About Bulbs
WHILE THE STYLE OF FIXTURE YOU CHOOSE influences the look of a kitchen, the type of bulb used
gives the overall luminescent effect. Use the following as a guide to choosing the best lighting sources for your needs. Incandescent bulbs comprise a large category that includes any type with a filament, including standard tungsten and halogen bulbs. However, the standard incandescent bulb, called an A-type bulb, is what we'll discuss here. Although it costs little, it's expensive to operate because it is inefficient and short-lived (only 10% of the energy generated from an incandescent bulb produces light; the rest is heat). Incandescents remain popular because the warm color is flattering to people and food and they are easy to dim. But halogen, xenon, and new, improved fluorescent bulbs are changing people's buying habits.
Fluorescent bulbs are cooler than incandescent bulbs, four times as efficient, and last ten times longer. Forget the ghastly green fluorescents in your elementary school classroom, or even that old 2-ft. fluorescent in an overhead kitchen fixture--today's residential fluorescent bulbs can be compact enough for use in recessed down lights, in lamps, and under cabinets, and, even better, they can make people and food look natural. Color is measured by the Color Rendering Index (CRI) figure, which rates how realistic objects will look under that light, or the Kelvin rating, which measures color temperature. look for a CRI of 82 or above or a Kelvin rating of 3,oooK or lower.
The compact fluorescent lamp (CFl) has been a major boost to saving energy. These bulbs are roughly the same size as an A-type incandescent, so you can relamp many incandescent fixtures with CFls. CFls are expensive, but many electrical utility companies offer rebates or fixtures themselves at lower cost. In any case, CFls can save 75 percent per fixture and they last ten times as long as incandescent bulbs.
A COMBINATION OF BULB TYPES MAKES FORVERSATILE lighting. Incandescent downlights and fluorescent undercabinet lights combine to provide task lighting and ambient light. White blinds help reflect light from wallwasher downtlghts, and the light stone tiles magnify the amount of light given off by the undercabinet lights.
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