kitchen can lighting / distance from wall

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boneyard

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How far away from the wall (above cabinets) should the cans be? I'm using 8 6" cans in a 14X14 area, but the ceiling is 5/12 and it starts at 9 ft. and peaks at 13.5 ft. I already have the cans mounted and spaced going up and down the slope. I just need to slide them and lock them down and am looking for some opinions. Is 30" out from wall too far? I'm not using a center light in this kitchen. I do want to highlight some staggered dark cherry cabinets, so is 30" out too far for this also? Thanks
 
boneyard said:
How far away from the wall (above cabinets) should the cans be? I'm using 8 6" cans in a 14X14 area, but the ceiling is 5/12 and it starts at 9 ft. and peaks at 13.5 ft. I already have the cans mounted and spaced going up and down the slope. I just need to slide them and lock them down and am looking for some opinions. Is 30" out from wall too far? I'm not using a center light in this kitchen. I do want to highlight some staggered dark cherry cabinets, so is 30" out too far for this also? Thanks
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If you want to highlight something specific, you need to get data on beam spread of what you are using and install accordingly.
 
boneyard said:
How far away from the wall (above cabinets) should the cans be? I'm using 8 6" cans in a 14X14 area, but the ceiling is 5/12 and it starts at 9 ft. and peaks at 13.5 ft. I already have the cans mounted and spaced going up and down the slope. I just need to slide them and lock them down and am looking for some opinions. Is 30" out from wall too far? I'm not using a center light in this kitchen. I do want to highlight some staggered dark cherry cabinets, so is 30" out too far for this also? Thanks
Click to expand...
If you want to equalize the light coming from the high and low cans, just moving the lamps in and out is not going to do that. You can change the wattage or beam spread of the lamps used in each fixture or you can go very expensive and get theatrical style luminaires which can be focused.

To highlight the cabinets, consider putting eyeball trim in one or more of the cans, not necessarily the ones closest to the cabinets or adding additional light just for that purpose.
 
Okay....that's good information on getting data on beam spread. I'll do that as well, but I'm looking for a general distance from the wall to lock these cans down at. I had not even thought about making the ones near the peak higher wattage to even out the light! As a general rule, under this configuration, how far out from the wall would be good? I would like to have them at 30" from the wall, and I just didn't know if I would lose out on showcasing the cabinets. Is the beam spread/bulb information the way to address this, or is there a general rule of thumb?
 
boneyard said:
Okay....that's good information on getting data on beam spread. I'll do that as well, but I'm looking for a general distance from the wall to lock these cans down at. I had not even thought about making the ones near the peak higher wattage to even out the light! As a general rule, under this configuration, how far out from the wall would be good? I would like to have them at 30" from the wall, and I just didn't know if I would lose out on showcasing the cabinets. Is the beam spread/bulb information the way to address this, or is there a general rule of thumb?
Click to expand...

The distance away and the beam angle need considered together. Your 30" may work in your application, but change the ceiling height and it may not work.
 
I tend to mount cans about 22-24 inches off the wall of the cabinet. This avoids problems with the upper cabinet-13" and casts the light at the edge of the counters. If the ceiling is sloped then I would use regressed eyeball trims.
 
You didn't mention counter tops space. Ops Dennis just did... well you want the light slightly in front of the countertop edge. You don't want to have to back away to see what your doing.

There are plenty of free lighting software. With all the eqiupment specs you can plug all the aspects in.
 
cadpoint said:
You didn't mention counter tops space. Ops Dennis just did... well you want the light slightly in front of the countertop edge. You don't want to have to back away to see what your doing.
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Always a nice idea, but not as critically important if you also install under-cabinet lights. However not all people like the result of that lighting either.
 
Human charteristics and ergonomic design by NASA. (Something like that) Pre - ADA... the light is inside the work space always in the front of a human (be it ever so slighly) as to cause no shadows over work space.
 
Dennis Alwon said:
I tend to mount cans about 22-24 inches off the wall of the cabinet. This avoids problems with the upper cabinet-13" and casts the light at the edge of the counters. If the ceiling is sloped then I would use regressed eyeball trims.
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I think Dennis has it on the nose. I don't think it's that difficult, it comes with experience. I generally like to keep my can lights 3' to 4' from the wall to center. Lets just say if you used a flat trim with a BR30 lamp on a flat ceiling you will get a 30 degree angle of light all around.
 
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