Recently, I decided to replace the ugly fluorescent tubes in kitchen with recessed lighting. I wanted to go with a LED recessed lighting retrofit because of the energy savings and also because they’re finally becoming very affordable. There actually are quite a few options and it’s a bit confusing deciding which direction to go. It comes down to 2 options: installing LED Recessed Lighting Retrofit Kits or going with a Remodel Recessed Lighting Kit and then purchasing R30 or R40 LED Lamps separately. So which option is better? The answer is, like almost in everything else in life: it depends. Here are the factors to consider when making your decision:
1) Existing Recessed Lights.
If you have existing recessed lighting in the same area, you may want to match the existing look. In which case, purchasing a Remodel Recessed Lighting Kit makes more sense because you can get the same or similar trim finish. You can then install an R30 Led bulb of your choosing – again to match the existing bulbs.
2) Wattage and Color Temperature Choices.
If you’d going after a specific wattage (.e.g higher wattage) with a specific color temperature (e.g. say 5000k) then go with the Remodel Kit because you’ll have more choices when buying the LED R30 Lamp separately.
3) Specific Look of the Trim.
If you are looking for a specific look of the recessed light trim e.g. brushed nickel, oil rubbed bronze, then going with the Remodel Lighting Kit makes more sense because the choices of trims available is much larger.
4) All in one installation.
If you are going for an easy installation with an integrated lamp, then go with the LED Recessed Retrofit Kit.
5) Cost.
It’s a bit cheaper to go with the Retrofit LED Recessed Lighting Kit since you don’t have to purchase a separate remodel recessed lighting kit and an LED Bulb.
6) Only allow Energy Efficient Lighting.
If this is going to a commercial facility, or a rental unit or you simply don’t want any possibility of anything other than energy effficient lighting, then go with the LED Recessed Retrofit Kits. Since the LED light is integrated there is no way you can put in say an incandescent bulb as you can with the Remodel Lighting Kit.
In case you’re curious about which option I went with, we decided on the Remodel Recessed Lighting Kits and purchased 15w Dimmable LED R30 bulbs. We had existing recessed lighting in the kitchen and we wanted the new lights to blend in with those.