Yesterday, we discussed our new favorite recessed light, the Lithonia wafer light. Today, I’d like to discuss where these should be located. They’re an excellent replacement to the surface mounted “booby” lights. I know. Once you hear that term, you can’t unhear it. They used to be the golden standard for light fixtures in a home. Now, they just make your home look dated. Here are our favorite locations for recessed lights.
Bathrooms
Two locations recessed lighting looks great is in showers, above tubs, and above decks. However, in order to be installed in these locations, the light fixture has to be wet rated.
Hallways
Another great place for recessed lights is in hallways. Swapping your existing surface-mounted light fixtures for recessed wafer lights give hallways a fresh new look.
Kitchens
We love-love-love recessed lighting in kitchens. They’re a great way to dress up and modernize an already busy space and provide extra lighting where it’s needed. If you remember from our post about colors, 2700K is the warm orange light that we attribute to incandescent lighting. I’ve had customers tell me that they want 5000K in their kitchens, which is a bright white daylight. It does bring higher lumens, but it’s stark and makes the kitchen feel like a hostile work environment. Home kitchens need to be relaxed. It’s where family and friends gather and chit chat while making amazing—or sometimes horrible—food. In the Lower 48, I usually installed 2700K in kitchens, but because Alaska is dark for so long, we’ve discovered that most people are happiest with 3500K in their kitchen.
Living Rooms
Recessed lighting also looks great in the living room. It’s soft, easy, and non-invasive. It’s a style that doesn’t age like some pendant light fixtures. I’m talking you, antique-stained-glass pendant that makes our house looks like it’s stuck in the ‘80s. We recommend sticking with that soft 3500K bright orange color which is perfect for this space.
Bedrooms
One more area that’s getting a lot of recessed lighting attention is the bedroom. I, personally, am on the fence about recessed lighting in the bedroom, but some of the guys love it. It’s still a relax space, so stick with 3000K-3500K for the bright orange color, and I recommend putting those on an LED-rated dimmer. That way, you can have it brighter in the morning and dimmer in the evening.
Conclusion
It’s important to keep in mind that these are just our recommendations and what we’ve seen that look great! It’s all about what you like, so take our advice and then do what works best for you.
