If you are planning on renovating or sprucing-up your kitchen, it’s probably a good idea to map out a detailed lighting plan as well. Most people find this a little strange as they feel that lighting in a kitchen isn’t something that needs too much of consideration or planning. It’s just a place where you cook and probably where you have an informal meal after all.

However, the fact is that it’s important to plan kitchen illumination well if you want to make optimal use of your kitchen spaces. Here, we would like to share some basic lighting ideas to create the right balance of functionality and aesthetics.

If you want to get a better idea about what type of lighting would work best for your kitchen, it’s vital to understand how your kitchen spaces relate to the different type of lighting. Let’s start off with understanding what type of bulbs you can use for the best effects:

These bulbs emit a yellowish light and you will now find many artistic versions of these on the market today.

These bulbs throw off a flat, cold light that has a bluish tinge, which lends a very harsh effect to the room.

These have a warm light that makes the place look very inviting and comfortable

These are the latest in light bulb technology and are available in a range of effects including white, cool daylight, warm light, yellow and a range of other colours and hues. Aside from this, LED bulbs are also 80% more energy-efficient than standard bulbs; and most property owners are now opting for these fixtures.

In addition to the types of bulbs used, the style of lighting or the lighting effects are what impact the ambience and appearance of a room. With this in view, here we discuss the different lighting effects that can be used in your kitchen:

This is one of the simplest ways to create the right lighting effect in your kitchen. This type of lighting is designed to help you move comfortably around the room. In most instances this type of lighting comes from grid-style can lighting, widely-spaced, wall and ceiling lamps, semi-translucent skylights or even the natural light that streams in through glass windows and doors. This is the base layer of any lighting plan.

In your kitchen, task lighting would be required to illuminate kitchen counters and food preparation spaces. Since you will be cooking in your kitchen every day, it’s important that the task lighting be planned and installed well. If you have only recessed lighting fixtures in your kitchen, you will feel the lack of focused light when you are cleaning, cooking or prepping in that space.

If you install one-dimensional lighting in the kitchen, it creates unsightly shadows in different areas of the room, while ceiling lighting is ineffective in illuminating spaces like sinks, under counter or cabinet areas etc. On the other hand, if you add special pendant lamps over the counters or even your kitchen island it can prove to be a more practical solution. Under-cabinet lighting can also help in illuminating the cabinets that are positioned there.

This effect doesn’t seem as necessary as ambient or task lighting does in a kitchen space, as the illumination it provides isn’t as functional as the first two. However, it can have a significant impact on the way your kitchen spaces look. If you want to enhance the appeal of your kitchen (regardless of whether you are getting it entirely renovated or are opting for a lighting upgrade), it’s important that you plan your accent lighting well.

The average home contains 75 electrical outlets of different shapes, sizes, and functionalities.  Are the outlets that line your walls the correct ones for your home?  In this post, we are going to examine the most common outlet types in your home by pointing out the benefits and features of each outlet style.  Additionally, we will introduce you to some modern home outlet options that help keep your devices charged and ready to go.

The Fossil: 2-Prong Outlets

This type of outlet was the standard many years ago.  2-Prong outlets are 15 amp, 125 volt, 2-wired outlets which are commonly seen in older houses.  Since this outlet can only be used for ungrounded circuits, it is quickly becoming obsolete due to safety regulations and code limitations.

The Veteran: 3-Prong Outlets

When you think of an electrical outlet, chances are you are thinking about a 3-Prong, 15 amp, 125 volt outlet.  This outlet type is one of the most common home outlet styles currently available.  Easily recognized by its pair of long, vertical slots positioned above an upside down, u-shaped opening used for grounding the electrical current.  This important safety feature helps to prevent the risk of electrical shock in the event of loose wiring.

The Best of Both Worlds: Switch & Outlet Combination

This combination outlet offers two desirable features in one device.  Whether you are looking to install a new outlet device in your children’s rooms for safety, in the hallways of your home for nightlights, or on the kitchen counter for your appliances, the switch and outlet combo can give you that extra switch or outlet without any additional wiring.

The Safety King: GFCI Outlets

GFCI stands for “Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter.”  This outlet is named after its core feature, which is interrupting the circuit if there is a spike or leak in the current flow.  Current regulations mandate the use of GFCI outlets in areas that are close to running water.  You might have noticed some of these “GFCI Protected Outlets” in your restrooms, laundry room, kitchen, basement, and even outdoor living spaces.  GFCI outlets carefully monitor the flow of electricity, and when they detect that the current is flowing through an unintended path, the GFCI outlets will immediately shut off the electric power circuit.

These outlets can be identified by the presence of two small buttons in the center of the outlet labeled “TEST” and “RESET,” each being a different color.

