If different colored light falls on the same surface material, the material will show up as different colors. I've seen kitchens where the backsplash looks beige under the undercabinet lighting and blue under the ambient light. But whether it will be a problem in your space depends on the layout, how the light falls, the difference in color temps, the colors of the materials, and your own sensitivity to that kind of thing. It certainly is worth trying.

Hey there--

You're pretty close in terms of color temps here, overall. If the spread were beyond what you're describing, I think you'd be running into problems much faster with the warm v. cool feel that disparate K temps can give. As it is, I think you'll be able to pull off this hat trick with others none the wiser. :)

Awesome, thanks for the advice all!

Another helpful article on light temperature and LED lights vs incandescents

https://millennials1st.house/blog/your-led-lighting-looks-bad

@Heather N I share your pain and dismay! I'm continually surprised how many interior designers are not well versed in LED technology and the importance of both temperature and CRI.

@missenigma thank you...I feel like I’m some kind of insane person when my husband/contractor/electrician can’t see the differences in the lights and they look completely different to me.

@Heather N You are so welcome. I've ranted about this in several Design Dilemma discussions on here. Especially when someone thinks their wall color is off and the advice is to install 3500K daylight.

So 3500 isn't too bright? I'm trying to figure all this out right now too and I have no idea what I'm doing.

cherylbirth -

degrees Kelvin (K) - measures color

Lumens - measures brightness

Watts (w) - measures energy used

3500K isn't a measurement of brightness, it is a measure of color temperature. The lower the degrees Kelvin ("K"), the more warm/yellow/orange the lights look. The higher the degrees Kelvin, the more cool/blue/purple the lights look. In my opinion - and this is all subjective! - 3500K would be too "white" to use in most areas of my home. It looks bluish to me and makes people look kind of pasty. It's fine in our garage or storage area in our basement, but not in my bedroom.

For people who grew up with incandescent bulbs, a "soft white" color is going to look most familiar - the range for soft white is 2700K-3000K. That's what most people are used to at this point in time. Anything below that will look very orange. Anything above that will look very blue. So if you want to get something that will look like a "typical" incandescent lightbulb, then something in this range would be ideal.

A related issue is that most LED lights dim differently than incandescents. Incandescent lights will get warmer as they dim. So when they are at 100% brightness, they might be 3000K. As they dim, they can get down to 2400K. So an incandescent light bulb will look pretty white when it is at full brightness and get more yellow/orange as you dim it. Again, this is what our brains are used to seeing if we grew up with this type of lightbulb.

Most LED lights do not get warmer as they dim. So a 3000K LED light will typically remain at 3000K when dimmed, it will just emit less light. This will look unnatural to someone who grew up using incandescent bulbs, since we are used to the light getting more orangey as it dims.

The newer LED technology adjusts for this and allows the lightbulbs to mimic incandescents more closely. So the newer LED lights with dim-to-warm technology will look 3000K at full brightness, and get closer to 2600K when dimmed. Most of them don't get to the 2400K range like an incandescent, but the effect is better than nothing. These LED lights are the closest option right now to mimicking an incandescent light.

All of the discussion about what looks best is subjective, but I do think it is distracting to mix colors of lights within a room. Maybe you can do everything in your bathroom at a cooler temperature, and everything in your bedroom at a warmer temperature, but to me, it looks very odd to see the different tones of lights in the same room. Instead of blending in and just lighting up the space, they become their own element with different colors scattered around the room.

Cheryl, all the lights are not all going to be on at the same time. And shades and bulbs can color the same K of a bulb to a slightly different color. Just as lamp shades in a room can color the same bulb to a different color.

Go with what you can and get as close as you can. I think Heather is talking apples and oranges. I think if you had different colors in your cans then that would be distracting. Just as a 3K light on the left light of a garage and a 5K light on the right light of the garage would be distracting.

Slightly different colors (K) in different lighting fixtures are okay.

PS. don't sweat the small stuff!!!

Okay, my husband bought a bunch of different can lights for me to compare, and I think I like the color "feel" of the 4000k light. Is this too white? My gray counters definitely look better under the 4000.

If that's what you prefer, that's fine. It's personal preference. Like Heather N, I personally don't like to go over 3000K for my living spaces. The basement and garage, bring 3500K on! But that's me.

Do make sure the lights have a CRI (Color Rendering Index) of 90 or better, though.

Missenigma, I just ordered some off of Amazon that have a CRI of 94. Hope I picked okay!

Kathi, I typically put many different types of lights on in my room at once, so that is why I notice them. If you're someone who only puts a single light on at a time, then agreed it won't be as noticeable. I usually put the ceiling lights at a low brightness, the chandeliers at a medium brightness, and lamps at a brighter level in the evening. If you never use your chandeliers while your recessed ceiling lights are on, then it might not bother you.

As I said before, it is all subjective. If it doesn't bother you in your own house, then go for it. My parents mix lights of different tones in their house and it looks weird to me whenever I visit their house - but it doesn't bother them, and I never mention anything about it, because it isn't my house.

Cheryl - try the lights at full brightness and then try them dimmed at night to get a true idea of how they look in different conditions. Most of them look good at full brightness but the differences become more noticeable when dimmed.