Kelvins, Lumens, and Watts

If you are feeling lost in all the lighting terminology, you are not alone! Between kelvins, wattage, and lumens; it’s easy to get confused. We are here to help make shopping for lights as easy as possible. 

We’ll start by defining each term. Kelvins is a measurement of light temperature, different temperatures have different colors and range from cool to warm.  Lumens refers to the amount of light, a fixture or bulb will give off. Watts or wattage refers to a measurement of electrical power. 

Kelvins

Kelvins, are important because depending on where you will be placing the fixture temperature can make a huge difference. Below is a chart that will help you know the main difference and our suggestions on where to use certain temps.

Lumens and Watts

We are putting lumens and watts together because they ultimately go hand-in-hand. Depending on how many watts your light bulb is, will be about how much light your fixture will give off. Here is a chart that will help you figure out how much light you will get per wattage. 

And one more note about wattage. In the above chart, you will notice that there are both incandescent and LED light bulbs. LED light bulbs take a lot less wattage to get the same amount of light. If you are ever unhappy with the amount of a light a fixture gives off, but are worried about maxing out the wattage, we recommend switching to LEDs. 

For example, if you have a 60 W fixture, with a 60 W bulb, but don’t like the amount we recommend going up to a 12-17 W LED bulb. This range is typically equivalent to a 75 W incandescent, but because LEDs use less wattage, you can still use it in a 60 W fixture. So, you are getting more light for less energy!

As always, if you have any questions feel free to reach out to cs@lightingdesign.com for help! Don’t forget to follow up on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!