I only know my experience with some puck lights I bought there. And I've googled, looking for a source of replacement halogen bulbs and found I'm not the only one who feels this way:

I'm no lighting expert by far, but had seen puck lights used under cabinet on Home To Go show on HGTV. Loved them, so I started looking for them. Found some on a fantastic sale at Home Depot and snapped some up. I like the light they cast, but here's what I don't like:

the bulbs don't last very long, and it turns out the ONLY place you can buy replacements is at Home Depot. And they're expensive. I've spent more in bulbs now than the original lights. Also, one started shorting out very soon after I installed them.

So overall, I'm not happy and am going to end up replacing everything. :(

I used HD's "commercial electric" brand recessed cans in my kitchen. I'd say the build quality isn't quite as good as Halo but it's usable. My bigger concern is that there aren't many trims available for them. Many trims from other manufacturers will work, but it can be hard to guess which ones.

My personal experience is that the lighting from Home Depot is far below acceptable quality for any use. None of the fixtures that I bought there for my office still work properly. The white track lights have all turned light brown and failed. The MR16 halogen lamps (bulbs) only last a month or two if they work at all out of the box. I replaced the lamps from a lighting supplier and one track light still comes on from time to time apparently on its own schedule.

I was too lazy to take them back which should be no surprise since laziness is the reason I bought them at Home Depot in the first place. IMHO Home Depot simply offers convenience; there are no bargains there. I love the check-yourself-out counter.

If you visit your local electrical supplier you will find they are not real busy and willing to give you a lot of good free advice. Tell them you are an architect and get a discount. No one has asked me to prove it in 35 years; I don't know why I bother to carry the card with me much less pay the dues.

Like a lot of people, I'm too lazy and cheap to do it right but willing to do it twice at double the cost.

FWIW, my experience with the off-brand low voltage stuff I got at Lowes awile back is very similar to MightyAnvil's HD experience. I got some Emerald brand MR16 track fixtures with built-in transformers, and their failure rate has been pretty high.

Agreed-- stay clear of Home Depot and Lowes especially for lighting.

We picked-up track lighting at the local electric supply. They helped design the layout, showed us our options in person, and gave us a contractor price so we hit our budget. For $300 of track lighting, it was slightly more ($25ish) than the HD cost. Considering the service we got and the confidence that we had the right parts not to mention a better brand-- it was well worth it.

Also, the incandescent ceiling/wall fixtures that we got from the electic supply seemed to fit our older house much easier than the ones from Lowes/HD. The holes in the boxes, orientation of the support bar, etc... never seemed to line up right with the HomeDepot/Lowes fixtures.

I think if you use any lighting fixture that uses special bulbs you are going to end up paying way more for the replacement bulbs than the light fixture over the years. Halogen bulbs are some of the costliest. Oddball flourescent bulbs are also expensive. Recessed light fixtures in my opinion waste much of the light generated by the bulbs.

thanks a lot. I return it. I have kitchen lights but I want to change it but it did not work .

What about brand name light fixtures from Home Depot? Do I dare buy a Progress exterior wall sconce there?

C'mon now... Let's not over simplify things. Home Depot, like all big box stores, carries a wide variety of lighting of varying quality at a range of price points for a wide variety of purposes. Some things are junk, some things are decent bargains, some things are industrial or commercial quality, etc., etc. As a general matter, it's somewhat safe to say "you get what you pay for" but there are exceptions to every rule. You might want to save some bucks by getting some outdoor flood lights from Home Depot, but then get all your indoor fixtures from Rejuvenation, or any number of other places.

You need to shop around, compare pricing, read the specifications, look (and handle) display items, etc.

Perhaps as a matter of principle you might just want to avoid getting Home Depot stuff because it is cookie cutter or because it is made in China, or just cheap looking. You might find a particular fixture that is a great deal for the money.

Trust your instincts.

Well here is my chime in on lighting from HD.

We bought a Hampton Bay flouescent cloud light fixture for use with 2 32W circular bulbs in our kitchen. Mostly due to styling. About 15 months ago the light quit working. We figured it was the ballast (I have a bit of background with electrical stuff). We approached HD a couple times but the basic answer was contact manufacturer directly. This went on and on...and we were lazy about it, yes that's our fault. Mid summer the light started working again. So we let the whole thng slide. Last month the light quit again. I decided over the holidays to pull the ballast out and see if I could get a resonable replacement. 3 electrical supply stores and the answer was the same... no. "It's special" was more or less what I received. When I drove around the corner to HD and explained that we bought the fixture and were quite willing to PAY for the replacement part. Customer Service said "I'm sorry, we can't help you. Go see someone in electrical". To make a long story shorter..electrical dept policy is that they don't have spare parts, BUT one of the girls in shipping figured out that they could get a credit for a unit, and since I wnated just the part we swapped it out.

The point of that story is this...it took me a very long time ( over 13 months) to get as replacement ballast, in excess of 6 visits to address the problem the way it should ahve been addressed in the first place.

We love the Hampton Bay fans, but will not by lighting again. Unlikely we'll buy lighting from HD again either.

I have sconces that are 6 years old from HD and they work just fine. They were on sale for $30 a piece, nothing fancy. The ceiling fan I bought from them 13 years ago is still going strong. However, we bought our doors for the house we're building (french) and 3 of the 4 were defective and it has taken them a while to get out to replace the problem parts.