Planning recessed lighting so the room actually works

Published 2026-03-20 · 7 min read

Spacing: the rule and when to break it

The common starting point is to divide the ceiling height by two and use that as the spacing between lights. A nine foot ceiling gives roughly four and a half feet between fixtures.

Break the rule when the room has a job. A kitchen needs light on the counters, not evenly across the floor, which usually means moving the perimeter row closer to the cabinets. A living room usually looks better with fewer, well-placed lights plus lamps than with a rigid grid.

Keep the outer row roughly two to three feet from the wall. Closer and you scallop the wall, further and the corners go dark.

Colour temperature, decided once

2700K is warm and lamp-like. 3000K is the most common compromise, warm but clean. 3500K and above starts reading clinical in a living space, though it can suit a garage, laundry or workshop.

The important part is consistency. Mixed colour temperatures in one open-plan space is the single most noticeable lighting mistake, and it is invisible on the box in the store.

Why your LEDs flicker on a dimmer

Almost always a dimmer designed for incandescent loads. Old dimmers expect a large resistive load and LED drivers do not present one, which produces flicker, buzz, limited range or lights that will not go fully off.

The fix is an LED-compatible dimmer matched to the fixtures. Manufacturers publish compatibility lists, and it is worth checking rather than guessing. This is one of the cheapest and most satisfying calls we get.

Canless versus traditional cans

Canless LED units are thin, quick to fit and work well in tight ceilings and insulated attics. Traditional cans with separate trims give more options for beam control and are easier to change the look of later.

In Florida attics, one practical consideration outweighs most: airtight, insulation-contact-rated fixtures reduce the amount of conditioned air escaping into a very hot attic. Over a summer, that is not a trivial number.

Ask for the layout on the ceiling first

Any electrician doing this properly will mark the positions on the ceiling and let you look at them before cutting. Standing in the room and seeing the spacing is worth more than a drawing, and moving a mark costs nothing.