Kitchen Lighting

There are several choices for kitchen lighting

• Recessed lighting that is either line-voltage or low voltage. Common recessed lights are from 4" in diameter to 6"
• Surface mount lights. These can be fluorescent or incandescent.
• Trac lights. Trac lights are either line-voltage or low voltage. There are line voltage trac lights that have special low-voltage units mounted on them.
• Pendant lights
• Indirect lighting from fluorescent tubs in a sofit or mounted on the top of cabinets pointing upwards to diffuse the light.
• Under cabinet lighting. This can be either trace lights using 5 watt halogen bulbs or low-profile fluorescent strips.
• Puck lighting in dish cabinets that have glass doors.

4 Inch recessed lights.

There are two kinds of 4 inch recessed lights, line voltage and low voltage. They are sold as remodeling units or for new construction. The line-voltage variety takes a par 20 halogen bulb that is screwed in. The light spread comes in several sizes. The other recessed light is the 4 inch low-voltage type. The bulbs come in many wattages and light spreads. See chart below. Some 4 inch recessed lights have very small junction boxes limiting the number of wire connections you can make to them. As a rule of thumb you will be limited to two wires per recessed lights. Some designer lights barely have room for even one 14-2 romex wire.

MR 16 Halogen Bulbs
for 4 inch recessed lighting

Trac Lights

When installing trac lights be sure to limit the number of lights on the trac to the factory specifications.

The two most popular trac's are Juno and Halo. The light fixture for them are not always interchangeable.

Low Voltage Trac lights

Use low voltage wiring in the walls and ceiling rated for indoor use. Some electrical jurisdictions require compatible matched UL components of the same manufacture. That is to say in some instances a Juno low voltage transformer cannot be used with a Halo trac. San Francisco is a jurisdiction that requires matched components.

Recessed Lighting

In California you cannot box in non-insulated recessed lighting when installing a fixture in an insulated ceiling. You must use a fixture rated for insulated ceilings.

Danger. Manufactures are very specific about the minimum clearances between the light housing and combustible materials such as wood. Check the specification's. Most fixtures must be placed at least two inches away from combustible materials. There are low profile housings available for ceilings that have less than an eight inch depth.

If you are planning to install a large number of recessed lights in the kitchen locate the placement of the lights by tacking up intersecting colored string to locate the center point of each fixture. It is too difficult to measure the position of each fixture and it becomes tiresome if you are continually repositioning the fixtures for better design placement. Leave at least a foot of wire loose around the fixture. Owners and builders are constantly changing their designs. If the wires are too short you will have to rewire the fixtures each time you move them. One cannot really tell if a particular lighting design will work until the fixtures are in place and the lights and trims installed to verify coverage.

Light switch placement

The first switch on a bank of switches at each entry to a kitchen must operate the main kitchen lights. In California the first switch must operate the kitchen fluorescent lights.

If there is a bank of switches between two doors leading into a kitchen as there are in some houses there would have to be a main switch on each side of the bank of switches that controlled the lights.

No kitchen lights can be connected to the two small appliance outlet circuits.

Trac lighting load for trac lights is calculated by code at 150 watts per foot of trac. nec 220-12-b.

Dimmers:

When installing three-way dimmer switches remember that there is only one brand that allows dimming from both switches. Therefore you must know the location of the dimmer and wire power to it to operate the dimmer switch. Low voltage lights require a dimmer specifically made for low voltage lights. If the recessed or trac lights are "electronic" (they do not have a heavy transformer in them) then you need a special electronic dimmer.