Installing LED lights is one of the easiest ways you can use to spruce up your kitchen. These lights can give a 50-year-old kitchen cabinet a stunning modern look. However, achieving the right look for your kitchen is not a simple matter of buying and installing just any LEDs.
You need to get the right LEDs, come up with a suitable design for your installation and then properly install the lights. This article provides you with all you need to know about LED light installation irrespective of whether your cabinets have flush hinges or use semi concealed cabinet hinges. It also serves as the ultimate guide to a DIY Led kitchen project.
Benefits of LED Lighting Installations
Hardly anyone can doubt the awesome benefits that LEDs offer. The most notable attribute of this lighting option is its remarkably high energy efficiency. Light Emitting Diodes cans convert over 95% of power input into light, with the remaining 5% lost as heat. As a result, installing LED lights in your kitchen cabinets does not significantly affect your monthly power utility bill. You can even end up making considerable savings when you opt to use the LED lights while in the kitchen.
The ultimate benefit you leap from installing LED lights in your kitchen is the enhanced aesthetic appeal that such lights offer. The intensely bright light from LEDs reflects brilliantly from the metallic surfaces of cabinet furniture knobs, cabinet locks, semi concealed cabinet hinges, hanging brackets, drip trays, and polished granite counter tops. The final outcome is that everything in the kitchen appears to glitter and sparkle in a manner that is quite pleasing to the eyes. Certainly, there is little else that can compete with the coolness factor that LED lights avail.
Tips for Purchasing Ideal LED lights
There are a number of considerations you need to have in mind before and during the purchase of LED lights. First and foremost, buying a reel of LED strip lights is the best option for kitchen cabinet applications. The reason being, purchasing multiple stand-alone LED modular units will turn to be a costly undertaking. LED strip lights simplify the installation process in that a single reel can contain over 200 super-bright LEDs. Manufacturers of high quality LED strip light usually offer their product in standard lengths of 3-meter reels or 188 inches. In most applications, a single reel is usually adequate for a medium-sized kitchen.
Another factor to consider is the CRI of the LED strip light that you end up purchasing. CRI is the acronym for color rendering index. The CRI value of LED lights indicates how well the LEDs can reproduce colors when compared to natural daylight. You should purchase strip lights with a CRI rating of 90 and higher. Such LEDs produce light that is 90% similar to natural light. It is why such LEDs are used in display case lighting because of their high ability to bring out natural colors. Finally, make sure you purchase multi-color LED strip lights as this option offers a greater choice of color themes.
The Installation
The actual installation does not involve anything technical, like the removal of semi concealed cabinet hinges. The reason being, LED strip lights are typically installed under kitchen cabinets. You, therefore, need very few tools to carry out a successful installation. The only must-have tool is a pair of scissors. You will use the scissors to cut the LED strip reel into suitable lengths. You will then attach these lengths of LED strip to the underside of your kitchen cabinets closets to the wall. Doing so allows the wall to adequately diffuse the bright LED light. Connecting the sections of LED strips does require you to be keen on the polarities. However, most strips come clearly marked to make this particular task quite easy.
In addition to installing LED lighting, there are other small things you can do to enhance the aesthetic appeal of your kitchen. One such task involves replacing visible cabinet hinges with semi concealed cabinet hinges. Ultimately, these upgrades will turn your kitchen into a livelier space.
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