For years I had this idea to make some fitting lamps for the kitchen. It took a while to find the right tiny pans and matching led spots, but the result is these lovely small pan-shaped lamps, hanging over the kitchen work surface.
I enjoy doing this kind of lamp projects, turning a common object into an unsuspected lamp. They're quite easy to build once you have an idea and I like seeing all those little DIY projects around me every day.
It took a long time finding the perfect pans. I have seen lots of small ceramic pans, meant for in the oven, but I didn't think those would work well for lamps. There are even more small pans that are still slightly too big for this application. In the end I came across these tiny metal pans in a second hand shop and those were exactly what I was looking for. The little pans are probably meant for gourmetten, a Dutch thing, where you all cook your own meal at the table in tiny pans.
The led spots came from the hardware store. They're made by Xanlite, just like the other led spots in the kitchen and over my electronics workbench. By coincidence the plastic ring around the led spot has exactly the same same diameter as the pan opening, which is 115 mm (4.1 in).
Since the pans will be hanging from their power cord, a strain relief is drilled into the pan bottom, which will be the lamp top. This time I didn't forget to connect mains earth, like I did with the teapot lampshade. All that was left to do was glue the led lamps onto the pan openings. They won't be easy to open up, but there should be no need for that.
The pans have been in daily use for the last 4 years and only once acted up. One of the led spot had started flickering, so I had to replace it. The glue turned out to be easy to break and in no time a new led spot was glued in its place.