Choosing the Best LED Lights for Your Home

With an R, BR or PAR designation, these reflector and bulged reflector shapes of LEDs often work for indoor track lights and recessed lights or for some types of outdoor flood lights. A reflective coating on the inside of the bulb offers the benefit of more directed light.

The design of globe lights gives them one of the more decorative looks among general purpose bulbs. Globe bulbs fit many types of hanging lights, pendant lights and vanity lights. These will often have a G designation. You may also find this design — particularly the clear type of bulb — works well with more decorative lights, like those in pendant lights.

Decorative types of LED lighting add design elements and can create a look from classic to modern. However, they may require more specialized fixtures than general purpose bulbs.

This shape suggests a candle flame. You’ll often see these bulbs in chandeliers. They may have B or C designations.

Edison LEDs offer a vintage design with one or more strings of diodes that replicate the look of the filaments in a traditional bulb. They’ll often have an ST designation.

Spot and flood light bulbs are two types of LED lighting that are good for specific uses. Each has different advantages and disadvantages. You’ll see them with PAR, MR and BR designations.

• A spot light casts a narrow beam. It creates strong illumination for a small area. Indoors you might use spot lights to highlight artwork or décor items on a shelf. Outdoors you might use them to illuminate elements of your landscape such as a tree or shrub.
• Flood lights offer the benefit of casting a wider beam and lighting a larger area. However, the illumination provided by a flood light will be less intense than that of a spot light. Indoor LED flood lights are good for ambient light. Outdoors, they can improve security and safety.

Specialty LED light bulbs can include bulbs for:

• Appliances
• Nightlights
• Home light fixtures that require specialized bulb shapes
• Landscape lights
• Commercial light fixtures

Since specialty LED bulbs can cover a wide range of sizes, shapes, configurations and base types, it’s a good idea to have the bulb you want to replace handy so you can find the right LED replacement.

LED tube lights are usually purely functional and act as replacements for fluorescent tube lights, such as those used in garages or basements. You may see them with a T designation.

Medium-base or E26 LEDs are general purpose LED lights for home use. They have the same type of screw-in base that you’d see on a standard incandescent bulb.

You’ll often see candelabra bases on bulbs designed for decorative lighting. The screw-in bases are smaller than those on general purpose bulbs. This compact design often makes these the best LED lights for many types of chandeliers, pendant lights, sconces and other décor lighting.

G5.3 bulbs have plug-in pin connections and are common among those LED types of lights that fit small indoor spot lights or flood lights.

You’ll need brighter lights for task lighting, such as for kitchen lights, desk lamps or for reading lamps. Purely decorative lighting may not be as bright. Lighting from overhead fixtures should be bright enough to make the room comfortable. Lumens measure the brightness of an LED bulb.

Lumens indicate how bright an LED light will be. Choose higher lumen measurements to create brighter light for a space. LEDs consume less energy than incandescent lights to generate comparable levels of lumens.

Wattage measures the energy a light consumes. LEDs use fewer watts to produce the same levels of light as incandescent bulbs. While more wattage indicates greater brightness, it isn’t the best way to determine LED brightness relative to an incandescent light. Lumens and wattage equivalence are better for determining relative brightness.

LED packaging may indicate a wattage equivalent or Watt EQ to help you find LEDs to replace incandescent bulbs. Match this to the bulb you’re replacing. For example, to replace a 75-watt incandescent bulb — which produces about 1,110 lumens — look for a 75-watt-equivalent LED. It will consume as few as 5-1/2 watts but produce a similar level of lumens.

While power consumption and brightness vary by bulb type and size, the chart below will give you some general comparisons.

The color temperature of an LED light — measured in Kelvins or K — gives an indication of the type of light it’ll produce. LEDs with lower color temperatures have more of a yellow tone or warmer light, which can offer a comfortable feel. LEDs with higher color temperatures have more of a blue tone or cooler light that’s bright and can create a feeling of energy. Bulb manufacturers have descriptions for bulbs based on the type of light they produce. The names vary somewhat by manufacturer, but these are some common names based on color temperature ranges, along with descriptions of the light they produce.

