Home Appliance + Lighting Blog

Pendants have become more popular than even chandeliers over the last 10 years. Open floor plans with islands and peninsulas have called for smaller lights spread further. Have a look:

LED Pendants

Have a quick look at 1/2 our pendants.

Relatively few are LED pendants. To review, LED will last over 22 years when used 3 hours and is super efficient. A 6 watt LED is similar to a 35-40 watt incandescent. LED, however, has two issues. First, the early LEDs rendered blue color and lacked a white filter. Secondly, the bulb was only rated at 2-3 watts, so it could never emit more than a dim light.

I sold appliances at Yale for 25 years. Customers would sometimes ask, "what would you place in your kitchen". It is a tough question to answer, so immediately I would respond: How much space do I have? Do I (meaning you) prefer a range or wall oven and cooktop? Lastly, what is my budget?

Unbelievably, I have been blogging for 2 years. I have watched LED for almost three. We have ventured to lighting shows waiting and eventually leaving disappointed.

LED is truly compelling technology. Light emitting diodes are 7 times more efficient than incandescent, last 20 times longer and do not emit heat into the room (incandescent heats to 300 degrees.)

As I have written previously, there are no standards to the lumen output of LED, so most bulbs render blue. The only white rendering recessed is LRF....

Until now LED has been almost absent in decorative...Until now...Lets look at some new products almost available....





Notice the equivalent to a 50 watt low voltage is now a 5.8 LED

Ah Black Friday....The next 3 plus weeks will determine the fate of half the retailers. Happily, the appliance business is fairly consistent throughout the year. Most manufacturers have some pretty interesting rebates, but I do not see a Black Friday rush to buy appliances and/or lighting. Then again, consumers may show a more practical side

About 2 weeks ago, I had a request for different bulbs and their effects especially in recessed lighting. Lighting effects are determined by the Kelvin scale. The lower number, around 2000 degrees, is decent, warm lighting. The higher end, 5000 degrees, is considered unflattering light. Commercial fluorescents and actually sunlight fit this category.


So lets look.


Incandescent:



Although the bulb should be outlawed for its inefficiency, the bulb renders especially well casting a warm, yellow glow.



Fluorescent:



Great question would be to ask which type. Color rendering fluorescents are actually pretty good at around 2800-3500 degrees Kelvin and are 4 times more efficient than incandescent.



LED



State of the art in all ways. It renders similar to an incandescent or low voltage bulb and is 6 times more efficient with 20 times the lamp life. Of course not all LED renders the same. Read some of our more recent posts about this lighting technology



Low Voltage



Low voltage is currently the standard for upscale homes. It is actually whiter or higher on the Kelvin scale than incandescent, but by only 200 degrees. This whiter temperature actually shows granites and cabinets better than incandescent.

We have been posting about LED(light emitting diodes) for almost a year. LED is the greenest lighting available and is 7 to 10 times more efficient than incandescent. The bulb itself will last 30 times longer than an incandescent.

Because it is a new technology, LED has been scarce and expensive. One company, CREE, seems to be way ahead in color rendering and their chips seem to be in high demand.

Over the past year, more consumer products are becoming available. Tech Lighting, the best track and pendant manufacturer, will have LED pendants and track available in November...

A sample:

I have started watching this website called GardenWeb. Yes, it is about gardening, but they also have a significant home improvement section with peer to peer reviews including a significant feature on appliances and lighting.

One of the posts was dedicated to the best appliance values. The person posting was talking about her parents refrigerator and how it lasted for 58 years. My feelings about this are mixed. First, I hate to throw anything of value away.

However, a refrigerator purchased today uses 50% less electricity than similar products from less than 15 years ago. A 58 year old refrigerator probably costs about $400-500 a year to operate versus $50-60 for a similar unit purchased today. Antiquated technologies in general like incandescent bulbs and top load laundry are probably costing the individual consumer hundreds of dollars a year every year.

But let's look at something new....What do these refrigerators have in common?



Yes they are Energystar, but there are instant rebates of $75 to 100 on all GE, Maytag, JennAir, Whirlpool and KitchenAid french door and side by side refrigeration.