Home Design

Lighting Systems Offer New Design Options for Kitchens and Baths

(WMS) - Lighting in kitchens and bathrooms has improved beyond Thomas Edison's wildest dreams -- just as the rooms themselves have evolved dramatically. Contemporary kitchen designs feature expansive islands and wide-open spaces, while formerly humdrum bathrooms function as luxurious hideaways, complete with Roman tub, spa and a range of pampering fixtures. The truth is, when it comes to fashion and function in today's kitchens and baths, you're limited only by your imagination.

As room designs evolve, the lighting industry is developing new technologies and products to respond to the ongoing changes in how people live and use these functional and comfortable spaces, from improved low voltage specialty systems to incandescent fixtures that use halogen or xenon bulbs, to new fluorescent sources that offer greatly improved CRI (color rendering) and CCT (color temperature). 

So, how can you take advantage of these new lighting systems? Whether you're building a new home or simply want to add new life to an existing one, good lighting design is based on a system experts call "layering," which produces more interesting spaces by balancing the decorative and functional aspects of lighting. 

An effective kitchen or bath lighting system will serve one of four major functions -- and there is a host of innovative new products available for each of them: 

**** Ambient or General Lighting: Today's new fluorescent lighting offers excellent color rendering for general lighting in kitchens and baths. New designs offer fixtures that are beautifully encased in wood with the latest designer finishes and accents. Or, you can use recessed fixtures for general lighting, taking advantage of today's new compact fluorescent lamps.
**** Task Lighting: Low-voltage pendants or recessed low-voltage lighting over a kitchen island provide excellent task lighting for this busy workspace. Under the cabinets, try low-voltage linear lighting instead of fluorescent fixtures. For example, Ambiance® Lighting Systems by Sea Gull Lighting Products, Inc., offers an array of new designs, as well as a mini-recessed fixture that can also be used as a shower light. 
**** Supplemental Task Lighting: Recessed low-voltage lighting is an ideal choice to provide supplemental task lighting to counter space work areas in kitchens or baths. 
**** Accent Lighting: Small, adjustable and directional track fixtures are useful for accenting countertop or cabinet displays. Or, you can highlight special items by displaying them in glass-front cabinets illuminated with innovative new fixtures, like the Disk Lighting System -- also part of Sea Gull's Ambiance line. Another popular accent approach uses low-voltage linear lighting under the toe space of a bath cabinet for night lighting. Finally, you can add another layer of light altogether by lighting above your cabinets with low-voltage linear lighting. 

For more information on the newest lighting fixtures and designs from your local lighting professional, call Sea Gull Lighting at (800) 347-5483 or visit www.SeaGullLighting.com.

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CREATE THE PERFECT 
Combination of illumination and ambiance with the latest lighting fixtures and designs for kitchens and baths.

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