Whether a 5" looks better than a 6" is a matter of personal opinion. As for whether a 6" gives off more light, if they do use the same bulbs then msm is right that the light they give off was the same. If a 6" housing will take a bulb with a larger beam angle (or whatever you call it) than a 5" housing, then a 6" light would give you a bigger circle of light than a 5" housing. Recessed lights give off light in a cone shape and I assumed that you could use a bigger bulb with a 6" than with a 5" and then get a bigger light cone--but check with your lighting store to find out for sure that 5" and 6" use the same size bulbs because beam angle will be important if you are only using 4 lights in your room. I suggest that you find a vaulted ceiling that is the same height as yours (your builder might be able to help you with that) and see what you think of the size of the lights that they have and the amount of light that you get from them. Good luck!

Are you using low voltage or incandescent lighting? If you use low voltage, you can rotate the light bulb in the socket and also vary the width and intensity, color, etc. of the light beaming from the ceiling to acheive the desired lighting requirement. What do you plan to utilize the ceiling lights for? a walkway, reading, general lighting, etc? Remember to take the angle of the lights you have beaming toward the fireplace and make sure the beam clears the mantle. too many times, people put the lights up there and forget the extension of the mantle and it blocks the fireplace they wanted to light up. Just a thought. Low voltage or adjustable ceiling lights will/can correct this if it's already installed. This is a picture of my living room with a vaulted ceiling only to approximately 13-14 feet. We placed a "square" pattern of 4 lights around the seating area to illuminate that, then a "curved" pattern of 4 lights illuminating a preceived walkway thru the room, then we placed two lights to beam into the fireplace, and 4 more lights to illuminate the entrance of each patio door extending off of this room. Our lights are low voltage and you can see the size of them in the far back area of this room. This is the pre-finished ceiling, hopefully, altho blurry, you can pick out the way we put the lights. Think about furniture placement and where your guests will sit, you don't want a beam of light blinding them, you want the room to feel illuminated, yet soft and inviting. Too much information, sorry, but I remember dreaming many nights about my lighting plan and I know it's importance to light a room the way you will actually live and utilize that room. If you have more questions, I can try and take a picture of the ceiling itself to show you the layout of our lights. V

Our kitchen is similiar, not a lot of natural light. We used halogen recessed cans in the ceiling. You'd be shocked at how much light they can throw off, and they are not too concentrated in one spot. Just make sure you have the right kind of reflectors in the can for more general wide lighting. They also do illuminate the ceiling from light that bounces back up. We put halogen pendants over the island, but they are more spot, as they are concrete and only light the area below them. All the halogens are on dimmers, so we can control the amount of light and heat they generate. On dimmers, halogens are very efficient and "green", using less electricity. Under the cabinets, we put in xenon. They stay cooler. However, to be totally honest with you, we never have all the lights on at the same time. The halogens illuminate the kitchen so well I hardly ever use the undercab lights, even during meal preparation. The xenons usually come on when the halogens are off during a dinner party (we have a huge great room kitchen arrangement). They function more as mood lighting than anything else. If I did it over again, I'd probably even omit the undercab lights altogether.

Thanks laxfanmom. The great room looked huge to us when we went over there b/c they just finally got it walled in w/ doors, etc. and before they had, it looked tiny b/c we are in the middle of all these huge trees on this big lot and it was making the whole house look itty bitty. I thought 2.5 feet was plenty big enough but when the electrician said bigger, it made me nervous!