I agree. But I would not even consider halogen pucks. I know some places are still selling them at very attractive prices, but even free would be too expensive for halogens. Maybe I should be more charitable towards halogens because I've made a LOT of money over the decades keeping halogen display lighting maintained. But I also learned to hate them for the horror show that they are.
Puck style lamps, if necessary for style, are readily available in LED. Here's just one example from Lee Valley for illustration purposes.
https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop...-led-downlight
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
The Lee Valley pucks are decent. I would stay away from Ikea LED lighting. I've installed it on a couple of projects (customer supplied it) and the quality of light is poor. I would guess that he CRI on them is way low, like maybe 60. They give colors a look they shouldn't have.
I think you’re missing the fact that the strip lights are recessed / dadoed / grooved / routed / into the bottom of your cabinet or flush panel. Instead of boring a “hole” , you’re machining a channel. The lens barely protrudes beyond the bottom and some don’t protrude at all. Just depends on the product you’re using.
Whether you use pucks or strips, the light housing really shouldn’t be visible from most angles. The only exception is if you’re below them looking up. So, the housings really don’t factor into the aesthetic very much. What does , is the beam spread and shape of the light produced.
Like I said earlier , you may prefer a cone and round pool of light with a “hot” center that pucks tend to produces rather than the more even light a strip gives off. We all make trade offs on form over function everyday; so if you like circles better and think it’s better for your cabinets and or lifestyle - I’m not going to try and dissuade you.
Nice work Jared
Hi Frank,
Topic Swerve -
Do you know of any high-CRI (90+) shop lighting that is modestly priced?
3000~4000K would work well for me.
Thanks and good health, Weogo
I'm familiar with the mounting method of the flush led strips I think they are better in the sides of a cabinet so that they run top to bottom or hidden by the face frame. The strips on the bottom (flush included) just look bad to me regardless of how much (or little) you can see.
You can see the bottoms of these upper cabinets when seated at the island, meaning you will see the led strip (and likewise the puck) the puck just looks better imho. I realize that may be out of favor and not where the trend is.
I've installed a lot of product from https://sensolighting.com/ It's very high quality stuff, probably the best I've ever used, but not cheap. 90 CRI LED fixtures are creeping into the mainstream now, so you shouldn't have a problem finding some more economical stuff. You may need to go to an electrical distributor to get it though.
the puck just looks better imho. I realize that may be out of favor and not where the trend is.
Then, you haven’t missed anything.