Recessed lights-how far apart

15 years ago

I know there is a lighting forum, but you who have done kitchen read these more. I am to the point of saying how many and where the recessed cans will go.

So what do you think is best as far as distance along a wall of cabinets. The wall I am most questioning is like this:

36" Fridge---21"counter--range w. Micro above--34"counter.

The fridge will be counter depth.

One lighting contractor suggested 3 cans starting with one over fridge, then stove, then last over the 34"counter and the other contractor suggested 2 cans with them being over each of the counters.

Also does distancing them 23-24 inches out from the wall work the best? These are 6"cans in 7 1/2 foot ceilings.

There will be other cans too, but this run is the one that I can't decide on.

Thanks for your thoughts and experience.

Cindy

Featured Answer

arbordomus

15 years ago

Sketch up your floorplan to scale and get some translucent paper to mark your fixture locations on. Mark ceiling obstructions on the plan including the joists and plumbing lines. Then keep moving the fixture layout over the plan until everything fits.

Most reflector downlight fixtures are best separated by half the distance between the ceiling and the surface being lit. 7-1/2 minus 3 is 4-1/2 so cans would be 2-1/4 apart. (8 minus 3 yields a 2-1/2 spacing that is nearly the 32" needed between joists to go both ways with a square pattern.) The idea is to have cones of light that overlap by 50% to avoid shadowing as much as possible. One can per area assures you will always be working with a shadow. Fixtures can be right overhead or toward the wall from your working position. 2 ft from the wall is a good starting point, but with overlapping cones one can get away with 2-1/2 or so just fine since one seldom is working tight to the counter edge.

We used downlights for worklight, but used surface mounted lights as our primary lights to spread light into the cabinets and provide a half-level ambient level. Both types of fixtures were standard incandescent fixtures fitted with coiled fluorescent bulbs. We did not use R30 or R40 lamps since we did not like the glass-eye look and they are not as efficient as reflector fixtures and were not readily available in fluorescent source.

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Comments (6)

svwillow1
15 years ago
Similar run with 8'0" ceiling: 36" fridge, 30" counter with uppers, 30" stove with hood - no micro, and another 30" counter with uppers.

We centered one can on the fridge, but moved it out to where the cone of light would fall without a shadow onto the bottom freezer drawer. Over each of the 30" counters we centered one can and located it 24" out from the wall at the edge of the counter top. The hood already provided excellent lighting for the stove top, so we did not use a fixture there. In fact, there is enough of an overlap in the cone of light between the two cans on either side of the stove top, they are about 60" apart; we find we don't turn on the hood lights that often. On the other wall we found that a 3 foot distance between cans was about right to prevent dark spots or shadows.

Our Juno 5" housings with wheat trim are capable of taking 100 watt PAR floods, and are on dimmers. They provide excellent task lighting. We do have under the cabinet lights, but use them just for ambiance. They are not needed for task lighting. If I were to err in lighting, I'd rather err on the side of too much than too litle. You can always lower the wattage, or use dimmers if the work area is too bright. Much harder to correct one that is too dark.
svwillow1
15 years ago
75 watt not 100 watt PAR Halogen Floods
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Actually just installed 5 cans in the kitchen yesterday. On the ~13 ft section of cabinets against the wall, 3 cans about 4 ft apart and 29 inches (to center of fixture) from the back wall (26 inch counters). We've under cabinet fluorescent lighting so plenty of task area light. Two other cans pretty much centered over a sink/ snack island backing to great room. All this replaced a huge fluorescent construct in the center of the kitchen. If I were to tweak anything, I might install the cans a few inches further from the wall to improve the amount of light going into the below counter cabinets when opened. Plenty pleased with the install as is, a major change in atmosphere of the kitchen without the darn piece of furniture previously attached to the ceiling. I think a key issue for placement depends on if you have under cab lighting. If you don't, I would not install closer than the counter edge. If you do have under cab lights, further out or closer in, a matter of whether you are looking for general light or highlighting your cab faces.
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Cans are fine for highlighting certain areas, but they're actually pretty inefficient for general lighting. They create pools of light and shadow - especially with a low ceiling. I can't imagine going to that much trouble to get uneven light. If I were you, I'd drop the ceiling just enough to fish cable and mount boxes, and then install good quality surface-mount fixtures. Some day this silly fad for recessed lights will abate. They'll become unfashionable, and houses will finally have good, efficient, reasonably priced lighting again. People will come to your house and say, "Oh, cans, those are so nineties!" ;-)
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palimpsest
15 years ago
I actually prefer working out a design where the lights are evenly spaced on the ceiling and come close to being where the "ideal" might be for an individual fixture.

IMO ceilings that have unevenly spaced cans centered specifically over individual areas look like swiss cheese, and a grid placement not only looks tidier but the illumination is more even due to intersecting beam spreads.
I have never had anyone complain after the fact that a can should be 6 inches over to shine in the oven better etc,.
svwillow1
15 years ago
We did not like the swiss cheese look either, but in a kitchen task lighting is very important. For this reason, we choose a Wheat Haze finish trim rather than black. On a white ceiling the cans blend in so well one hardly notices them, and this finish also greatly reduces any glare.
Mira Khoury
2 years ago
Hi Cindy

Diffuse light is the best for kitchen, you need a direct homogenous light and if accent light is needed as per design spots could be apart like 20 or 30 cm from each others and from the item u are focusing on it to avoid shadows.

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Recessed lights-how far apart

arbordomus

Comments (6)

svwillow1

svwillow1

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