We have recessed LEDs and their fine. The trick is to find ones that 1) dim properly, and 2) dim to warm. If they dim without getting warmer in tone, everyone has a ghostly washed out look and it isn’t flattering and cozy, in my opinion. I try to find LEDs that behave as much like incandescents as possible - incandescent will get very dim, and they also are bright white when at full brightness and get warmer in tone as they dim. You have to make sure your dimmer switches are also properly matched to the lights you choose for proper dimming. I personally prefer trimless lights - a little more expensive to spackle around then, but look so much cleaner (see pic of a trimless next to a trimmed light in our kitchen). The LED lights give our enough light - I actually bought the smallest size I could because I prefer to have most of my lighting coming from decorative lights (chandeliers, table lamps) and just use the recessed lights as filler lighting. The smaller lights will also get more dim, which is better in the evening when you don’t want bright lights. Don’t assume your builder will do all of this for you, because it took many tries with our contractor to get the lighting right. I didn’t realize the warm dimming issue at first, and just couldn’t figure out why all my rooms looked so weird and uninviting in the evening when the lights were dimmed.
We use 3 levels of recessed LED lighting in our home:
High-End: USAI lights - dim the most of all the LEDs I’ve found and have the best color, but are very pricey. Our trimless lights with frosted glass are very nice looking and we put them in the nicer areas of our home.
Mid-Range: Halo lights - they dim well and have good color. Don’t dim as much as the USAI lights, but still better than most.
Philips dim-to-warm lights: Cheapest option. We use these where we kept the old incandescent light fixture and just needed to replace the screw-in bulb.
Trimless (left) next to trimmed (right)
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door trim
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