How to Add Task Lighting to a Kitchen | Ask This Old House

let me show you the kitchen it was right back here also kind of a small space right right you know we've got a small kitchen and not a lot of light in here two overhead fixtures but this one the switches right here oh come on you telling me we've got two lights that close to each other in there two different switches right the switch for that light huh is actually around the corner out the dining room yeah well that's not helpful let's leave them both on and see how we're doing yeah I can see the problem is still dark yeah exactly you know if I'm here at the counter trying to chop vegetables trying to put a meal together can't really see what I'm doing it's not a great situation no task lighting so Vinnie what are you thinking well what I'd like to do I'd like to remove these fluorescents these these typical fixtures leave the light up at the ceiling all right this is a perfect case where we can put down lighting to get the light down to the floor so recessed sri says we call them our 40 blimps we're going to put fluorescent bulbs up here let's give it a nice look and can you put two of them on one switch for us absolutely absolutely I mean I'd also love to put bulb cabinet lighting we have a lot of space on top of the cabinet yeah which will give us a nice glow of light up at the ceiling I'd like to install fluorescent lights under the cabinet to provide task lighting like a telly what do you think that sounds great to me we're in business let's get to work school first step is to turn off the power disconnect the fixtures and remove the metal boxes from the ceiling how's it looking Vinnie very good very good even though we have a high ceiling we still have a drop ceiling above it to accommodate this sprinkler pipe that was installed okay which gives us really very little obstructions above nice my only obstruction I do have I have this bar that used to hold up the existing junction box that's still in there it's still up in the ceiling all right so to do about it in order to get this out I have to make a cut through it and then I'm gonna bend it out it away all right cut away okay now that we have the bar cut we need to make the hole larger to accommodate the new light cap can you hear me the template please yeah thank you and pencil we draw the template okay I'll take that okay great that's one now we'll cut the other hole all right these are the recessed lights we're going to be using they're made for remodeling we're going to take these slide these into the hole that we've cut like so and then what we're going to do is push the pressure clips out and they'll hold it tight to the ceiling I've installed a cable between the first recessed light and the second recessed light this way we tie them into the same switch so when one switch goes on both lights will go on this I'll use my wine nuts will make the final connections and we'll push the can up in the ceiling I'll push the pressure clips up to hold a can in place and then I'll use a screw driver to tighten them okay let's get started on the cabinet lights le let me show you what we have this is your existing switch we're now going to be using this switch to control you under and over cabinet lighting in order for me to do that I must get a cable from this box to on top of the cabinets but if the probing with the snake I'm finding that we have a metal stud located somewhere in this vicinity you know it looks similar to this that's inside the wall and I can't pass it so what I'm going to need to do is either I make a hole in this location here or I can make the hole up near the crown molding I think it's much better up at the crown molding yeah that sounds good all right that's together so Vinnie let me see if I've got this right we have got power coming from this switch Rick running up the wall through this stud right here and then out the wall again and then that taps into a new box right here so that we've got power on top and then we've tapped into that we've got a second wire running down between the wall and the end of this cabinet - a second box down here so that we have got power beneath together exactly you got it Kevin Ellie these are the fluorescent fixtures that we'd like to use they're thin line we're going to use these below and above the cabinets if I place into the back of the cabinet I think you're going to see the bulb because it sticks down if I place them to the front of the cabinet it's still going to stick down slightly so what I'd like to do is turn the fixture so it faces the back now you don't see it all right that looks great these clips mount to the front side of the cabinet and hold the fixtures in place these fixtures connect to each other with an interconnect cable very simple push the wire in what we're going to do is going to mount it to the front the only problem we have is that we have a rib in the middle of the cabinet and it's going to cause you to see the cord so what I'd like to do is take an oscillating tool and just cut away a little of the front edge so that we can hide the cord it'll make a nice neat job there you go plug this into the power and into the clip alright everything is wired powers back on let me turn on the recess lice huh huh Wow and Elliot I want you to do the honors with the cabinet lights yeah that is a huge improvement it looks great thank you Thank You fanny you did it again gonna play it anytime you're in Brooklyn please call

Channel: This Old House

Views: 401,094

Rating: 4.8598042 out of 5

Keywords: This Old House, Ask This Old House, DIY, Home Improvement, DIY Ideas, Renovation, Renovation Ideas, How To Fix, How To Install, How To Build, Lighting, Task Lighting, Kitchen, Do It Yourself, Electrician, Hobby, Home Repair, Norm Abram, Tom Silva, Richard Trethewey, roger cook, Kevin o’connor, kevin o'connor house, kevin o'connor this old house, kevin o'connor ask this old house, kevin o'connor interview

Id: E4QtyaTCMR0

Length: 7min 6sec (426 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 12 2015