I'm going to be of no help. I just don't care for them. However, I do think they work well in some houses (I cringe at a Victorian or a renovated cottage with them, though).

I think done correctly, they almost disappear and serve a good purpose, but for that reason I would only put them in with the help of a very good lighting designer.

Done poorly, they tend to give the "Swiss cheese effect" to rooms.

We have in kitchen and do like - ours our white, and disappear. My mom's have a black inside and are pretty obvious. Hers also produce a glare off her shiny granite. (we don't have that problem - no granite - haha). We stayed in a basement apartment recently that had them, and they did help that dark space.

We have them throughout our house. We have a light fixture in the small bedroom we use as our "office." The room needed a new light fixture when we moved into the house, and it was much quicker/easier to just replace the fixture than first go about installing hi-hats. It's very nice, but it collects bugs (in the glass bowl suspended from the fixture)--yuck! It's DH's "job" to clean them out, but he usually waits 'til I've reminded him a number of times....

We have recessed lighting in every room, from top to bottom, except the DR (chandelier) and the covered front porch, which has two different overheads (a mistake the previous owners made, that we didn't fix yet).

Our house is a four-square that was built in 1904, and the updated lighting was a real selling point, as most of the lights are on dimmers as well.

When we re-did a bathroom in the basement, we added a can light that also had an exhaust fan, a heat-lamp and a night-light in it. You can't get that in a standard fixture!

We installed them in our kitchen surrounding the island. There, they give good illumination which our metal pendant is unable to broadcast.

Also have them in the pantry and art niches.

Because our basement ceiling is To the earlier posters' comment about "swiss chess effect" I totally agree, however if you are having very high ceilings you are not likely to be aware of cannisters, especially if you have a few table lamps operating simulatneously. To the comment about white vs. black baffles, ours in the kitchen are black so that looking toward them from the adjacent room does not reflect a glare to the looker. Otherwise, white does blend with a white ceiling.

In addition to the kitchen, we have one in our foyer because the ceiling is odd and a fixture would have looked weird. We also have a waterproof one over our master bath shower. I don't particularly like them and opted not to use them in the family room which adjoins the kitchen. On the other hand, I often think we would have been better off putting 3 flushmount fixtures in the upstairs hallway, rather than just 2 and putting a couple more recessed lights in the downstairs entry. That would have eliminated the need for the chandy in the two-story stairway that is impossible to reach, filthy dirty, and will stay that way until I can afford to get the electrician back to install a lift.

Totally Confused

We just this past weekend installed 4 in our upstairs hallway. (It is part of a 2 story foyer) They are on a dimmer, and they are wonderful! They are lighting all the artwork up there, it is one of those "why didn't we do this sooner" things.

(we also have them in the kitchen and love them there too, and yes, on a dimmer there also)

Our "builder basic" ranch-style house had no light fixtures whatsoever in the living room or family room; and I am like you - I NEED LIGHT! I guess you are just supposed to use lamps, but that was never enough for me, especially in a room with high ceilings. So we now have can lights in both of those rooms, with a little extra lamp lighting for reading or when we don't want the entire room lit. We use energy efficient light bulbs as well.

I'm in agreement with wi-sailorgirl on this - in general I don't care for them, and I think that's because they are so often overused or poorly executed. There are many different choices with recessed lights from the type of bulb to the housing to the rings to the lens (if any) and they all impact the type of light produced.

I love a well lit room and like you do not like to wander around in dark, dreary rooms. But I far prefer a mix of lighting that includes table and floor lamps, chandelier or hanging fixtures, ceiling mount and the occasional torchiere or uplight. To me they create a much more inviting and interesting light atmosphere than recessed light which so often are harsh and make a room feel overlit.

We put them in our family room/kitchen. One thing I suggest is to put them on dimmers-actually, I would have dimmers for EVERY light in the house if possible. If I need bright light, I can have them on all the way, but sometimes I just want a nice glow added to the light from the table lamps and it looks lovely.

Got to have dimmers. I have them in the kitchen, family room & LR, all on dimmers. Just too bright without dimmers.

