LED Me To The Light At The End Of The Tunnel

No I’m not that bad of a speller. I know how to spell lead, but that’s L.E.D or Light Emitting Diode. And LED lighting is, and has been, the light of choice for many kitchen designers in the past few years. Originally LED lights where used only for accent lighting in cabinets or to illuminate the area above cabinets in a room. But as technology has increased, so has the use of LED lights, as have the benefits of LED lighting!

Originally the light output of the small individual “diode” (LED lamp, or bulb) was much less than incandescent, florescent or halogen light sources. But now the diodes have a much higher Lumen output so the LED light fixtures can easily replace traditional fixtures. Oh, you may be wondering what lumen means? Lumen is a unit of measure of the power of light perceived by the human eye. And that’s as technical as we’re going to get for this Blog.

So why would we want to lead you to LED lights? Well, LED lights will last longer than traditional light sources. Typical incandescent bulbs last 1,000 to 2,000 hours, but LED lights tend to last from 25,000 to 50,000 hours. When a manufacturer says that an LED lamp will last 25,000 or 50,000 hours, what the company actually means is that at that point, the light emanating from that product will be at 70 percent the level it was when new. There seems to be no industry standard for determining at what time span the LED is only transmitting less than that 100% so the industry engineers chose 70%.

And there’s no question that LED lights will use a fraction of the power used by standard incandescent bulbs to produce the same amount of light. But some wonder if more energy is needed to produce an LED lamp or fixture than the equivalent amount for a regular light bulb? Well according to the researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, the answer is NO! LED lights cost less to manufacture and they use less energy to run.

Carnegie Mellon calculated the amount of energy needed to manufacture and then run a light source for 25,000 hours. The results: the energy needed for one of these light sources ranged from 1,500 kilowatt-hours for the standard incandescent bulbs to 320 kWh for the compact fluorescent and 280 kWh for the LED light source. You can get more information about this study by going to the University’s website at http://www.cit.cmu.edu/media/press/2009/06_09_epp_lighting.html

OK, so the lights last longer, and are actually more energy efficient. What else? LED lights are much cooler and generate virtually no heat. Anyone who’s ever stored chocolate on the bottom shelf of a cabinet with a halogen undercabinet light below will know why that’s important. Even fluorescent lights give off heat, but halogen is the worst. Many years ago my first experience with halogen lighting was trying to remove a halogen bulb that had just burned out. I knew it might be “warm” but I didn’t expect to get burned! Literally.

One complaint about LED lighting is that in the past you had to replace the whole fixture in many cases, not just the LED “lamps”. Now 25,000 hours is about 20 years, but OK it’s true that it would be more difficult to replace an entire LED fixture than an incandescent bulb. Until now!! Some LED strip light fixtures have small removable lamps. So the strip holding the lamps can stay in place and you can simply replace any lamps that have started to dim. You can even change out the lamps with different colors for the different holidays or seasons!!

Another complaint about LED lights is the upfront cost for the fixtures and lamps. The fixtures are expensive, but the cost is coming down. And when you amortize the cost over a 20 year span there is always going to be a cost savings with LED lights. You don’t have to take my word for it, go to http://eartheasy.com/live_energyeff_lighting.htm to see comparisons over a ten year span in a commercial building. So in the long run LED lights will actually cost you less money. Even over fluorescent lights.

LED lights are the wave of the future so if you’re looking for the light at the end of the tunnel you better let us LED the way for you!!

Remodel, Recondition, Mini-Maker Over, Tune-Up, Spruce-Up, Touch-up…

Call It What You Want, But Just Call Us

So what word best describes what you want to do with your kitchen? Remodel? OK, but what does that mean to you? Do you want to do a full remodeling project where all the cabinets & countertops are removed and replaced? Maybe walls are removed, or even an addition is a possibility.

Well for many people, “remodel” simply means that they want to give their kitchen a “facelift” or any of the other words used above. Sawhill has always done these types of projects, though we just simply call these projects – “Partials.”. But “partial” doesn’t mean much to most people, and many people don’t realize what a great investment these types of projects can be. Yes, even in this current economy and housing market.

So what do some of these projects involve? Let’s take a Kitchen Mini-Makeover or Kitchen Facelift for example. These could mean just some new countertops and some new cabinet knobs & hinges. Or maybe just new cabinet doors and drawer fronts, or just refinish the existing cabinets. Is that all you want done? No problem Sawhill Kitchens has the resources to get this done, and manage the project for you.

New countertops certainly make one of the biggest impacts when doing a kitchen facelift, but don’t forget about the backsplash area (the wall space between the countertops and the bottom of the upper cabinets). There are so many great possibilities to select from - ceramic tile, porcelain tile, stone, even metal. Our designers can help you select just the right product to coordinate with your countertops, cabinets, flooring and walls.

These projects can sometimes involve new flooring too, or new appliances and plumbing fixtures. Maybe you want to add an island, or modify some existing cabinets for some new appliances. How about also adding a wine rack, spice rack or even replacing a few doors with glass inserts? And don’t forget lighting. Our Sawhill designers are happy to help with design, selection process and project management of any of these projects.

Another popular service that we offer to our clients is a tune-up or reconditioning of their kitchen that maybe is only a few years old or older. Just like your car needs a tune up, so do kitchens at some point in time. Our designers can arrange to have one of our craftsmen adjust doors, and drawers, and other cabinet related adjustments or minor touch-up. We also have specialists who can come in and take care of more major touch-up or refinishing of the cabinetry. And don’t forget your countertops. Corian and other solid surfacing countertops are wonderful products, but they can scratch and even look stained. Did you know that we can have those countertops re-sanded, and “buffed-up” so they almost look new? Minor chips can sometimes be filled too!

These days natural granite and stone is the probably the most common countertop material used. These are beautiful products, but do require some maintenance. We can arrange to have those granite countertops re-sealed, and maybe re-caulk the joint at the backsplash area. Sure, you could do this yourself, just like you could probably change the oil in your car. But when’s the last time you did that? Let a professional rejuvenate those beautiful countertops!

You see there are a lot of ways to Spruce-Up your kitchen, but we’re not limited to just painting the walls or ceiling. But we can do that too! So if you need something done in your kitchen, don’t worry what to call your kitchen remodeling project, just call Sawhill and speak with one of our designers. They’ll be happy to explain how we can help. Oh, and what about repair work on appliances? We’ll be happy to just get you the telephone number of the factory authorized service agent, even if you didn’t purchase the appliance from us. That’s just another example of Sawhill’s commitment to Unrelenting Service.