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LightingHome DecoratingKitchens
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Downright advice

Christina Malikia
3 years ago

Hi,
I am having about 10 downlignts in my new kitchen ceiling.
The ceiling will be white.
Are downlights with a deep recess better than the bulb being flush.
The pic is of a deep recess. I prefer these but wondered what others thought.
Also not sure what colour trim to go with. I believe black inside is the way to go but should the trim be white or black as in the pic? I'm not a fan of chrome or anything shiny.

Featured Answer
  • mii2
    3 years ago

    ‘Builders acne’ is a not very flattering term for the overuse of downlights in a space. Your eye will be drawn to black circles peppering your white ceiling, so having less black would be advisable or have more of the white. If your ceiling is low, the black will pull it lower. Black accessories will date with time, white is more classic. With everything in interior design, there is no ‘one fits all’ answer to this one.

    Comments (10)

    • Jonathan
      3 years ago

      I think as long as you have other black elements in your kitchen the black downlights will look great.

      Separately you might want to find some with a wider surround as a wider surround better hides any damage caused by cutting holes in the ceiling.

    • PRO
      OnePlan
      3 years ago

      I’m in the ‘white fittings camp’ to blend away and not be a statement... but that’s just my taste.

    • Christina Malikia
      Original Author
      3 years ago

      thanks. Do you think the deeper recess ones are better? They just put the ones where the bulb is flush with the ceiling into my hall and its like glare city.

      I think the deeper ones look nicer, where the bulb sits up higher as in the pic. But wondered what the actual light was like.

    • Christina Malikia
      Original Author
      3 years ago

      @mii2 I was only considering the baffle being black, as in the inside. The bottom bit would be white. I only decided this based on reading advice from Sally Storey. Now I am wondering how that would look.

    • Rowland
      3 years ago

      hi Christina,

      I think you have two decisions.

      1. deep recess rather than surface fixed light. This is about the spread of the light beam. to get a crisp beam the deep fittings are used in black to reduce the reflection from the side of the fitting. the resultant light will be a circle at a set width. at the surface which is based on ceiling height etc.

      2. the bezel colour is more about your overall look in terms of design. by using a white bezel the black will disappear with the light on and achieve a nice overall look to the kitchen. it is your choice but I think the white bezel will tone down the lights.

      if you go for a light source that is not recessed the width of beam is achieved with the reflector on the fitting at whichever angle of spread you prefer.

      That is my poor effort at lighting design theory. F or a proper explanation you need a lighting designer- Kevin Mccloud is a lighting designer, so he could give you chapter and verse on lighting. He is not as good with architecture and design though!

      I hope this helps a bit on deciding what to do - I think the deep light fixture is a good choice!! lighting quality is important, so buy the best you can afford to really get impactful lighting.

      best

      Rowland

    • Christina Malikia
      Original Author
      3 years ago

      @Rowland Thank you, that makes sense.

      I guess some will give a direct beam to light certain objects and others will spread the light more for a bigger surface.

      Gosh its rather complicated, who knew. I have never had to think about it before, I wish I had thought about it at the start of the project. Time is now not on my side.

    • jc123jc
      3 years ago

      Hi Christina,

      I’m going through this process myself at the moment. For me I think that as clean a ceiling as possible looks best. There are some otherwise lovely kitchens on this site which have extremely cluttered ceilings - they look a bit like bullet holes sometimes! (I feel the same about sockets and switches which stand out) Have a look for trimless downlights online and see if you like those - that’s what my architect recommended. All personal preference of course. Good luck with whatever you decide.

    • PRO
      Lifestyle Kitchens
      3 years ago

      I would of thought that for a kitchen where you may prefer a more even spread of light the bulbs need to be a flush fitting so the light is spread over a wider area, if the same light was to be recessed then the angle of light would be reduced so in effect it would be more like a narrow column of light.

    • Christina Malikia
      Original Author
      3 years ago

      @Lifestyle_Kitchens, I think that depends on the type of recess lights you get.

      I have just received mine and I'm really happy. They have 6 settings depending on the type of light you want, some settings would be used for surface light and other settings give a warmer tone.

      The baffle is black but unscrews to change to white of need be, so nice to know I have the option.

      They were not the cheapest but not the most expensive either. They are from a company called Ansell.

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