New Kitchen Advice

[need_my_wedge]

Oh no, sorry to hear that.

thanks, nay bother..... moved my round this afternoon so that I can get a full 18 instead of the quick 9 I was going to play at 4.....

 

[BrianM]

That problem has gone away. Was made redundant yesterday, kitchen will still get a facelift but the walls not coming out now to save cost.

Hope you getting something sorted going forward.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Howdens with a good fitter about 20 years ago.
3 years ago we refreshed it by buying new doors and trims and fitting them to the frames, looked like a new kitchen.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

…and so today our bifolds went in and the look superb and open supremely easily.

However…at night with lights on inside the room and darkness outside the reflection in the bifold of the lit interior is a bit ‘wavy’ and varies according to my viewing angle.

Now I read that the tempering of the glass (required to strengthen large panes of glass) is likely to, or will (?) cause some such wavy distortion of the reflection and is not a manufacturing error - it‘s just what you get. But is that the case? I’ll ask the question tomorrow as its unexpected.

Nothing at all noticeable of course during the day. Could simply be something we have never noticed in bifolds of friends as we’ve never been inside their room with the bifolds at night…

Update…Got our builder and his bifold supplier round to have a look at our issue with the glazing of the bifolds. Without hesitation they agreed we weren’t going mad and could see what we could and agreed that the glazing panels would be replaced. Neither had ever before seen anything like the issue in bifold (or indeed any) glazing they’d supplied. I’d started to look into my consumer rights if there had been disagreement but delighted to say we could can our worries.

And, contrary to what I previously posted, the issue was very evident during the day, not just at night.

 

[KenL]

Update…Got our builder and his bifold supplier round to have a look at our issue with the glazing of the bifolds. Without hesitation they agreed we weren’t going mad and could see what we could and agreed that the glazing panels would be replaced. Neither had ever before seen anything like the issue in bifold (or indeed any) glazing they’d supplied. I’d started to look into my consumer rights if there had been disagreement but delighted to say we could can our worries.

And, contrary to what I previously posted, the issue was very evident during the day, not just at night.

Sounds like great service from them.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Sounds like great service from them.

Our builder takes on only customers through personal recommendation and has built a very good solid reputation in our locality. His door and window supplier is one of many years. If I was a builder with such a reputation I would do my utmost to protect it, as he does.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

And so with the electrician yesterday cutting through the ceiling plastering to connect up the recessed ceiling lights, we can see properly for the first time what the ceiling with lighting will look like. And my wife hates it. Far too many lights…and as far as she is concerned some are too close together. The conversation with our builder in 45mins time is going to be a bit awkward. But better now than finishing and then telling me how much she hates it. The spacing is consistent with what is recommended, just that for her there are just too many - especially over the lounge area.

I accept that our builder may choose to charge us for changing things. Taking some out and plugging the holes should be easy enough. Whether there is scope for moving any is another matter. It’s a pity as we could see the positioning after 1st fix, but that didn’t really give us a feel of what it’d actually look like after ceiling was boarded and plastered, and tbh I never thought to look really carefully at the positioning of the wiring 🙁

 

[williamalex1]

And so with the electrician yesterday cutting through the ceiling plastering to connect up the recessed ceiling lights, we can see properly for the first time what the ceiling with lighting will look like. And my wife hates it. Far too many lights…and as far as she is concerned some are too close together. The conversation with our builder in 45mins time is going to be a bit awkward. But better now than finishing and then telling me how much she hates it. The spacing is consistent with what is recommended, just that for her there are just too many - especially over the lounge area.

I accept that our builder may choose to charge us for changing things. Taking some out and plugging the holes should be easy enough. Whether there is scope for moving any is another matter. It’s a pity as we could see the positioning after 1st fix, but that didn’t really give us a feel of what it’d actually look like after ceiling was boarded and plastered, and tbh I never thought to look really carefully at the positioning of the wiring 🙁

If they're led downlighters you could try different colour lamps.

