Lighting Advice

I used a lighting designer to completely redesign the lighting in my apartment. My kitchen is separate from my living room so I will just talk about the lighting changes in the kitchen which previously only had recessed lighting. I will tell you that I detest the direct brightness of recessed lighting and much prefer softer, more diffused lighting. One of her suggestions was to remove the recessed lighting in the central part of my kitchen ceiling and replace it with a single flush which reflected light towards the ceiling and lit the kitchen in a more even fashion. She did recommend keeping two recessed lights which were directly above the counter areas where food would be prepared so that there would be strong light in those areas. I also have undercabinet lighting which I rarely use, but the previous owner had put in.

Recessed lighting vs flush mount is more of an aesthetic choice. For 14 by 14, central flush mount is more than adequate. Of course, the contractor does not make the same money. You can get very high end flush mounts. If using incandescent, you should be looking for 240 watts appx. 360watts may be an overkill but you can always use a dimmer.

My kitchen previously had zones of light where the stream of light from the recessed lights would come down while the rest of the kitchen was fairly dark. With the addition of this single flush mount, the kitchen is much more evenly lit while I still have strong direct light over the counter areas.

I was under the impression that when done correctly (the amount of points, properly places, etc) recessed lighting is very even light. Is this the wrong assumption?

I had several recessed light in the kitchen ceiling and my experience was that the light shone down very brightly in a stream of light when standing under the recessed light, but otherwise the kitchen was fairly dark leading to a very uneven lighting situation. My kitchen is square shaped and medium sized, but is not an eat-in kitchen. With the addition of this one central fixture which threw the light up towards the ceiling, the whole kitchen was much better lit and I still kept the recessed lights over the kitchen for very direct light for food preparation. That was my experience, maybe others have different ones.

Correction: I still kept two recessed lights over the kitchen counters for very direct light for food preparation.

under the cabinet lights are meant to provide extra light for cooking.

I don't cook, but I like my under the cabinet lights at night, when I keep them on as nightlights and it's very atmospheric.

Every kitchen needs a good strong ceiling fixture with a frosted diffuser (2 100-watt bulbs ideally). Then, undercabinet lighting is great for food prep (and as Truth pointed out, ambient light at night - if you can put them on dimmers, all the better). I also have *overcabinet* lighting as well, providing even more indirect light at the ceiling.

While under the cabinet lighting is meant to provide more light for food preparation, in my case, the recessed lights had already been installed by the previous owner. In my kitchen, I find that the recessed lights do provide stronger direct light than do my under the cabinet lighting while preparaing food.

Again my basic point is that I found recessed lighting to provide uneven lighting in my kitchen. I would be curious to hear if others who have installed recessed lighting in their kitchen as their primary lighting option found that the recessed lights gave their kitchen an even lighting situation. I found that my kitchen had bright spotlights under the recessed lights while the rest of the kitchen was much darker. This situation was corrected when the lighting designer recommended the installation of a central fixture instead of retaining all the recessed lights.

It seems like for even lighting, especially in a kitchen, you recommend a central ceiling fixture. Possibly add in some under cabinet lighting as well.

Do you suggest a central ceiling fixture for the living room as well? As previously stated, it is not a huge room (14 X 14) and the ceilings are low (8 ft). Recessed lighting is probably the "cleaner" look, especially considering the height of the ceilings, but would like everyone's opinion on the central fixture option. Currently, there is no fixture or built in lighting in the living room... only a switch that controls an outlet (which you can plug a lamp into).

Thanks

I like lamps in the living room.
End table lamps and a floor lamp or two.
Much nicer variation of lighting.

My living room ceiling is higher than yours so I was able to install a drum fixture (sorry, I don't know the correct lighting terminology) as well as having lamps on the end tables. What the designer added which really helps lighten the room for a dark winter evening is several nebo fixtures placed high up on one wall almost at the level of the ceiling. When you turn on the nebo lights, the room really lights up. I have everything on dimmers since I prefer softer light when not having company. I am very particular about lighting so my suggestions are probably much more than most people would opt for. Good luck with your renovations.

I have overhead recessed lighting in my livingroom but I don't use it.
My landlord installed it as part of the apartment renovation for all of the apartments in the building.

As long as I have enough light to clean the livingroom, I'm good with the lamps.
I like it cozy in there.

I agree with Truth that lamps are very nice in a living room. I have seen apartments where several recessed lights are placed in part of the living room for added light in that area. I don't like that look, but I don't like very direct lighting. It is a personal preference. I think of a living room as a space which should be relaxing and strong lighting is often counterindicated for that type of setting. As Matt mentioned, dimmers are the way to go for alot of types of lighting.

Also, when there's company over they don't like strong lighting.
We like to feel and look relaxed.
Except for my friend who just got Botox.
I'm not sure from her facial expressions how she really feels, she mostly looks surprised.
When she tries to raise her eyebrows, only the outer ends of her eyebrows go up.
She looks like Jack Nicholson.

I definitely plan on having a floor lamp, which I could easily hook up to an outlet with a switch. I was concerned that since the room doesnt have the best light that maybe I needed a ceiling light or recessed.

Some people like ceiling lights and think they need them, some don't.

If you can put a couple of lamps in there, you may have enough light.
Most people who want a ceiling light and have the money to spare go with recessed lighting.

Two quick thoughts to add regarding recessed lighting:

1) The PAR-style reflector bulbs often come in different beam angles (narrow/spot, wide/flood, and variations). Take that into account when replacing bulbs or designing new installations. Consider the spacing between fixtures and the height at which you want adjacent beams to intersect, vs the beam angle of the bulbs (or of the built-in reflector).

2) It's alluded to above, but talking about "even lighting" is really two aspects -- direct illumination of surfaces, and indirect reflection from the walls and ceiling. Recessed fixtures can only light the ceiling via reflection off the room contents; this is one reason they are generally installed in multiple locations per room. The indirect reflected light off the walls/ceiling is important both for smoothing out shadows and for making the room *feel* warm and bright.

use a regular light for the livingroom with at least 2X100 watt lights. in the small kitchen, 3 recessed lights.

under-cabinet lighting is a must , aesthetically very pleasing

I always laugh when I recall this quote from a designer in Architectural Digest: "Overhead lighting will make a baby look forty."

We just completed a major gut reno and for starters if you require aa DOB perrmit for your work you will have to provide a lighting survery that's based on square footage/wattage. This means that you will probably have to use LEDs.

For kitchen's and rooms with cabinets, you can do "up lighting", which is same as under cabinet lighting but above the cabinet so you don't see any fixtures. The effect can be very nice and used in combination with under cabinet lighting. For the under cabinet lighting make sure that you have a small valance at the edge of the cabinet to hide the fixtures. It may be possible to design kitchen lighting where you don't see any fixtures.

In larger rooms new small recessed wall washer lights placed about one every 3-4 ft and at the correct distance to the wall will give very uniform lighting with no hot spots or glare.

There's a lot to learn and consider so take the time to get it right.