LED lighting has advanced massively in the last 10 years and is now standard in almost all applications in the home and workplace.
As well as increased energy efficiency and cooler running temperatures, LED lights have the option of different colour renders.
Traditionally incandescent lightning (think your old 60/100 Watt lightbulbs) emitted a rather warm colour with a yellow tinge. These were said to be around 2700K on the temperature scale. K being the Kelvin rating used to express the colour temperature.
The lower the number the warmer the colour – think yellow and orange, the higher the number – the cooler the colour think white and blue.
With most LED lighting we have options to have warm white 2700K, warm/cool 3000-3200K or cool white 4000K. There are some higher options of daylight white 5500-6000K. However, I’ve not encountered an application where these have looked good in a domestic environment.
But why not just stick with warm white like we always used to have?
Well, you may like the warm white but depending on the room, its décor and colour scheme something a little whiter may give better lighting and ambience.
Modern kitchens and bathrooms are typically installed with cool white (4000K) as standard. It gives a brighter, cleaner light.
If a bathroom has a white suite and contrasting flooring etc the cooler whiter temperature will help to enhance this.
A traditional wooden kitchen may be better suited to a warmer temperature, but consideration must be given to wall and floor colours.
In a lounge or bedroom, a good compromise is 3000/3200k. It’s not too warm, not too cool and can give an ambient feeling of cosiness.
Several LED manufacturers now produce light fittings with changeable colour temperature built in – so the lights can be adjusted on site without the need to replace or worry about getting it wrong at the ordering stage.
If you’re wanting new energy efficient LED lighting installed, then you’d do well to let a professional take care of it for you.
