needed a globe for each metre of space I wanted lit up I bawked and decided fluoro's would be more efficient. Although the new fluoro downlight-type bulbs look bright enough, use less power and last longer. I will do some more research on them, see if there are some snazzy rail systems out there out there.

Thanks again.

[journeyman Mick]

John,
you'll find that the walls aren't completely core filled. Usually at every corner and next to each opening and then, depending on wind loading, every 3rd, 4th or maybe 5th core. This is for external walls, for internal usually only corners, ends and next to openings. If you want switches or lights on your walls you can get them in providing it's not on a filled core. It's a pain, but certainly not impossible. In your case you'd need to remove a roof sheet and then using a long (250mm) bit in a rotary hamer drill to go through the bond beam at the top of the wall. This is the top course of the blockwork which will be steel and concrete filled. You can usually drill through about 1/3 in from the edge to miss the steel. You'll need to check to see if the area you want to drill in has a single or double bondbeam (one or two courses, 200 or 400 high). You can check your plans if you can get a hold of them or judicious tapping should tell you.

Mick

[JohnJohns]

Thanks for your help everyone.

Just a quick question, is it possible to hang two long fluro fittings end to end and power them from the one power cable? So when you flick the switch two fluros will light up?

If I can do this I can make it look like I paid the big bucks for a commercial interconnecting system.

Thanks

[SilentButDeadly]

Thanks for your help everyone.

Just a quick question, is it possible to hang two long fluro fittings end to end and power them from the one power cable? So when you flick the switch two fluros will light up?

If I can do this I can make it look like I paid the big bucks for a commercial interconnecting system.

Of course you can.

By the by, we have begun to make use of the Megaman 240V compact fluorescent downlights from http://www.cosmoluce.com.au as an alternative to those dopey 12V halogens. Our experience suggests they are a very good thing but you need to have your wits about you when it comes to placement as the intensity of light is not there with the CFL however the CFL throw light over a much wider zone. Price wise they are initially expensive (11W GU10 globe is $30 but the light fitting is lineball with 12V...and you don't need a transformer) but do the sums on operating costs and globe life and you'll win big time with the CFLs. There is also a 9W flat panel light that would be tops under over bench cupboards.....