 

[Golfmmad]

And so with the electrician yesterday cutting through the ceiling plastering to connect up the recessed ceiling lights, we can see properly for the first time what the ceiling with lighting will look like. And my wife hates it. Far too many lights…and as far as she is concerned some are too close together. The conversation with our builder in 45mins time is going to be a bit awkward. But better now than finishing and then telling me how much she hates it. The spacing is consistent with what is recommended, just that for her there are just too many - especially over the lounge area.

I accept that our builder may choose to charge us for changing things. Taking some out and plugging the holes should be easy enough. Whether there is scope for moving any is another matter. It’s a pity as we could see the positioning after 1st fix, but that didn’t really give us a feel of what it’d actually look like after ceiling was boarded and plastered, and tbh I never thought to look really carefully at the positioning of the wiring 🙁

Down lighters can be a tricky one.
Son in law is an electrician and he was telling me once that builder asked him how many dl in kitchen, he recommended 8. Builder said no it only needs 6.
So he put 6 in as asked.
Builder came back and said its a bit dim in here. Said to son in law put another 2 in.
I'd say, be guided by the experts.

 

[BiMGuy]

Most people want a uniform pattern when installing spots in their kitchen. Which is more often than not the wrong thing to do as they tend to be in the wrong locations and cause shadows and poor uniformity.

Don’t worry about what they look like in the ceiling, worry about how they illuminate the space.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Down lighters can be a tricky one.
Son in law is an electrician and he was telling me once that builder asked him how many dl in kitchen, he recommended 8. Builder said no it only needs 6.
So he put 6 in as asked.
Builder came back and said its a bit dim in here. Said to son in law put another 2 in.
I'd say, be guided by the experts.

The electrician and builder both say keep as is. The electrician put in a few more than he normally might because of the positioning of major roof structural elements in the ceiling. If he had installed fewer the pattern would have been visually imbalanced side2side and very obvious when walking into the area. He went for a few more to give balance. The type of dl we are having can be switched from a bright light to a warmer and softer one…and they are all on dimmers in any case. Plus, they point out as you have, that you don‘t want to have less bright patches in your room because you wanted fewer dls.

I think my Mrs will go with the advice, she has so far always trusted their opinion about what would be right for us and what would be a mistake. And so far they have been right.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Most people want a uniform pattern when installing spots in their kitchen. Which is more often than not the wrong thing to do as they tend to be in the wrong locations and cause shadows and poor uniformity.

Don’t worry about what they look like in the ceiling, worry about how they illuminate the space.

She was seeing them hanging out of the ceiling (so not pushed up into place) and all the lights hanging on ends of wiring looked very busy. They’ve connected them all up so we can see them switched on this evening.

 

[Golfmmad]

The electrician and builder both say keep as is. The electrician put in a few more than he normally might because of the positioning of major roof structural elements in the ceiling. If he had installed fewer the pattern would have been visually imbalanced side2side and very obvious when walking into the area. He went for a few more to give balance. The type of dl we are having can be switched from a bright light to a warmer and softer one…and they are all on dimmers in any case. Plus, they point out as you have, that you don‘t want to have less bright patches in your room because you wanted fewer dls.

I think my Mrs will go with the advice, she has so far always trusted their opinion about what would be right for us and what would be a mistake. And so far they have been right.

And of course, and I'm sure they are, they can be switched on all together and separately,
depending on which area you're using.

 

[Rlburnside]

We have 14 lights in our kitchen 8 are down lights, never all on at the same time as they are not all wired together, it’s good as you can have lights where your working or eating , plus I like to only have a few down lights on when I’m listening to my jukebox, I got extra lights installed on that as well😂


On a side not I was going to order a Teppanyaki grill plate for the Neff hob we had installed until I saw the price, £276.88, think I’ll have a rethink on that one.