The Mammoth: 20 Amp, 125 Volt Outlets

This outlet is reserved for the heavy-duty appliances and devices in your home.  While these outlets resemble the normal, 15 amp outlets, they are only intended for high current devices like your large kitchen appliances.  Too similar to the 15 amp outlet for you to keep them apart in your mind?  Remember that these 20 amp outlets have a horizontal slot attached to the upper left vertical opening of the outlet, while the smaller, 15 amp outlets do not.

The Craftsman’s Aide: 20 Amp, 250 Volt Outlets

Recognized by its unique design, the odd shape of these outlets is designed for specific types of equipment commonly found in a hobby shop.  For example, an air compressor would use this outlet type.

Whether you are looking to update your outlets for a modern look, or if you need a little more functionality out of your space, there are plenty of wonderful upgrade options that will fit your style and budget.

USB Outlets

With cell phones, tablets, laptops, and more mobile devices taking up your outlet space, doesn’t it make sense to add some dedicated USB outlets to your home?  USB outlets are a simple and functional way to ensure that everyone in your home always has a fully charged device.

Recessed Outlets

If all those gaps between your walls and furniture are bothering you, you do not have to stick with your standard outlets.  Recessed outlets add space to your home by eliminating the wasted space reserved for bulky cords and wires between walls and furniture.

Tamper Resistant Receptacles

These specialized safety outlets are characterized by a barrier that is intended to prevent children from inserting any foreign objects into the outlet.  These outlets are quickly becoming the new normal, as they are currently required by code in new homes.

Built-In LED Night Light Outlets

Plug-in night lights are fragile and could potentially harm a small child.  Keep those little fingers safe with a night light that is built-in to your electrical outlet.

Everyone has had electrical problems with lamps and lighting fixtures. Your favorite lamp may be flickering off and on. You’ve changed the bulb and that doesn’t fix the problem. Now what do you do? The answer can be as simple as replacing worn out light fixture wiring or it may be more complex than that.

Incorrect use of electricity, inefficient appliances and lighting may lead to high energy bills. In addition, the faulty state of your home insulation will lead to heat or cold air escaping when it should not. Other factors include water leakages in the washroom and kitchen sinks, leaking hot water pipes, etc. Any of these will require more energy to heat or cool the air, or pump water to compensate for the lost amounts.

An electrician can assess your entire home and make a recommendation to enable you to save energy and you may even be able to enjoy energy rebates from making upgrades to your lighting system. Address any electrical problems at this time.

How many light bulbs have you changed in your lifetime? It’s a simple action, and often one that we don’t put much thought into, but what if the simple act of changing a light bulb could make a profound impact on the environment, and the well-being of future generations?  As experienced www.EnergyStar.gov:

“If every American home replaced just one light bulb with a light bulb that’s earned the ENERGY STAR, we would save enough energy to light 3 million homes for a year, save about $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent 9 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per year, equivalent to those from about 800,000 cars.”

Think about the changes that you can make by simply replacing the outdated incandescent bulbs in your home as they burn out with one of the Alternative Lighting Solutions below. Here are some details on a couple of the most popular Alternative Lighting Solutions available.

Compact Fluorescent Lamp: Modern CFL bulbs for use in homes consist of a curved fluorescent tube and electronic ballast in a single unit, designed as a direct replacement for standard blubs. They use 3-4 times less power than comparable incandescent bulbs. These are great options to replace your standard light bulbs, but they do have a few small drawbacks. According to an article by PopularMechanics.com, while CFL’s do have a much longer lifespan than standard bulbs, they often lose some of their brightness long before their expected lifespan is up, and this is increased in fixtures that don’t allow for efficient cooling of the ballast located in the base of the bulb. Another documented fact about CFL bulbs is that they do contain mercury, which means that they must be disposed of properly by taking them your local approved recycling center. You wouldn’t throw a battery out with the daily trash would you? So you shouldn’t throw these out either.

Light Emitting Diodes: LED’s are a form of “solid state” lighting that have become available recently to homeowners as an incandescent and CFL replacement. Using small light emitting diodes mounted directly to circuit boards, these are highly efficient, and have fewer parts prone to failure, allowing for an expected realistic lifespan of 20,000 to 30,000 hours, when operated at recommended temperatures. While initial costs for these bulbs are higher than incandescent and CFL options, long term energy savings are where this alternative lighting option truly shines, with the average LED bulb using approximately 12-17% of the energy that it takes to run an incandescent bulb of similar output, the end result is a bulb that costs drastically less to power over time.

As a point of comparison, here is a simple chart of the energy usage of LED and CFL bulbs compared to incandescent bulbs, and the output associated with them:

Lighting technology has changed a lot in the past decade, and it is pretty amazing to see what could be on the horizon for future lighting innovations. Take this for example. While most homes will never need this amount of output, it’s pretty impressive to see that something the size of a Christmas tree light, like this plasma bulb, can put out more light, more efficiently, than the giant bulbs that we use in street lamps!

The great thing about these changes is that they aren’t something that requires a huge change in your lifestyle, so they are some of the easiest ways possible to help the environment, and lower electric bills while you are at it!

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