By Russell Neal

Phantom linear strips make ideal wine cellar lights. Due to both their flexibility and concealment, they can be positioned in a variety of positions that create both direct and indirect cove lighting effects. In smaller wine cellars, they can function as the primary light source, and in larger cellars where people gather for a quiet getaway into a better, alternate reality, linear strips can be used to create ambient wine cellar lighting that contributes a vital element to romance, mystique, and relaxation.

Because many wine cellars are intended for viewing rather than visitation, lighting them with standard overhead accent lighting fixtures can often detract from the presentation of the wine bottles and the aesthetic of ornamental wine racks. Wine cellar lighting in this type of environment must completely hide its source and magnify the bottles, labels, and racks without giving away the source of illumination. This can be difficult in narrow confines that often resemble a long closet more than what most of us think of when we visualize a room. In such quarters, Phantom linear strips can be mounted on the rear interior of the doorway of the wine cellar. Light shines back into the room from the concealed strips, creating a luminance that appears to grow out of the corridor and intensify as it reaches the bottles.

In larger wine cellars, lighting takes on a more subtle role as an accent to atmosphere. Wine cabinets and wine racks stand along the walls, normally surrounding a table or two where people can gather and enjoy wine and cheese and quiet conversation. Most wine cellars of this nature, though spacious in floor space, nevertheless have low ceilings. Flexible cove lighting strips can be mounted on top of racks and cabinets, shining light upward along the back wall and reflecting it off the ceiling. This is similar to valance and cove lighting, but it has a much more powerful effect due to the space limitations of the low ceiling. The light appears to climb the wall and wrap itself around the ceiling, fading toward the center in a gentle glow.

Lighting wine racks themselves can also be done with similar effect using linear strips. Because Phantom makes every LED energy saving lighting strip custom to the dimensions of either a horizontal or vertical mounting surface, strips can be fitted to the interior of the rack to emphasize the label and surround the bottle with an aura of light. Or, wine cellar lighting strips can be concealed behind the racks along the rear surface of the wood, shining the light forward for a silhouette effect. Because of this remarkable flexibility and precise matching of fixture size to mounting dimensions, the possibilities for wine cellar lighting with Phantom custom lighting strips are as many and varied as wine cellars themselves.

For lamping options, we recommend LED 2800K festoon lamps as the most ideal source of both direct and indirect wine cellar lighting. 2800K festoons produce the warmest possible colour temperature available in LED, and they are a viable replacement for incandescent and xenon light sources. It is extremely important to use LED strip lighting in any wine cellar if at all possible. The absence of UV radiation and infrared heat renders the light harmless to the wine itself and prevents interference with any refrigeration systems that may be in place. The distribution of light produced by the 2800K LED festoon is indistinguishable from that of previous, more primitive technologies, and is ideal for creating an atmosphere of warmth, colour, and comfort. This is also the most energy efficient form of wine cellar in cabinet lighting and the best option for those who wish to leave the lights on for most, if not all, of the time.

Due to the highly original and custom nature of wine cellars, lighting in these environments has to reflect a level of equivalent customization and adaptability to some of the most eclectic cabinetry and interior architecture found in refined and elegant settings. Because our Phantom LED cabinet lights are all manufactured custom to specification orders, the best way to order these lights is to contact our main office and send us blueprints of your wine cellar (if available), along with a series of photographs that will help us build your lighting strips specific to the dimensions, floor plan, ceiling height, racks, and cabinetry of your cellar.

About the Author: Phantom Lighting. For more information on Wine Cellar Lighting and LED Lighting Technology visit us online today.

Source: www.isnare.com

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