I know you want the light behind you when you stand to look in the mirror - otherwise there will be shadows.

Ok, trying to understand this. I am standing in front of the sink and the counter is 6 ft. long the cabinet will be 22" deep give or take, so if I understand this correctly I am to #1. Not put one directly over the sink, just one to each side and #2. Place them from the back wall at like 28" plus? Is that right? How about the 3rd one centered with the sink but at the 28" plus dept from the wall? Keep in mind they are 3" lights and they are directional so I could point them towards the wall and bounce the light. I like this idea because I was planning on some dramatic pricy tile for the back wall, whatever that maybe. I will also put a wall sconce to each side of the mirror. Some wattage help in that direction would be helpful. I have one 3" 50 watt recessed shower trim in the shower hooked up right now (non-directional) and I am so happy I planed on putting two lights cause one doesn't cut it. So I moved the 2nd one closer to the back corner so I won't have a scary dark corner. It did look great though when I tested it last night. So exciting to get something done! Thanks you all for your help I have been to a handful of lighting stores and they just have no clue what is the proper thing to do, they just sell lights period. So thank you all very much for your personal experiences.

Update, we installed the (3) 3" 50 watt lights and put three over the 6ft counter. This put one in the middle and 2 18.5" to each side. We placed the adjustable trims 12.5 from the back wall and they look really really nice. They don't however give off enough light so we will have to put in wall sconces which I planed on anyway. Now I will have to figure out how much wattage they should be. Anyone have any suggestions?

Appreciate this old thread jjaazzy - I'm in the middle of a bathroom remodel and was considering going with only recessed lighting. It sounds like I should probably plan on wall sconces too- if you're still around, did you ever settle on a wattage hat looks good?

Glad you found it, cause there is absolutely no help out there for this issue, not even lighting stores had a clue. I will tell you I went with 3" spots and they are 50 watt hals. I am not totally thrilled with the placement and light level. I think I would have liked to add another or go with a larger 4" spot I don't know if that would have increased the level. And yes you need those sconces to each side of the mirror and try and get it as close to face level as you can or you look like a monster. The placement and such of the lights above are ok for general brush your teeth stuff but when it comes to doing finer tasks........ makeup whatever the extra light level and proper placement helps. Feel free to ask me anything else.

Hi Jean Bo, I am going thru a complete bathroom renovation. And this topic is so hard to get answers for!! The bathroom is fairly small, so I'm not sure I'll be able to squeeze sconces on either side of the sink :( I am going to be able to do sconces beside the make-up/getting ready mirror, so thats good at least! I wanted to know if your recessed lights cause too much of a shadow on your face. Are you happy with your recessed placement? If you are, how far did you install them back from the mirror/wall! Thanks so much!!

I have 2 75 W LED recessed lights centered over sinks in a 72" double vanity. They are about 12-13" from the medicine cabinets wall, and give me very bright, ghoulish look. When I stand back from the vanity about 4-6 inches I look normal, so I would recommend overheads that are closer to the wall than 12", probably 6" - 8" depending on vanity depth (mine is 24"). I also have a 60 W sealed LED recessed light in the middle of the rectangular vanity area and my ceiling is 8 feet high. Mainly, I just turn on my four wall sconces, one on each side of the two mirrors.

Having the same questions for our bath remodel - we are doing 75w side sconces (flanking 2 mirrors) & recessed lights above. We have ~5 ft from wall with vanity to the back wall and wondering if we should center the recessed lights (1) on the ceiling btwn walls, (2) over the sinks or (3) over the ~3ft of walkway behind the counters? Hope that makes sense & would love your input. Thanks!