LED strip in the kitchen

In the process of developing a harmonious and beautiful design, the creation of the right and comfortable one plays a special role. lighting that can instantly transform your home and create the necessary comfort inside the entire residential premises.

Special attention should be paid specifically to the kitchen, where not only the level of satisfaction from the created will depend on the selected lighting the environment of the room, but also the quality of the dishes and masterpieces that the hostess plans to create by spending considerable time near the kitchen slabs.

Modern design solutions do not cease to amaze with their interesting and original ideas, allowing not only to decorate your own home, but also to create that unique atmosphere, when in your own house you can relax not only with your body, but and soul.

One of such modern and unusual technologies was the use of special led strip, the installation of which can be done with your own hands, only using the necessary tools and certain equipment.

Advantages and disadvantages

An extensive list of available advantages fully justifies the growing popularity of LEDs.

The pluses include the following:

1. Long lifenumbering approximately 50,000 hours.
2. The need for lower energy costs in comparison with other light sources.
3. The opportunity to significantly save your financial costs in the operational period.
4. High light output allows you to receive the maximum amount of light that ordinary incandescent lamps cannot provide you.
5. Ability to opt for modelscharacterized by a rich palette of color temperature. It can be both familiar warm tones and cold white or natural daylight.
6. Backlight, characterized by that color palette, which will be most suited to the chosen design of the room.
7. Ability to adjust the most comfortable brightness lamp.
8. Using special LED models, which are distinguished by their compactness and flexibility, allows you to fulfill the most daring and unusual ideas of modern designers.
9. Creating the necessary fire safety due to the lack of heating of the lamp.
10. LEDs are quite durable and high resistance to mechanical stress due to the lack of brittle materials.
11. This light source boasts high environmental friendliness., since the elements used are characterized by the absence of various toxic substances hazardous to human life.

All the pluses are considered and their list is quite extensive. The urgent question arises: “Are there any disadvantages of this lighting method?”. If you focus on the existing shortcomings, you can highlight only one significant minus - a fairly high price of the product.

And yet, low power consumption and all the savings during the operation of LED lamps allow you to close your eyes to this, seemingly not so big, minus.

Also, the disadvantages include the problematic replacement of LEDs in the design of the lamp and their noticeable tarnishing after a long service life.

Possible installation locations in the kitchen

When choosing the location of the LED strip, you need to build on the following goals that you would like to achieve:

1. Create Combined Lightingto highlight separate kitchen areas.
2. Carry out the selection of various decorative elementsused in the interior by creating highlighting.
3. Backlight the kitchen apron.
4. Create lighting inside the cabinet itself.
5. Select all elements used in the kitchen.created from transparent glass.
6. Reproduce the effect of “soaring furniture”by installing the LEDs below.
7. Perform multi-level lighting the ceiling.

Ribbon Selection Criteria

The main criterion for choosing a suitable LED strip is to determine the power of the built-in power supply. It is necessary to calculate the most optimal type of device so that the received power is enough, but there is not too much unnecessary stock left.

To calculate the optimal power rating for the SMD 5050 tape, whose length is 5 m and the power is 12 W, it is necessary:

1. 12 watts multiplied by the length of the tape, while receiving 60 watts.
2. Consider a safety factor of 1.25 and multiply 60 watts by it.

As a result, we get a figure equal to 75, which means that we need a power supply, the power of which will be 75 watts.

The cost of an LED lamp directly depends on all the available technical characteristics of the device and starts from 200 to 1000 rubles or more.

DIY installation

For the independent implementation of all installation work, you will need the following tools:

• a set consisting of tape reels and an electric cable included in the configuration;
• power supply unit and control panel attached to it;
• solder and rosin;
• double-sided tape and scissors;
• insulating tape;
• soldering iron;
• PVC corner or special aluminum profile for fastening the tape;
• drill and electric staples;

The walkthrough consists of a list of the following steps:

1. The length of the tape located in the reel is usually 5 m. If you need a smaller tape, in this case all the excess can be cut off by measuring with the help of a tape measure the necessary length of the product, and with the help of scissors we carefully expose the extreme contacts by 1.5 cm.
2. Next, using a soldering iron, 2 cables are connected to the received contacts, after which, perform the necessary isolation. To do this, you can use a shrink tube 2 cm long, which is fixed in the place of soldering contacts and fastened with a building hair dryer. Ordinary insulated tape can also be used.
3. In the next step, tape is attached to the selected profile or corner to the outside, with which subsequently attach the corner to the desired location.
4. A power supply is installed next to the backlight. For this to transformer fasten the wires of the tape used with a soldering iron, and on the other hand attach an electric plug.
5. Wires connect and output in that placewhere the transformer will be installed.
6. It is imperative that you install plastic boxes using electrical mounting brackets.where all the wires will be hidden for security.
7. At the final stage, connect Dimmer and perform the final installation of the power supply. A dimmer may be needed only if you want to change the brightness of the lighting.

Connection

Connecting an LED strip does not differ in any difficulties and the whole process is characterized by the relative simplicity of performing all necessary actions.

You just need to connect the tape to the used power supply, after which the transformer itself is connected to the electrical network. The cord that must be inserted into the outlet usually has a plug.

To connect the conductors use color coding of electrical cords. The red wire means plus, respectively black or blue - minus.

Recommendations

1. By connecting all segments of the tape, use only a soldering iron, the temperature of which should not exceed 260 C. Attaching contacts using connectors is highly not recommended, since this method will not be able to protect your home from possible fires.
2. By installing the LED strip in the kitchen in the work area, it is best to give preference to lamps with warm white lighting. This will avoid possible distortion of the natural shades of food and various other dishes created in your kitchen.
3. Installation of LEDs whose lighting is characterized by warm colors, it will show itself best in rooms with a classic interior, and when creating a high-tech modern design will be more appropriate to use LEDs with a cool shade of light flow.
4. To fix the tape more evenly during installationDo not immediately hold it tightly. It is best to carefully glue the entire tape with light movements, without pressing, and then trim it in those places where any irregularities have formed.