Universal lamp holder assembly for an appliance

A domestic appliance comprising:

• a cabinet shell;
• a liner mounted within the cabinet shell and defining an interior compartment;
• a door pivotally mounted for movement relative to the cabinet shell in order to selectively access the interior compartment;
• and
• a lighting assembly for illuminating at least one of the interior compartment and an exterior portion of the appliance, said lighting assembly including:
• a base member fixedly secured relative to the one of the door and the liner, wherein the base member constitutes an adapter housing which is configured to only indirectly receive a lamp to be illuminated, wherein the adapter housing includes a main body portion and a socket portion, wherein the main body portion further includes a tab for orienting the adapter housing within the interior compartment;
• a lamp holder member, said lamp holder member being snap-fittingly connected within the socket portion of the base member, said lamp holder member defining a socket;
• and
• a lamp received within the socket of the lamp holder member.

A method of illuminating various regions of a domestic appliance having an interior compartment selectively closed off by a pivotable door comprising:

• mounting at least first and second, distinctly configured adapter bases in two of the various regions respectively;
• snap-fittingly connecting identically constructed lamp holder members in the first and second adapter bases respectively;
• and
• mounting lamps in the lamp holder members.