ᐅ Layout of Ceiling Spotlights in the Living and Dining Areas

Hello everyone,

My wife and I are building a house in 2018, and currently one of the topics is planning the lighting, especially the spotlights, in the living and dining area.
You can see the exact layout of the room in the attached drawing.
We have an open kitchen with an island, a dining area, and a TV corner for cozy evenings. The ceiling height is standard at 2.60m (8.5 ft).

We have done some research and put some thought into it. What you see in the drawing is our best draft so far: a symmetrical but staggered lighting design with 13 spotlights.
If you don’t have better (ideally also cheaper) ideas, we would have the fixture boxes for the spots (HaloX is one supplier) installed during the ceiling pour. We don’t want to lower the ceiling, as we want to keep the full room height.
In this design, we planned three circuits: Circuit 1, Circuit 2, and Circuit 3. Circuit 3 is a cozy pendant lamp for the corner. The rest are LED spots, with Circuit 2 being dimmable.
It was important to us that the kitchen is well lit, that the dining table is always properly illuminated, even if it’s moved about 50cm (20 inches), and that the whole design follows a certain logic—randomly placing spotlights in critical spots just looks odd.

We would be interested in your opinions on the lighting plan. Are there enough spotlights?
Is the arrangement suitable for what we have in mind? Do you have any other ideas or suggestions that might be worth considering?
Maybe a completely different setup…?

I would be happy if you shared your thoughts and experiences with us!
If you need any more information, I’ll gladly provide it.

Best regards
Roppo

It reminds me a bit of the lighting in an 80s nightclub or the buttons on upholstery. I don’t find it attractive. I would leave out these double rows. Lighting for the dining table should come from a pendant light anyway, and there are nicer options for task lighting above the stove.

... and the lighting in the kitchen wall unit should be positioned above the countertop, not where you stand and cast shadows on the workspace.

For the kitchen, I would also choose at least two separate circuits – one for the kitchen unit and one for the island.

Regarding the table, I agree with @ypg ... a pendant light is best. Ceiling spotlights are quite uncomfortable there. The same goes for the sofa area. In the upper right corner of the plan, I can rather imagine a floor lamp, wall lamps, or something similar.

A bit complicated, isn’t it?
Just an idea of how it is for us:
In the kitchen, we have a Paulmann rail between the wooden beams above the countertop over the sink, and another one above the island (cooker). These can be equipped with spotlights or similar as desired.
Above the dining area, there is an outlet from which we hang a self-assembled pendant light.
In the living room, a cozy ceiling lamp and two dimmable floor lamps by the sofa.

Is there a range hood above the island? If so, this layout won’t work. If not, I would plan to place the two spotlights centered above the island. In the dining area, dimmable round spotlights around the table are quite nice; we have 10 ourselves. However, above the dining table itself, like the previous speakers, I would definitely choose a pendant light. In the living room, I find spotlights rather uninviting.

Where there are wall and tall cabinets, spotlights in the kitchen don’t make much sense. I have over 80 spotlights distributed throughout the house myself, including 14 in the kitchen, but they are not the right solution for every situation. For hallways, bathrooms, children’s rooms, study, and over open work surfaces: yes.

I agree with you. We don’t have any wall cabinets or tall cabinets, and there is no range hood above the stove. That’s why it works well. Spotlights make more sense in the bathroom, hallways, or dressing room, etc.