Let Xenon Under Cabinet Lighting Create A Warm And Inviting Glow In Your Kitchen

Xenon Under Cabinet Lights have an uncanny ability to render color with exquisite detail

. They bring out the richness and depth of warm colors, and they make for an ideal lamping option for any under cabinet lighting application that requires a blend of task and decorative appeal.

Xenon cabinet lighting has become very popular due to the increasingly sophisticated detail found in rooms that feature cabinets. The custom home industry has transformed ordinarily functional rooms such as kitchens and bathrooms into spacious, more heavily decorated areas. Marble and granite countertops have become very popular, and nothing renders the depths of earth tones underneath a cabinet quite like xenon low voltage festoon lighting.

Interestingly, the slim line, linear under the cabinet xenon fixtures of today originate in previous fluorescent undercabinet lighting fixtures. Fluorescents once dominated undercabinet kitchen, workroom, and bathroom lighting as the preferred means of energy conscious lighting. They used magnetic ballasts as current regulators that controlled electrical flow to the lamps, and they paved the way in many respects for modern low voltage technology.

Fluorescent under cabinet lights still have their place in the industrial world today, but over the years, incandescent based technologies like halogen, incandescent, and xenon linear strip lights have replaced them in more aesthetically conscious environments.

Incandescent kitchen undercabinet lights produce a more steady distribution of light and emit less ultraviolet radiation. The light they produce is also very warm, and it works very well when ambient lighting in the room is by incandescent light sources.

Incandescent technology became very popular when low voltage transformers replaced the magnetic ballasts of previous fluorescent housings, making a safer 12V alternative to the120V fluorescent fixture.

Low voltage xenon fixtures provide lamp life up to 15,000 hours, minimizing replacement costs as well as electrical costs.

Xenon lights in cabinets are technically a form of incandescent lighting, although they are classified separately because they utilize a specific type of gas, xenon, to produce a superior level of light and longer lamp life.

Halogen under cabinet lights, like xenon, are also very powerful and produce vivid color rendering. As far as cabinet lighting installation goes, they are fairly simple light source to mount.

They burn extremely hot, however, and they have a much shorter bulb life, only 2,000 hours maximum. Many people use them in small, ornately decorated bathrooms because they produce excellent decorative lighting that is also very bright. The lights are never on for very long, but when they are, they make wallpaper and decorations stand out and provide clear visibility for guests.

Using halogen low voltage light bulbs today in large custom kitchens is not advised. When guests come for a dinner party, kitchen lights may be on for several hours, or possibly all night. Extended use can overheat halogen lamps, consume a lot of power, and burn up bulb life very quickly.

In these instances, xenon under cabinet low voltage lights work much better due to their cooler burn temperatures and longer lamp life. Xenon under cabinet lights last between 15,000 to 20,000 hours, the longest of any bulb type next to LED.

Physically housing a transformer within the fixture itself would result in a bulkier unit much like the old fluorescent lights of the past. Such a fixture could only fit under the back of the cabinet and throw the light forward. Because xenon is so bright, light that shines forward shines directly into the eyes creating glare. It became necessary as technology evolved over time to look for a way to streamline the width of under cabinet fixtures so they could fit toward the front of the cabinet. This technology has now migrated to cove lighting applications, as well.

Low voltage strip lighting manufacturers have developed technology that allowed them to remove the low voltage transformer from the unit housing to a concealed, remote location. Under cabinet xenon, incandescent, and LED strips can now be installed at the front of the cabinet, throwing the light downward and backward away from the eyes and creating an evenly distributed wash of light over countertops and backsplash.

by: Bill Dietrich

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