I'm in love with LED

Just came from a mini seminar on LED lighting at Lucia Lighting in Lynn (BEST selection of lighting in the Boston area- hands down - not to mention the NICEST people!). I was really not too excited to drive there in rush hour, and to be honest, lighting has been my least favorite part of my design classes- it's complicated and requires a ton of knowledge. So that fact that I am so jazzed about LED is a total surprise to me.

I'm sure this is old hat, but just in case, the benefits of LED lighting are many. LED fixtures are low-watt so therefore they burn a lot less energy which is good for your wallet and the environment. One LED lamp (or diode to be correct) lasts for about 50,000-75,000 hours of use! So LEDs are the best friend to those of us who hate to, or can't, change lamps (light bulbs). They burn cool, unlike say MR16 halogens which add significant heat to your kitchen etc.

Lucy showed us the latest innovations in LED. The first being that LED is now available in warm white colors rather than that very unappealing blue white that first came out on the market. Dreamscape makes cabinet lighting that comes in flexible strips ranging from 2" to 11'. We passed around a small trip and it looks more like computer memory than lighting( the picture below is another brand FYI)

So while this stuff is bright enough to illuminate your cabinetry, you'll want a large size for under counter lighting. Color Kinetics makes a line called the EW Cove Powercore that mimics the color rendering of incandescent lighting almost perfectly (I bet if we give it another year and they will look interchangeable) - no color shift here. These are also DIMMABLE!!!

Lucy mentioned that you do want to be careful about using LED with white and cream colored cabinetry and stone - as it tends to do bad things to the color. She recommends borrowing a fixture and mocking up a kitchen in order to make sure that your LED lighting is working with your stone and cabinetry. Good advice which will save you lots of time and money in the long run.

Now on to my two favorite innovations by CSL Lighting!

First, I present to you the 3" 16 watt downlight! This lamp has a 50-60k hour lamp life with very little heat output. It is GREAT for low ceilings or for older home remodels where you don't have the depth to put in a traditional can. They make a wet version with a lens and it comes in a 5" size as well. Best part? These babies come with three changeable lenses: a spot, a wide flood and a narrow. How is that possible? Again, LED lights are not light bulbs, they are diodes, so the size/shape of the bulb does not determine the beam, the lens does. Even better? It comes in a SQUARE trim!!! How cool is that?

It should be noted here that LED recessed lights should not be used with polished stone surfaces. You will see the reflection which is not pretty. A nice honed surface? No problem.

And the icing on the cake? Gravity by CSL. This gorgeous fixture can be used as a sconce or overhead lighting and is wet rated - so no more boring shower recessed cans. I can't wait to integrate this baby into a tile design!