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Countertop lighting is a challenging task in any kitchen simply because any cabinet, regardless of size or style, will always block overhead light to some extent. Shadows form beneath its surface, making it difficult to distinguish colors and safely work with kitchen tools. Under cabinet lighting has been used for decades now to create safer, more attractive work environments by eliminating these shadows. Many, like the popular energy-saving fluorescents beloved by Do-It-Yourselfers, mount beneath the back wall of the cabinet and shine the light forward across the countertop in an attempt to blend it with general room lighting. Other cabinet lighting fixtures, such as center-mounted puck lights, shine lights directly down onto the counter from the center of the cabinet above. Puck lights and fluorescents, however, were never intended for use in high-end housing design. Their greatest value lies in energy-savings and utility in smaller rural and suburban homes. They have also enjoyed great success in many apartments and hotel kitchenettes that require basic countertop lighting without that can operate at lower energy costs. In these environments, they also work very well aesthetically because kitchen counters are normally made from white, non-reflective surfaces that absorb the majority of light that strikes their surface. Custom countertop lighting, however, is an entirely different manner. These counters are commonly made from marble and granite and absorb little, if any, light. Illuminating their surfaces is bound to cast glare in some direction—the question is: where? Anything mounted toward the back of the cabinet is going to send glare straight into the homeowner’s eyes. Any puck light centered beneath the cabinet is going to create a white spot on the counter. Neither is an acceptable form of light in the chic environment of modern and contemporary kitchen design. Instead, forward-mounting, concealed in cabinet linear fixtures are the preferred choice for builders illuminating these domains. They occupy a concealed position that better supports kitchen aesthetic and they direct the light across the counter, sending reflective glare up the backsplash in the process. This does, of course, also require special glare shielding that will prevent spill light from inadvertently shining forward toward the eyes. Another factor critical to countertop lighting design is the actual color of the stone itself. The warmer reds of granite look best under cool color temperatures that will bring out the sharp sense of absolutes that granite symbolizes in the collective consciousness of man. Marble connotes something of a gentler aesthetic, being characterized by swirls and eddies of blue that remind us of water. Warm color temperatures work better in this case because they help differentiate each shade of blue and add a sense of depth and dimension to the white spaces in between the swirls. It helps if the architect immensely if the under cabinet lighting manufacturer can offer a complete range of color temperature festoon lamp comparisons that can accommodate any countertop surface specified in the home design In an ideal scenario, a linear strip would be custom-manufactured to the precise dimensions of the cabinet, then fitted with a color temperature that perfectly complements the color and design of the countertop. This fixture would also provide a means of effectively dissipating heat buildup and providing the homeowner with a direct means of adjusting lighting levels at will. This would allow new residents to safely leave their countertop fixtures as night lighting both for visibility and to showcase the beauty of their kitchen throughout the night. Phantom linear strips are engineered with the determination to meet each and every one of the many concerns we have just examined in the paragraphs above. These lights are intended to be the dream fixtures of home-building professionals who often face very challenging requirements when illuminating areas underneath cabinets and fine custom stonework Our TM series linear lighting strips are available in 5 different trim styles—each one of which features a specific light distribution angle that ranges anywhere from 88 degrees to 166 degrees. Every linear strip also has a proprietary, patented glare shield that sends illumination down and away from the eyes. Lamp choices include traditional incandescent and xenon options in both clear and frosted lenses. All of our countertop lighting fixtures are 100 percent dimmable. This allows the homeowner to control heat output, power consumption, and aesthetics all with one simple control. Our proprietary LED 12V festoon lamp designs are capable of rivaling xenon in luminance and color temperature quality—bringing this new technology to the forefront of the luxury lighting world like no other cabinet lighting manufacturer has to date. It also features a proprietary, patented heat sink that eliminates all forward throw heat and makes it a truly heatless, low-power source of luxury lighting. Phantom countertop lighting fixtures can be ordered in color temperatures ranging from the warm 2800K lamp to the cool 5000K lamps. All Phantom lights strips are custom-manufactured to exact cabinet specifications. For cabinets that have no forward lip on their undersurface, we can even match trim color to blend the appearance of the fixture seamlessly into that of the cabinet itself.
Article Source: http://www.bharatbhasha.net Article Url: http://www.bharatbhasha.net/home_improvement.php/144444 Article Added on Tuesday, July 14, 2009
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