Kitchen, keeping room, and a hallway. About the only time I use the ones in the kitchen is during the winter months when it gets dark so early. For the most part the peninsula pendants and under-cabinet fixtures provide adequate light.

We have them in the office, the kitchen, living room, master bath and basement. I'd like to put in more. I like them because you can switch out the bulbs to spot or flood to give different effects, especially with a dimmer. They take a standard type bulb; whereas other fixtures might take different types. They don't date nearly as quickly as a light fixture using brass, nickel, oil rubbed bronze, etc. They're not obtrusive.
Plus, it's easy to change the bulbs, unlike some other fixtures.

We have an ABUNDANCE of them in our Florida condo. They're everywhere! Like Swiss cheese on the ceiling! Don't know what previous owner was thinking! Thank heaven they're on dimmers so we can cut the cost of running them a little. (The electric meter goes nuts when they're all on.) They're HOT,too ... very hot, so not great to have on in the summer months in the Keys. As we can, we'll be spending lots of $$$ trying to find low-voltage energy saving bulbs to replace the ones currently installed. The dimmable one I found last week is $17.00 per bulb!! In the meantime, we have lamps sitting here and there for reading and ambience as the rececessed lights definitely do NOT project ambience, even with the dimmers. If anybody has a better idea, sure would love to hear it. Thanks.

My house was built in 1983 and there are a few recessed lights throughout the house. Two above the eating bar/counter on a dimmer, two in a closet area upstairs near bedrooms. I added some in my new master bath remodel, one above linen tower, two along window wall where I plan to have some kind of built in storage below windows and 4 in the walk in closet area, still waiting for cabinets. I used halogen so I could have dimmers, but when I want light I want it to be able to be bright. My Fantech bathroom fans, one above tub and one in shower also have built in halogen spots on dimmers, but I knew I would want bright light for cleaning both areas. I love them all for the brightness, but was careful to avoid the "swiss cheese" effect by not adding too many.

Have the cans in DH's office 4 with a center decorative ceiling mount fixture. Great lighting for his work space. Also have cans down one hall going from my office to DH's office. Hall and office lights are on dimmers and really work well. No swiss cheese effect at all.

I would much rather have the cans in my office, as with only one large window that gets little direct sunlight, my office seems too dark despite task lighting over my desk area, two floor lamps as well as 2 other lamps. The lack of light drives me crazy at times, like on a cloudy/rainy day.

We did have 2 of the older style recessed lights in our LR and 2 in DR space. I've often wondered what the man who built our home was thinking when he installed the recessed fixtures in a LR and DR space? Just plain ugly with no real efficiency bonus to offset the terrible appearance.

We have them in every room but I put my foot down in the dining room. There is a chandelier there. All are on dimmers. DH was the one who wanted them. In a contemporary home I don't mind the look at all. I use them full blast in the kitchen, and dimmers in all the other rooms. (And dimmed in the kitchen after 8 or 9PM. I think it was a complete waste of money in some areas such as bedrooms. I am embarrassed to say that we even have them on the patio and in the garage and even closets. I could NOT stop DH on this one. I really like the eyeballs or spots pointed at the art work over the fire place.

Generally donâÂÂt care for the look or the light. Good for cleaning the room, but they donâÂÂt offer nice ambience in a space, unless they are on dimmers, I suppose. They tend to wash out the color and warmth in a room, imo. We have several in the kitchen in the cabinet/counter area, because I donâÂÂt have undercabinet lighting, and I only have them on perhaps 10 times a year - I just donâÂÂt like the feel.

I do agree that well-planned spotlighting for art or hallways can be great.

You might see if you can get with a local lighting store or designer to help make good decisions.

Don't care for them, although as others have said, I can see places where they do work well. We do not have any in this house. We also prefer a mixture of lamps, hanging fixtures, etc.

tina

Have to have them, I am blind as a bat! Even with 10 in my kitchen (and I have added the new purple bulb that puts out even a brighter light!) I still need to turn on my task lighting to help me see.