Twenty-two years I'd put up with one fluorescent strip in my kitchen. Mike sketched out a proper layout with downlights, under-cabinet, and three pendants over the island, all on different dimmers. Two days on site, very tidy, lovely young lad Tom did most of the cable running through my loft. Cooking's a pleasure now.
Layered kitchen lighting, Mickle Trafford
Janet wanted her dim 1990s strip-light replaced. We installed downlights, under-cabinet, and pendant feature lighting — all on three separate dimmer circuits.
Janet's kitchen had one fluorescent strip in the centre of the ceiling and that was your lot. No task lighting at the worktop, no feature lighting over the island, no dim-and-cosy option for evening cooking. She'd lived with it for 22 years.
We sketched a layout: eight Collingwood H2 Lite downlights for general light, three dimmable LED strips under the wall units for worktop task lighting, and three Tom Dixon Beat pendants over the island for the evening feature look. Three separate dimmer circuits so each layer could be controlled independently.
Two days on site. Day one was the cabling — running 1.5mm twin-and-earth through the loft to each downlight, plus the strip-light supply, plus the new pendant drops. Day two was the second-fix, dimmer plates (Click Scolmore rotary), and the careful alignment of the three pendants.
Janet messaged us a week later to say she's been cooking more since the lighting went in than in the last five years. Take that as you like.
Materials & specifications
- Downlights
- 8 × Collingwood H2 Lite Pro, 2700K warm white
- Under-cabinet
- Aurora EN-STA12 LED strip, 3000K, dimmable
- Pendants
- 3 × Tom Dixon Beat Wide, brass
- Control
- Click Mode CMA161 3-gang rotary dimmer plate
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