The new LR6-10L 1000 lumen bulbs don't have the dimming issues that the older LR series had. The consumer-grade CR4 and CR6 also have improved dimming capabilities.

Most of the people on this forum recommend Cree for its superior light.

I looked at the Liton bulb you mention. A couple notes -- it's only spec'd to dim to 10%, while the Cree's above dim to 5%. Also Liton says their bulb is not recommended for 3-way dimmers (unlike Cree). The Liton light itself is less efficient (lumens / watt) than the Cree lights, and has a lower color accuracy (85 vs 92 for Cree).

A while ago I did a lot of research on this and when reading people's most-commonly cited mistakes, over-spec'ing the light fixtures came up the most. I thought about going with the LR6-10L but since I don't have high ceilings decided it wasn't worth it. The CR6 is much cheaper (less than half the cost) and still gives you 800 lumens.

You can always install the housing first, buy one light and test. The housing is the same for both bulbs.

This post was edited by calumin on Sun, May 19, 13 at 14:36

Thanks Calumin,

The main problem for me with the CR6 is that it's only offered in 2700, which I feel is too warm. My new kitchen will be white cabinets with soapstone counters and a dark oak floor. Light blue paint on the walls of adjoining room. I for sure don't want yellowish light washing on the front of my cabinets.

I have replaced some of my cans in the family room to 3000K and after seeing 3500K in a showroom I feel that it's perfect for me. We have 9' ceilings all over.

I'm not sure of all the terms but the ones I was looking at incorporate the can and light all in one unit with the title 24 compliant base. I'm in CA and this will need to pass inspection. Im all for trying things out before deciding but I don't see how I can test those out.

Thanks for the comparison on the Liton bulbs. I wonder if he is as knowledgeable as he seemed or if they get a better deal for selling those. It's so hard to find helpful and informed salespeople without second guessing their agenda.

If I did the LR6-10L I would have over 10,000 lumens including UCL. If I did the CR6 I would have 8,000, assuming my placement above is good. Thanks!

There are newer CR6s available at different color temp.

2700k, 3000k, 3500k and 4000k
http://www.cree.com/lighting/products/indoor/downlights-us/cr-series

Wow! If I'm reading their website correctly it looks like these are new as of a few days ago. This may be what I get then. So would you say that if I did the 800 lumens at 3500K placed as shown that I have enough light? Thanks so much.

Difficult to say since you don't have the dimensions. I trust you can figure things out.

The light in the middle of the space will not be very useful.

Thanks davidtay, the kitchen area is roughly 12'X12', measuring from the sink wall to the imaginary line from the open garage door, and from the oven wall to the wall behind the cooktop. This is the area most concerning to me, as it's the area seeing the most change.

I added the light in the center of the kitchen as I felt it would be dark with no light reaching it. My KD did not show it. She also had three lights over the sink wall, one centered over the sink and the other two smack dab in the corners of that run. These would have been only 2.5' apart. Actually there was talk of a total of 9 cans(1000 lumens) just for this kitchen area. That seemed like a bit much so I decided to place them over the work areas and work my way from there.

If I didn't do the center light, the cans on the oven wall and cooktop wall would be about 6' apart. I don't know enough about the beam angles to know if I really would have a dark spot or not. I'm okay to not have the can, I am just trying to make my lighting functional for using the kitchen better. I currently have a fluorescent lightbox in the center of my kitchen, so I guess it seemed a natural progression for me to replace it with recessed lighting.

All your advice is welcome, thanks!

The easiest way to be Title 24 compliant is to 1) buy housing and lights which say they're Title 24 compliant (including airtight and IC-rated housing), and 2) get the versions that have the GU24 connector (instead of the standard Edison connector).

Compatible 6" housing is easier to find than for 4". Cree makes 6" housing that works with their lights so you can buy that, but others will work as well. If you don't go with Cree housing I'd buy one first to test, or go with what others on this board have used (although most people don't buy the GU24 versions since they're not in CA).

It's when you try to buy a whole kit with the integrated housing, light and trim that retailers will invariably steer you to a different brand. For some reason Cree hasn't quite got its retail distribution figured out yet.