4 min readTrends might come and go, but great lighting is one of interior design’s few enduring truths. “It’s one of the easiest places to add personality without it feeling forced,” says Regan Baker, an interior designer in San Francisco. “It's the one piece of ‘art’ that's always turned on.”
If you’re looking to refresh your lighting scheme, though, you may want to reconsider those recessed fixtures. Because, if we’re being totally honest, they’re officially giving design pros the ick.
Invented in the 1940s and gaining popularity a few decades later, recessed lighting was once considered the height of modern design.
“It spoke to an idea of modernity that was widely appealing,” explains Sarah Jacoby, a New York-based architect. “They were an innovation—lights inside the ceiling!—that also allowed for real flexibility and consistency in open-space planning.”
However, in many spaces, recessed lights now read as an outdated fixture. Here’s why they have fallen out of favor—and what’s replacing them as the lighting style du jour.
Why Recessed Lights Are Going Extinct
Today’s homes are moving away from stark minimalism and embracing “new traditionalism.” Open-concept layouts are giving way to charming nooks and cozy corners, while cool neutrals and sleek silhouettes are being swapped for pattern-drenched spaces and frilled furniture. So why should your lighting be any different?
“There is definitely an ongoing migration towards eclecticism and texture,” Jacoby says. “Lighting is returning to more of a standalone feature, providing an additional visual language to express personality in a space.”
Baker agrees and says recessed fixtures are out of place in today’s nostalgic spaces. “They don’t know how to have a conversation with medallions and moldings,” the designer says.
Samantha Feuer of Norris Studio in Mayville, Tennessee, says recessed lights can look current when paired with more decorative elements, but “the default grid of cans marching across a ceiling” is on the outs.
Flush-Mount Ceiling Lights Are on the Rise
In its place, designers say, are surface and flush-mount ceiling lights. Since this classic style dates back to the early 20th century, it’s arguably older than recessed lights. However, in the spirit of embracing nostalgic interiors, flush mounts feel new again.
“We’re going back to a more classic, simplified approach where the fixture is part of the architecture of the room rather than something hidden in the ceiling,” Feuer explains.
Jacoby calls these mounted alternatives cousins of recessed lights: These sources offer similar pockets of light as their canned counterparts, but feel more “nostalgic” and “playful.” “They express individuality without dominating the space,” she notes. “Plus, there are endless possible combinations, granting more flexibility, aesthetically and economically.”
A row of mounted details is illuminating in utilitarian spaces that need lots of light, like bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry zones; however, they can also work in more intimate areas. The key, Feuer explains, is putting your overhead elements on dimmers. “It’s the least expensive decision you can make with the biggest payoff,” she shares.
What to Know Before Swapping Out Your Recessed Lights
Designers might be exchanging recessed lights for flush mounts, but this isn’t a DIY project you can do on a whim. Jacoby cautions that anything electrical can be tricky and encourages you to enlist a professional.
If you ask Feuer, the switch is rarely as simple as pulling out a can light and adding something more decorative, which is why she recommends budgeting beyond the new fixture.
“Most can lights, especially older ones, are four to six inches in diameter,” she explains. “You are patching drywall, repainting, and bringing in an electrician to rework the box and the wiring.”
The swap might take quite some time, money, and effort, but if done properly, Feuer says it’s “one of the highest-impact changes you can make in a room.”
As for renters? If you can’t stand your recessed lights, but don’t want to infuriate your landlord, pepper your place with lamps, wireless sconces, or plug-in wall mounts with sconces. “It’s a great way to enhance a space without the full commitment of a remodel,” Jacoby says.
Once you hire an electrician to help, you’ll need to select a new mounted fixture. With so many options out there, where do you begin?
The backplate, Feuer says. Ideally, a ceiling should be fully patched and finished before adding a new light to the mix. But, at the bare minimum, the Tennessee-based designer says the backplate should be large enough to cover a recessed light’s existing housing. Otherwise, your room will look disjointed or, even worse, cheap.
Meanwhile, Jacoby says a simple surface mount with an exposed lightbulb offers the best of both worlds: “It doesn’t create too much visual attention but still adds in special texture,” she says.
