How Far Apart Should Recessed Lights Be Placed

This will give good spacing for general room lighting.

How far apart should recessed lights be placed.

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. 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. For example recessed lighting spacing for an 8 foot high ceiling would be 4 feet between each light. Wall wash fixtures should be spaced apart the same distance from each other.

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. Avoid putting recessed light over refrigerator. Some experts recommend leaving a space between light fixtures that is twice the distance from the wall to your first light. The average distance between cabinets and recessed lights is 12 18 inches.

If you do you end up with bright spots between the lights and dark edges. 4 inch bulbs should be 4 feet apart 5 inch bulbs should be 5 feet apart and 6 inch bulbs 6 feet. How far apart should recessed lights be placed in a kitchen. The recessed lighting spacing formula is to set an equal distance between recessed lights to get a uniform lighting distribution and make the distance between recessed lights and the wall half the distance between recessed lights.

The result is the amount of space to leave between each light. Overall the wattage should range from 2 1 2 to 3 per square foot. 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. Adjustable trims may be placed farther away from the wall.

For general lighting use 5 inch bulbs for large rooms use 6 inch bulbs also the diameter of the bulb is consistent with how far the spacing should be. 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. A good general rule for placement if to divide the height of the ceiling by two. If you place a light 2 feet from your wall your remaining lights should be 4 feet apart from each other.

That will create an undesirable illuminating effect. Depending on the size and shape of your room following all of these guidelines may prove impossible. For instance if your kitchen has a 10 foot ceiling the lights should be 5 feet apart. Of course these are just the rough numbers.

Now do the same for the width of the room. Fixed trims should be placed closer to the wall.