How Far Apart Should Recessed Lights Be Placed In A Kitchen

However if you plan to install a ceiling fan in the kitchen you might need to adjust that distance to allow for at least a 9 inches between the lights and the blades.

How far apart should recessed lights be placed in a kitchen.

The common rule is that 4 inch fixtures should generally be placed at least 4 feet apart and 6 inch fixtures about 6 feet apart. Center recessed lighting fixtures in front of the objects you wish to light a painting bookshelf or drapery panels for example and about 12 to 18 inches in front of that object. The result is the amount of space to leave between each light. This will give good spacing for general room lighting.

The exact placement of lights will depend on your unique room space. Now do the same for the width of the room. Avoid putting recessed light over refrigerator. Also the diameter of the bulb is consistent with how far the spacing should be.

If a 6 inch light has a spacing criteria of 1 5 and the ceiling height is 8 feet the maximum space between each light should be 12 feet. If for example your ceiling is 10 feet high you should space your lights 5 feet apart. Keep each light close to 3 feet away from the walls or corners we don t want to cast shadows don t install recessed lighting with equal spacing between the lights and the walls. To avoid shadows in corners and along walls install lights within 1 5 to 3 feet of them.

Overall the wattage should range from 2 1 2 to 3 per square foot. For instance if your kitchen has a 10 foot ceiling the lights should be 5 feet apart. If you do you end up with bright spots between the lights and dark edges. This formula is critical for lighting a space because if the lights are too far apart they will look like spotlights with big shadows between each other.

Place your recessed downlights 12 apart from each other and 12 to 18 away from any cabinets to illuminate counter areas. That will create an undesirable illuminating effect. According to this rule you should divide your ceiling height by 2 to determine how far apart to space your lights. Lighting a living room with a pleasing glow is achieved by placing the recessed lights approximately 2 feet away from the wall for an average 8 foot ceiling.

For example recessed lighting spacing for an 8 foot high ceiling would be 4 feet between each light. 4 inch bulbs should be 4 feet apart 5 inch bulbs should be 5 feet apart and 6 inch bulbs 6 feet. Of course these are just the rough numbers. Please note that these are basic kitchen lighting ideas.

What not to do. The average distance between cabinets and recessed lights is 12 18 inches. A good general rule for placement if to divide the height of the ceiling by two. How far apart should recessed lights be placed in a kitchen.