• 2200 to 2500 Kelvins: These are amber lights, casting a yellowish tone. Vintage-style Edison bulbs often have a color temperature in this range or lower, and amber lights are available in other decorative styles as well.
• 2700 to 3000 Kelvins: Often called soft white, LED lights in this range have a warm, yellowish tone. Soft white lights are perfect for living spaces where you want to feel comfortable and cozy, such as bedrooms, dining rooms or living rooms. You can also find soft white decorative LEDs.
• 3000 to 4000 Kelvins: LEDs in this color temperature range are often considered to be warm white general purpose or warm white decorative bulbs. The light has a tone between yellow and white. These lights are suitable for living spaces like bedrooms or living rooms, and you’ll also find warm white lights in kitchens and bathrooms.
• 4000 to 5000 Kelvins: Bright white or cool white LEDs fit in this color temperature range. These LEDs create bright light that has a tone between white and blue. Bright white LEDs are good options for kitchens and bathrooms. You can also find decorative bright white or cool white bulbs.
• 5000 to 6500 Kelvins: These lights are known as daylight LEDs. They offer light with more of a blue tone, intended to replicate noontime light on a sunny day. Daylight LEDs can give an energized feel and are good for reading. They work well in spaces like a home office and can brighten the appearance of a kitchen or bathroom. They can also be great in a child’s playroom. Like other types of light, they’re available in decorative styles.
• Tunable LEDs: You can adjust these lights across a range of color temperatures. Some allow you to schedule different types of light for different times of the day.

Full-spectrum LEDs can adjust across color temperatures and can also produce a range of colored light such as red, green, purple and blue.

Smart or smart-compatible LEDs typically have Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity to allow you to control them from a mobile device or with connectivity to a smart home hub. Available functions include the ability to change colors or color temperatures, adjust brightness or even set a schedule to adjust the light automatically. Some are compatible with voice control.

Dimmable LEDs let you adjust the brightness of the light they cast when controlled by the appropriate dimmer switch. If you’re going to use LED lights for home living spaces with dimmer switches, make sure the bulbs are dimmable.

Three-way LED bulbs replace bulbs in three-way lamps. A three-way LED is one of the more common types of LED lighting for reading lamps or desk lamps because it offers three levels of brightness with less energy consumption than incandescent three-way bulbs.

Dusk-to-dawn LEDs have a built-in sensor that can turn the light on or off depending on the surrounding level of light. Since you don’t need to remember to turn off the lights during the day, these are some of the best LED lights for home exteriors when you want to maintain constant lighting at night. You can find outdoor flood lights with a dusk-to-dawn feature and built-in LEDs, as well as dusk-to-dawn flood lights designed to work with LED bulbs.

Motion detection uses built-in sensors to turn lights on when the sensors detect movement. This can be one of the best LED light types if you don’t want to have your landscape lit throughout the night but still want a measure of security. You’ll most often see this feature in motion-sensor LED flood light fixtures.

For living spaces like a bedroom or family room, you might want to plan for LED ceiling lights that give you about 10 to 20 lumens per square foot. Areas like kitchens and bathrooms will need up to four times as much light, so around 80 lumens per square foot. Likewise, LEDs with lower color temperatures are suited for living spaces while those with higher color temperatures are better for kitchens, bathrooms and home offices. These are very general tips and, of course, personal preference will be your ultimate guide.

If you’re replacing a 60-watt incandescent, an 8-1/2- to 9-watt LED with about 800 lumens will give you about the same amount of light. For a 75-watt replacement, look for a 10-1/2-watt LED with approximately 1,100 lumens. For a 100-Watt incandescent, replace it with a 12-1/2-watt LED with about 1,600 lumens. Pay attention to wattage equivalence and lumens on the LED packaging and the general recommendations above — 10 to 20 lumens per square foot for living spaces and up to 80 or 100 lumens per square foot for working areas.

A 9-watt LED will typically generate around 800 lumens and is roughly equivalent to a 60-watt incandescent. You’ll often need more light for a living space. For example, for a 10-foot-by-10-foot bedroom, you’d want at least 1,000 lumens.

Outdoor-rated LED lights with motion sensors and dusk-to-dawn sensors are the best LEDs for outdoor use, depending on your needs. Motion-sensing LEDs turn on when there’s movement and turn off after several minutes of no movement, making them a good choice if you want more security but don’t want lights on all night. Dusk-to-dawn LEDs will keep your landscape lit all night and you won’t need to remember to turn them off in the morning.