Live Price Comparison for "specialty lighting"

Kitchens need 70-80 lumens per square foot for the main ambient layer, with extra task lighting (300-400 lumens per linear foot of counter) under cabinets. A 150 sq ft kitchen wants roughly 10,500-12,000 total lumens spread across multiple fixtures, not one bright ceiling light.

Warm white (2700K-3000K) is the soft yellow-orange light of incandescent bulbs — best for living rooms and bedrooms. Daylight (5000K-6500K) is cool blue-white — best for bathrooms, garages, and task work. 4000K neutral white is the middle-ground pick for kitchens and home offices.

Smart bulbs are worth it for scheduling, scene-setting, and accessibility (no climbing on a chair to change settings). Skip them if you only want dimming — a $20 wall dimmer works on any bulb. Wi-Fi bulbs (Wyze, Govee) avoid hub costs; Philips Hue needs a $50 bridge for the smoothest experience.

Color Rendering Index (CRI) measures how accurately a bulb shows colors compared to sunlight. 80+ is acceptable for most rooms; 90+ matters for bathrooms (skin tone, makeup) and kitchens (food prep). Cheap LEDs often hide a CRI below 80 — check the package or product spec.

Quality LEDs (Philips, GE, Cree) last 15-25 years at 3 hours/day. Cheap no-name bulbs frequently fail in 1-3 years from poor heat dissipation. The 25,000-hour rating on the package assumes ideal conditions — real-world life is 60-80% of that. Pay slightly more for established brands.