I have three different rooms that I need to install recessed lighting in: a kitchen, a dining room, and a living room. I've gone over the information on recessed lighting layout on the website, and think I understand spacing, etc. but I still have some decisions to make. I could use some experienced advice!
The kitchen is fairly large, approximately 16'x 16', with 8' ceilings and an island in the center. I plan on installing 4" or 5" cans above the edge of the base cabinets, along with undercabinet task lighting, all halogen/xenon. In addition, I'm thinking of putting a few pendant lights over the island. But due to the size of the room, I'm not sure that this will provide enough general lighting. I'll end up with roughly 6' between the cans and the pendant lights, but I'm not clear on how much light pendants will throw, so I don't know if I need to supplement this.
The dining room is about 14'x15' with 8' ceilings, and will have one ceiling fixture in the center over the table. I don't think the lighting in here needs to be as bright as in the kitchen, but I'm not sure how much is enough. Using 5" cans with PAR30 (40 degree) halogens, I figure I could space them about 5.5' apart and get pretty complete, but not uniformly bright, coverage. Is this appropriate for a dining room? Would I be better off using more lighting over the table and less elsewhere?
Finally, the living room is about 16'x21' with 8.5' ceilings. There is a large light well (5' square) in the center of the room, and a fireplace and bookcases on one end. As with the dining room, I'm not confident about how much I should rely on recessed lights here. This is not an area where much task lighting is necessary. Plus I'd like to rely in part on table/floor lamps for light. Would it make sense to space a small number of cans very far apart (e.g. 7' encircling the light well) in this room, just to provide part of the general light? This could then be supplemented by washing one or more walls with additional cans. The fireplace wall would be my first choice for this. I like the idea of highlighting certain walls, but don't know how much this will help the general lighting situation.
Any ideas that will nudge me in the right direction here would be greatly appreciated! I can provide floorplans if needed.
Kevin Keigwin
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