Ah, the recessed light debate – the source of many impassioned internal arguments that I’ve had in EVERY SINGLE ROOM I’ve ever designed. Designers don’t like generic builder grade anything, so there is a level of snobbery about these basic fixtures, inherent in talking about them. But often without them, especially in certain rooms during certain times of the year there is frustration when you simply can’t see anything. So after our first dark PNW winter where there is no natural light between 4 pm and 8 am, where we eat breakfast before the sun comes up and start dinner after sundown, I feel like I have some perspective to share. So here is where I actually used my recessed lights (and where I regret putting them because I didn’t use them at all this year).
But first…the purpose of recessed light:
Not every type of lighting has the same purpose – it’s not always just to “brighten” or to “see better”. No. The purpose of a recessed light, the reason you would put them in your room is one of these things (or both):
- To make a room bright enough to execute a specific task – i.e. cooking, cleaning, crafting, putting on makeup, and getting dressed.
- To keep the lighting fixtures minimal – likely in a more contemporary home where you want your eye to go to other more architecturally interesting things, not a ceiling fixture (this time).
And before I get too far into it, you should know that when I talk about recessed lighting I’m referring to the more sleek/modern 3″ or 4” round with the squared-off casing in white or black (if wood or dark ceiling). It’s what we have throughout our first floor and I think they are lovely to look at in every way.
So let’s go room by room with my current opinions based solely on my 43 years of my own personal experience. Everyone is different – but here is my perspective.
Yay or Nay? Personal preference! (But, I’m currently a yes)
This is unpopular with designers but y’all I use my recess lights in our kitchen a lot – both for cooking and cleaning. I lean more practical this way, probably because I cook a lot. Or maybe I’m just used to it, but in the last 4 kitchens I’ve either had track or recessed lighting in addition to pretty fixtures. I used track lights both times when we had exposed wood ceilings where the track could be installed and hidden along a vintage beam, and recessed lights for a more typical drywall ceiling.
Last winter at the farm, I still used the sconces and pendants for morning light in the kitchen because it was too early for that level of overhead. But if I’m following a recipe in a cookbook for dinner, I really want to be able to see well. I find that while the sconces and pendants provide a lot of lovely light, it’s not task lighting and it’s not direct (they are more ambient) and just not enough. I’d also like to point out the obvious that kitchens have to be cleaned nightly after dinner, whereas bathrooms can be cleaned during the day on the weekend, thus you need better lighting to clean at night. So, I’m a yes to recessed lighting in the kitchen just to light up your cooking spaces.
Yay or Nay? Depends! (We didn’t this time).
Now, this is considered a very utilitarian room which usually people recommend a lot of overhead task lighting (and I do, too). We have high ceilings in here so we put in these four pendants which provide more than enough and I’ve never wished for more lighting in here. So we skipped them, but if you don’t have a lot of overhead light options (like pendants or multiple semi-flush lights) then go for the recessed. I don’t love the look of 4-6 semi-flush lights (a trend we’ve been seeing a lot lately) but I do like spotlights and love multiple pendants as we did.
Yay or Nay? SKIP, unless it’s also the kids’ playroom
This is our fourth living room documented here on the blog and never have we had recessed lights in any of them nor wished we had. So I feel confident in saying that generally, I don’t think you need them if you can put in ample overhead fixtures and sconces (and table/floor lamps). Since we have an exposed ceiling in the farm living room we couldn’t really put in recessed lighting in here, so it wasn’t really a debate. The purpose of this room is usually to hang/converse and this is always better with recessed lights off, and ambient lights on. However, if your main living room is also where you gather around your coffee table to play games and do crafts then you’ll probably want them. We used them all the time in the mountain house family room – the lamp light wouldn’t do in the winter (and that room didn’t have a ton of afternoon natural light).
Yay or nay? Depends! (we mixed it up and my opinions are based on a few factors)
First off, this really depends on the era of the house. For vintage houses try to avoid recessed lighting and do ample overhead semi-flush, flush, and/or sconces.
It’s my current opinion that you need either a multi-bulb semi-flush or chandelier if you have the height OR recessed lights but not both. If you have a more contemporary house, I think throw them in – they won’t look weird as it’s more period appropriate.
We had them in the mountain house (1970s) bedrooms (not the master) and as long as they are dimmable they go unnoticed when not in use. We purposely wanted to keep the room clean and minimal and liked the look of no light fixtures.
