Plan it before you call

How many recessed lights does your room need, and where do they go?

Enter the room and we’ll draw the layout the way we lay them out on the job: 24 inches off the counters in a kitchen, corners first in an open room, and our x / 2x spacing when the room needs more. You get a count you can send with your quote request. We confirm everything at the free in-home visit.

How the layout is made

Four corners first. In an open room the first four lights go in the corners: 3 feet off each wall, or 2 feet when the room is under 11 feet on that side, so a small room’s lights don’t crowd the center. A room stays at the four corners until it passes 14 feet (6-inch lights). 4-inch lights cover less, so they fill in sooner, past about 12 feet, and are never more than 6 feet apart.
Bigger rooms: x / 2x spacing. Once a room needs more than the four corners, the 3-foot and 2-foot rules no longer apply. We use x / 2x: the outside lights sit x from the wall and the lights are 2x apart. A 16-foot side with three lights is about 2 ft 8 in from each wall and 5 ft 4 in between. The light from the outside lights reaches the wall, and their spreads overlap evenly in the middle.
Perimeter or whole room: in living rooms and other open rooms you choose. Perimeter keeps the lights in a ring around the edge and leaves the middle open; whole room fills in the middle on the same spacing.
Kitchens: lights over the work surfaces, with centers 24 inches off the wall so the light lands on the countertop edge instead of behind you, where your head shadows the work. Where two counters meet there’s always a light 24 inches off both walls, right on the inside corner of the counter. Kitchen recessed lights go along the counter edge only, not in the middle of the floor.
Refrigerator: we leave a 32-inch space for it and put no light over it. The counter lights start past it.
Islands with pendants: the pendants light the island, so the recessed lights stay on the perimeter counters.
Islands without pendants: 4-inch lights in a line down the island, the outer two 6 inches in from each end. Islands longer than 5 feet get a third light centered between them.
Bedrooms: always the four corners, 3 feet off the walls (2 feet in rooms under 11 feet).
Fan or chandelier in the center: nothing goes under the fixture. The lights ring the room, far enough from the blades that they don’t throw moving shadows.
Color: whatever the rest of your house uses, 3000K or 2700K, 90+ CRI, dimmable. See the Light Color Guide.