 

[KenL]

She was seeing them hanging out of the ceiling (so not pushed up into place) and all the lights hanging on ends of wiring looked very busy. They’ve connected them all up so we can see them switched on this evening.

Looking forward to hearing how they are after the launch. 🤣

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Looking forward to hearing how they are after the launch. 🤣

Well…after a few days of her ‘getting used’ to them she’s decided she hasn‘t - and the number of downlights that have been installed actually still really really upsets her - to tears. And so last night I blanked off seven, leaving just the downlights around the periphery of our L-shaped space, plus pendant lights over our peninsula, these being more central. Maybe move one about 2ft. No part of our new room is more than 4m wide and we aren’t seeing any dim areas with the seven blanked. Kitchen area now has seven dls around three sides plus two pendants on the fourth side above the peninsula. Let’s see what our builder thinks tomorrow.

Its difficult as we could see where lights would be before the ceiling was put in, but we had no idea what it would look like (runway lights she calls it). And that the electrician told us that he put in more than he normally would as he had to balance things around the central roof joist…and for my Mrs that just proved to her that she was right in there being ‘too many’.

 

[bobmac]

Well…after a few days of her ‘getting used’ to them she’s decided she hasn‘t - and the number of downlights that have been installed actually still really really upsets her - to tears. And so last night I blanked off seven, leaving just the downlights around the periphery of our L-shaped space, plus pendant lights over our peninsula, these being more central. Maybe move one about 2ft. No part of our new room is more than 4m wide and we aren’t seeing any dim areas with the seven blanked. Kitchen area now has seven dls around three sides plus two pendants on the fourth side above the peninsula. Let’s see what our builder thinks tomorrow.

Its difficult as we could see where lights would be before the ceiling was put in, but we had no idea what it would look like (runway lights she calls it). And that the electrician told us that he put in more than he normally would as he had to balance things around the central roof joist…and for my Mrs that just proved to her that she was right in there being ‘too many’.

If they are GU10 bulbs, get the smart ones and you can control/dim them individually.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

If they are GU10 bulbs, get the smart ones and you can control/dim them individually.

We do have these bulbs and we have done the dimming bit over the lounge area…but it’s the number of dls even more than the brightness that is doing her head in - though she is sensitive (in her head) to bright light indoors and always has low lights on.

Even when switched to maximum dim she just sees lines of lights. In truth blanking off lights with card so we can see impact and effect on light through the area we don’t really notice any ‘dim’ areas now not sufficiently lit. The overall light level feels fine, and the ‘number’ issue seems to be addressed.

 

[KenL]

Well…after a few days of her ‘getting used’ to them she’s decided she hasn‘t - and the number of downlights that have been installed actually still really really upsets her - to tears. And so last night I blanked off seven, leaving just the downlights around the periphery of our L-shaped space, plus pendant lights over our peninsula, these being more central. Maybe move one about 2ft. No part of our new room is more than 4m wide and we aren’t seeing any dim areas with the seven blanked. Kitchen area now has seven dls around three sides plus two pendants on the fourth side above the peninsula. Let’s see what our builder thinks tomorrow.

Its difficult as we could see where lights would be before the ceiling was put in, but we had no idea what it would look like (runway lights she calls it). And that the electrician told us that he put in more than he normally would as he had to balance things around the central roof joist…and for my Mrs that just proved to her that she was right in there being ‘too many’.

Reduced to tears by too many lights???

 

[williamalex1]

We do have these bulbs and we have done the dimming bit over the lounge area…but it’s the number of dls even more than the brightness that is doing her head in - though she is sensitive (in her head) to bright light indoors and always has low lights on.

Even when switched to maximum dim she just sees lines of lights. In truth blanking off lights with card so we can see impact and effect on light through the area we don’t really notice any ‘dim’ areas now not sufficiently lit. The overall light level feels fine, and the ‘number’ issue seems to be addressed.

Man up Hugh .