Our farmhouse bedroom ceiling was very asymmetrical so we didn’t put in an overhead light (I might still swag a big Japanese lantern for decorative reasons because we have the height). Any other type of light fixture would have to come from a really awkward place in the middle of a beam in order to be centered which I don’t love, so we just nixed it and put in recessed lights instead. That’s all to say that I have a current theory: If you get dressed in your bedroom you need decent overhead light – either a multi-bulb fixture or recessed lights. But if you don’t need to get dressed/look in the mirror in your bedroom or if you have a separate dressing closet then you don’t need a ton of bright lighting in the bedroom. We rarely turn on our overhead lights in the bedroom so I could have nixed them (but I don’t regret having them too much).
In our LA house bedroom and our kids’ rooms (a vintage 100-year-old style home) we did not put them in and I’m happy we didn’t – HOWEVER, for all three of the farmhouse bedrooms we needed more overhead light during the winter. I actually am currently switching out our kids’ semi-flush lights because the single 40-watt bulb is just not enough (and we could upgrade the wattage, but the fixtures are clear glass so seeing that white LED bulb doesn’t sound awesome). We are instead putting in multi-light semi-flushes that look cool. But I am glad we didn’t put in recessed as the vintage windows and doors just look better without the contemporary recessed lights in there.
Where I didn’t put them in but wish I had….
We didn’t put any overhead light in the mountain house primary bedroom because I didn’t want to disrupt the gorgeous wood ceilings. We attempted to address overhead lighting by putting LED strip lights on TOP of the collar ties (the horizontal beams) which unfortunately flicker in a very annoying way (because some LED + dimmers often don’t work well yet). Now, not having any overhead light was fine in the bedroom most of the time except when I wanted to try on outfits in the winter at night (which was rare as that wasn’t our lifestyle to go out). We actually have black track lighting originally intended for the closet sitting in the garage, but never installed (a very me thing to do/not do). Now what I should have done is put 4-6 small black recessed lights in the bedroom (I really like the look of black recessed lights).
Yay or nay? Personal preference (skip if you can but heavily depends on sconces)
We didn’t put them in the kid’s bathroom and haven’t missed them for a second. We did put them in our bathroom and have only turned them on a couple of times. But we have them in all the mountain house bathrooms and used them a lot! The difference is that at the mountain house, all of our sconces were more decorative and gave off fairly low or directional (downward) lighting and we skipped all ceiling fixtures on purpose, to not bring your eye there. The era of the house was more post-modern and that worked so well stylistically. Whereas at the farmhouse, a more vintage style home, we chose sconces with really great light (clear or opal glass) with similar ceiling fixtures and so no, we did NOT need any of the recessed lights we put in (except in the shower).
I wish I hadn’t put the recessed lights in the vanity area of our bathroom – it disrupts the pretty tile in a bad way. Had I known that the sconces would provide such nice even makeup-applying bright light, I would never have put in these overhead fixtures. My bad.
Yay or nay? Personal preference
You definitely don’t NEED recessed lighting in your powder room or water closet, so this is a personal preference. We didn’t put one in our powder room (just a little cute semi-flush and a sconce) and it’s GREAT. We did, however, put one in our water closet in our bathroom and I rarely use it, opting for the dimmable sconce over the toilet instead. So no, I don’t think you need it but doesn’t hurt and isn’t offensive (but if you have a vintage-style home maybe skip).
Yay or nay? YES
| right: photo by sara ligorria-tramp, from: portland reveal: creating the dreamiest of master bathrooms
Listen, even if you don’t turn the recessed light on in the shower you want one for cleaning otherwise it’s really hard to see in the corners.
Yay or nay? ALWAYS
Sure, you can go heavy on the sconces in here or put in a semi/flush, but really you just need good recessed overhead lighting (and I prefer this over the single fixture). I put away clothes so often at night, so it’s not just for getting ready.
Yay or nay? ALWAYS
You need to be able to tell the difference between split peas and green lentils, quinoa, and brown rice. We put a really cute light fixture in our pantry, but for sure knew that we’d more often use the black recessed lights. I’m sure a multi-bulb or really bright semi-flush or flush could work, but I just think that recessed works better in here.
So like everything there are some things that are advisable and tend to be called a “rule” but so much of it is a personal preference, so I’d love to invite any/all of you to leave any anecdotal experience in the comments.
Opening Image Credits: Photo by Sara Ligorria-Tramp | From: Mountain House Reveal: Our Calm Scandinavian Master Bedroom
THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED HERE.
