They may have been overdone in the past, but if you consider them as part of a orchestra of light ... Each for its own purpose, there is a place for them. Think general light,, atmospheric light and finally task light. What type of lighting can do the job best?

Not a fan of them...just don't make your ceiling into swiss cheese. It's very tacky IMO. There are better lighting plans. If you are judicious with them, they have their place, but should be considered only when there are no other options.

Great comments so far! Planning in advance for the general, task and accent illumination during nightime. Recessed fixtures are still advancing are are used in almost every home today. Don't forget dimmers to set the lumen levels :)

Gee, I hope they're not going to be blase' any time soon! I am currently trying to figure out where to put them in my new kitchen because I think they are great for a streamlined look. I want them mainly for task lighting over my work areas, but my DH also wants them over the entrances to the room. I do not agree with that and would rather have some nice semi-flush lights there. But, we will already have 4 pendants (3 over island, 1 over sink) and a chandelier over the dining side of the room so my question is "How many types are too many?" I would also like some under cabinet lights because they worked so nice in my last house.
I'm also having a difficult time trying to decide how far apart to put them. My Son in law is an electrician and he suggested 6" ones for our 10' ceilings but I'm still nervous about doing it right.
Kitchen lighting has been one of the most difficult parts of designing our own home!! Second only to choosing appliances.

Thank you Clear Lighting for reminding us about dimmers...essential. Centaurita...under cabinet lighting is a MUST. It would be very difficult thing for any of us to advise you on your lighting as we can't see your natural lighting & conditions. Whoever is designing your plan should also be designing your lighting. If you don't have a designer, I suggest getting one. You can even get an advanced design student from your local college who's studying lighting to come help you...a real life experience will be helpful to them & you will gain some new technological advances that they've learned about (it changes constantly) Lighting is also dictated by clients preferences...some prefer a hospital OR lighting, & some want the flicker of a romantic flame to work with.

OasisDesign, Thank you so much for the suggestion to ask a design student for advice! I would never have thought of that. My 15 yr old granddaughter is planning to study design, so giving another student the oportunity to gain real life experience is very appealing to me. We are actually building our final home and wanted to do all of the design and work ourselves, mainly for the satisfaction of knowing we did it all ourselves, but we have also had some bad experiences in the past and giving up control again is very difficult :(
However, I am not as confident as my husband and want to get it right since we will have no one to blame but ourselves!!
I totally agree about dimmers and have already planned to have them in all our main room lighting plans. (Again, the 'control' issue :)

Lighting is VERY specialized & hopefully the design school kids know more of the technology than we do. Obviously, ask to be referred to the most talented lighting student. Good luck!!! I'm always sorry to hear about bad experiences in this industry because there are sooo many of us who do great work at a fair price,,,I wish you much luck,,,report back!!!

My last big house was full of recessed lights, which I pretty much hated. They lit my spaces poorly as general lighting. I ended up added pendants and flush and track lighting to supplement them to get enough light in various spaces, mostly larger rooms. I am now redoing a downsized house and not planning to use recessed lighting because of my previous experience with it. I will probably use tracks instead to highlight art and provide overhead general lighting.

Hire a lighting designer to verify the lumens needed, lumens produced by the fixture, and the light source. Also keep in mind the Kelvin rating of the light source and the distance to the surface you wish to illuminate. Installing the lighting for your new home is very important as changes and additions are very costly to perform after the home is completed. Of course we do design just some areas of homes of all sizes and types.

No recessed lights are the way to go they are great for resale and lighting in general and are not going out. Just make sure they put in the newer LED approved ones and than you can put in the flush mount lights very nice and modern.

Clear Lighting once again has a great suggestion...specialized lighting stores/companies such as themselves DO ALSO do lighting plans for homes...so there's another resource!!!

Just so ya know... we do not sell products or perform installations. @Oasis Thanks! We only perform consulting that is contractor and product neutral so our clients are always #1.

Recessed can lights are not going out of style, but the trend for residential applications has been towards smaller sizes of 4" diameter or less with LED light sources for energy efficiency. LED lamps also typically have a life span of up to 50,000 hours and they don't throw out heat or UV radiation.

I think they're great if placed over working space in a kitchen or in a finished basement to give more head room than a mount would. Those seem to be two places that can always use some extra light. I am not a fan of can lights in any other part of the house. However, that's just my opinion. If they are going to benefit your lifestyle and you prefer them I would not worry if it's trendy or what others think about them.

I don't think that style has anything to do with recessed light cans. Recessed lights should be part of a larger lighting plan that includes other types of lighting and fixtures to create a more natural type of atmosphere.

Hi Amy, Congrats on your upcoming remodel. I also recently went through a whole house remodel that took over a year, and I also want the new space to last many years. Recessed LEDs are fantastic. Good luck.