How Far Apart Should Recessed Lights Be Placed

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.

How far apart should recessed lights be placed.

Avoid putting recessed light over refrigerator. For instance if your kitchen has a 10 foot ceiling the lights should be 5 feet apart. 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. Of course these are just the rough numbers.

Adjustable trims may be placed farther away from the wall. Wall wash fixtures should be spaced apart the same distance from each other. That will create an undesirable illuminating effect. Overall the wattage should range from 2 1 2 to 3 per square foot.

The average distance between cabinets and recessed lights is 12 18 inches. A good general rule for placement if to divide the height of the ceiling by two. Now do the same for the width of the room. 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.

If you do you end up with bright spots between the lights and dark edges. The general rule for installing wall wash recessed fixtures are about 1 5 to 3 feet away from the wall. 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. This will give good spacing for general room lighting.

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. If you place a light 2 feet from your wall your remaining lights should be 4 feet apart from each other. For example recessed lighting spacing for an 8 foot high ceiling would be 4 feet between each light. 4 inch bulbs should be 4 feet apart 5 inch bulbs should be 5 feet apart and 6 inch bulbs 6 feet.

When determining how much distance to put between lights professionals recommend to take half of the ceiling height. 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. 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.

How far apart should recessed lights be placed in a kitchen. Fixed trims should be placed closer to the wall.