Our Kitchen Lighting Makeover

When given the chance to makeover the lighting in any room of my house, the choice was easy. We’ve lived here almost seven years, seven years of bemoaning the sad state of lighting in our kitchen, which the builder only chose to give five little can lights.

So desperately dim is the lighting at night (thankfully there’s plenty of natural light during the day) that at one point I took matters into my own hands and replaced those indoor floodlights with the brightest bulbs I could find. When one of them shattered and smoked, I knew I was stuck with less light or else I’d catch the house on fire.

The bulbs on the right and over the kitchen sink are GE Reveal bulbs that I installed when other bulbs burned out. I’m glad that this project gave me an excuse to replace them all! I’ve been too frugal to take down bulbs that still work.

First I went to the Indoor & Outdoor Flood Light section at Walmart, where I bought two 65 watt indoor floodlights. (See the full shop here.)

I prefer Reveal because the light is so clean. It looks better in pictures, too. Most photos taken indoors at night have a yellow color cast that needs removed in editing. Annoying.

The photo above and the graphic on the right should explain why I love Reveal bulbs.

My husband and I brainstormed what else we should do in our kitchen. Although improving the quality of light was a good start, we still needed more lighting. Option #1 included installing four additional recessed can lights and a drop-down pendant light over the kitchen sink. Option #2 involved hanging a ceiling fan with lights.

I asked friends on Facebook and got favorable responses from those who have kitchen ceiling fans. Maybe I wouldn’t avoid using the oven in the summer (or bring in a fan from another room) with more air circulation. When my husband said that Option #2 required less work and we found a fan we liked for $60, the decision was easy.

Back to Walmart for 40 watt Reveal bulbs for the ceiling fan!

After he plotted the center point between the can lights, my husband cut a hole in the ceiling and climbed into the attic to mount and wire all the stuff involved in hanging and powering a ceiling fan. There’s a lot to be said for marrying a man who can operate power tools.

I think the brushed steel mesh light kit looks very kitchen-y, like mini colanders. The blades are 36″, fairly small for a ceiling fan. I want a breeze, but nothing too overpowering in this space. Our kitchen glows: it’s so much brighter now!

I know I’ll enjoy cooking more in the evenings with the extra light and the fan.

Participating in this project has revealed (pun intended) how much energy you can save with energy efficient light bulbs. I chose to use G.E. Reveal instead of G.E. Energy Smart bulbs, but the graphic above shows how much money we could save just from using Energy Smart for those five recessed lighting bulbs. Click the pic to determine your savings.

Saving energy is challenging with a house full of people. We constantly remind the kids to turn off lights when they leave a room, especially bathroom lights, which they tend to leave on all night.

What ways have you found to save energy?

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I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and GE. Opinions expressed are my own. #CBias #SocialFabric

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