Hey Lisa, your kitchen remodeling sounds like a really cool project! No matter how well-designed your home, bad lighting can really kill the mood. The goal for recessed lighting is to add not only visibility but also interest and ambiance to your environment.

Test the bulb color (and aim for warmth).

When people talk about 3000k this gives off a soft white glow, often yellow in appearance; best for living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms and outdoor spaces.

3100K-4500K: gives off a brighter white light; best for kitchens, offices, work spaces and vanities where task lighting is needed.

Also, a good first step would be to measure the size of the hole that's already in the ceiling and the size of the trim that sits flush to the ceiling. This would give you a good indication of the size and style you want to replace them with :)

How many recessed lights do you have in your kitchen?

Are they close together or spaced apart?

- The Globe Electric Team

Thank you for the response! I have a total of 8. 3 in the hallway and 5 in the kitchen. I would say they are approx 5 ft apart and about 5-6 inches apart. I’ll get exact measurements before I head out shopping!

Let me put in a word about the lighting color. I love the 3000K color - looks like natural sunlight to me, and I suspect I'd like the 3500K. Above that you go into that blue-ish color that, in my opinion, bring you into fluorescent color territory.
Let me add that I am NOT a fan of anything less than 3000K. I find the very commonly available 2700K light, which is meant to look like incandescent bulbs, to be very yellow.

Thank you! This is so “enlightening”!

Hey Lisa! It's our pleasure to help! 5 ft apart is the standard and should create a nice even light throughout your home. We recommend using Integrated LED fixtures to update your recessed lights. They are more expensive at first, but save you money in the long run because they last you for years!

You can check out our selection because we have many different styles to suit your needs and your inner interior designer.

Hope this helps :)

- The Globe Electric Team

Globe Electric - Is that 5 ft. the standard for all can lights? I think there are some that are 5-6 inches wide, and others that are 4.

Globe electric- do you sell online?

Hey grannysmith18,

Thanks for your question. The 5 ft standard refers to the distance of the installation holes and not the lights themselves. You are correct, that distance would change depending on the size of trim you choose.

- The Globe Electric Team

Hey Lisa,

We certainly do. Please refer to the below to peruse our selection :)

Globe Electric - Slim Line Recessed Collection

Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any further questions, we are happy to help!

- The Globe Electric Team

Thank you Nidnay. I’ll have to see if I can test bulbs. My electrician is suggesting I buy new can lights with built in bulbs. I’m probably calling it wrong. Or integrated? I’ll do some checking. Thanks!

If you post a picture of your fixtures, that would be very helpful. From what you’re describing, you might be able to get away with installing something like these super DIY-friendly recessed lights:

Thanks Sammy! Does this help?

I’m in the process of changing out the lights in my kitchen, too:

Before:

During

After:

Yep, you can totally do it! Wait: is that a flat ceiling or a sloped ceiling?

This is all there is to it:

Can you tell me what the difference is between that and this photo? He’s suggesting something like this..

And the ceiling is flat! Thank you for the help!

It’s basically the same thing but it gives you the option to either leave the socket in place (like I did) and just screw it in OR remove it and make a hardwired connection. Beware that 5000K (it’s literally like natural daylight) will take some getting used to if you’re currently using incandescent lamping (bulbs), but once you’re used to it, it’s amazing. I may, however, swap mine out for 4000K to make the light difference between the kitchen and the rooms adjacent to it, where I use GE Reveal bulbs, a little less jarring.

I’m gonna give it a shot. Thanks!

Awesome!! Please keep me posted!

Will do!

5000k will make your home look like a warehouse. Not attractive lighting.

I know.. he was just showing me that as an example of the fixture. But thank you!

My Dad bought some at Home Depot last year that are adjustable from 2700 to 5000. They are the retrofit kind and they have a little switch on the side of the can that allows you to adjust the color/brightness. Gives you a lot more flexibility.

Also be aware there is another number just as important as color temperature (that 2700-5000+ K number). It's the Color Rendering Index, or CRI, of a bulb. The higher the number, the more "true" the colors will appear (and the less altered they will be). Look for 90+ CRI. Cheap bulbs likely won't tell you what they are, and they are closer to 80 CRI. Bulbs with high CRI will declare it proudly somewhere on the package.

Chispa~ I saw those adjustable ones on Lowe’s or Home Depot. They’re definitely pricier but might be worth it for the flexibility.

4000k is definitely what I would use in a kitchen. Kitchens don't need to have "warm lighting". We recently changed out our kitchen lighting to LED and it is amazing. Nothing warehouse about it. I can see what I'm doing, which is really most important in the kitchen.

I edited my post because I meant to say 4, not 5000K. I put 4k in my kitchen,

Suedonim75: Sheesh, you can still see what you're doing with warm lighting, if you have the right wattage. Everyone's eyes are different, and some people (myself included) find lights with higher K temps to be too harsh, especially at night. Glad they work for you.

OP, I would echo others in recommending that you buy a few different ones to sample (or don't throw away the boxes at first) to see what you like and what works for your circumstances.

You certainly don’t need 5000K lighting to see what you are doing, kitchen or elsewhere. When I remodeled the house I put in 2700K fixtures everywhere, including recessed lights, under cabinet lights in the kitchen, etc. The kitchen lighting is outstanding for food prep, and also lovely to look at when we dim the lights.

Certainly lighting color temperature is largely a matter of taste; I would never go above 3000K, but clearly some prefer cooler color temps than that.

Whatever you (the OP) decide to go with, I do recommend you keep the color temperature consistent overall. I’ve been in many multi-million dollar open houses where the “designer” (more likely clueless builder) installed warm white and cool bluish white fixtures in the same space, and it looks jarring and just awful.

Also do try to get high CRI lighting (90 or above). CRI is more important than color temp for showing true color.

Last, dimmers are a good idea for most if not all switches. I love the Luton C-L dimmers, which allow you to set a default brightness level, but then a quick double tap to go to full brightness.

I have dimmers on the island pendants and the fixture over the soon to be kitchen table. But the recessed lights don’t dim. It would be nice but I’m not sure I want more expense in this remodel. Gotta stop the bleeding somewhere!

Can your budget handle a no frills dimmer for $12.99

The problem is I have 4 sets of switches that turn on the recess lights and there’s also other switches in the same grouping for other lights. I’m a tad afraid of electricity to I’d have to add that to the electricians list. I’ll ask how much and go from there. Thanks!

Actually only two for the kitchen lights. May be doable! Hall lights don’t need to dim. Thanks!

Also, please remember - do not go by manufacturers' color descriptions (Bright white, Daylight, Soft white, etc). These are meaningless, especially when comparing lights by different manufacturers. Use the Kelvin number (2700K, 3000K, 4000K, etc.) and, as others have said, the CRI.

Sammy- I’m finally starting! Question.. I removed my first old can light today and mine doesn’t have the clips or the torsion springs. Mine has 2 spring coils. Will the new ones with torsion springs work? Or I suppose I could buy a pack of spring coils. Hope that makes sense?

We’re going through this as well and decided to go out and buy different bulbs and try them out just in a desk lamp at different color temps (2700, 3000, etc) all at 90+ cri to get an idea... Figured it was well worth it to see what the different temps look like in our space (esp since we are trying to sort out interior paint colors!). We still are likely to opt for ones that allow you to change the temp since this is a new build and we may want to adjust after everything is in...

Can anyone tell me the difference between these two items? Huge price difference. One for $15 or 12 for $50. I don’t get it?