How Far Apart Should Recessed Lights Be Placed

Center recessed lighting fixtures in front of the objects you wish to light a painting bookshelf or drapery panels for example and about 12 to 18 inches in front of that object.

How far apart should recessed lights be placed. Avoid putting recessed light over refrigerator. For example recessed lighting spacing for an 8 foot high ceiling would be 4 feet between each light. The general rule for installing wall wash recessed fixtures are about 1 5 to 3 feet away from the wall. 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.

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. The average distance between cabinets and recessed lights is 12 18 inches. For instance if your kitchen has a 10 foot ceiling the lights should be 5 feet apart.

If you do you end up with bright spots between the lights and dark edges. Wall wash fixtures should be spaced apart the same distance from each other. Now do the same for the width of the room. 4 inch bulbs should be 4 feet apart 5 inch bulbs should be 5 feet apart and 6 inch bulbs 6 feet.

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. Depending on the size and shape of your room following all of these guidelines may prove impossible. 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. A good general rule for placement if to divide the height of the ceiling by two.

When determining how much distance to put between lights professionals recommend to take half of the ceiling height. The result is the amount of space to leave between each light. Some experts recommend leaving a space between light fixtures that is twice the distance from the wall to your first light. This will give good spacing for general room lighting.

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. That will create an undesirable illuminating effect. Overall the wattage should range from 2 1 2 to 3 per square foot. If you place a light 2 feet from your wall your remaining lights should be 4 feet apart from each other.

Of course these are just the rough numbers. 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.