The best recessed lighting

Recessed bulb codes look like model names and are actually measurements. The number is the maximum diameter in eighths of an inch, so a BR30 is 30 eighths - 3.75 inches - and a BR40 is 5 inches.

That makes the first decision a tape-measure decision, and getting it wrong means a bulb that physically will not seat in the can.

If you are replacing a bulb that already worked, the simplest move is to read the code printed on the old one. The full shape vocabulary is in bulb shapes and bases.

The second check is whether the can is sealed. Airtight and insulation-contact housings, and any can with a lens across the bottom, are enclosed fixtures in the specification sense - they trap the heat the bulb's driver produces, and that is what kills recessed bulbs early. See best LED bulbs for enclosed fixtures.

Yuji CRI-MAX BR30 - the pick. 1,200 lumens at 3000K with CRI 95+ including R9 up to 95+, and a published 180-degree beam that spreads rather than spotlights. It is the rare recessed bulb that publishes both halves of what matters: how much light, and where it goes. The wide beam is what stops a ceiling of cans looking like a row of spotlights.
Cons: 16W is high for the output, it is expensive per can, and 3000K is the only option - no 2700K version for a living room that wants warmer.

Waveform 95 CRI BR30 - for smaller rooms. 800 lumens at 2700K or 3000K with CRI 95+ and R9 80+. Lower output than the Yuji, which in a small room or a low ceiling is the correct choice rather than a compromise.
Cons: no published beam angle, and 800 lm across a large room means more cans.

LIFX SuperColor BR30 - to make fixed cans dimmable. 1,100 lumens, no hub required, works with Alexa, Google, Apple Home and Matter. This is the answer to the most common recessed-lighting complaint from renters: the cans are on a plain switch and cannot be dimmed. Smart bulbs give you dimming and tunable white with no wiring at all.
Cons: CRI is not published on the BR30, it loses control when somebody flips the wall switch, and it is expensive once you have six cans. The trade-offs are in smart bulbs vs smart switches.

Feit R20 - for small cans. 450 lumens at CRI 90+, damp rated, and 2.5 inches across so it fits the small cans a BR30 will not.
Cons: 450 lm is genuinely modest, so a room of R20 cans needs a lot of them.

Recessed lighting is the default specification in modern homes and it produces a very specific complaint: the room is bright but feels flat and slightly clinical.

The cause is that every source is at the same height, pointing the same direction, with nothing lighting the vertical surfaces. Light from directly overhead lands on floors and countertops and leaves walls, faces and the fronts of furniture in relative shadow. Adding more cans makes the floor brighter and the problem worse.

Three things fix it, none of which is another can.

• Wider beam angles. A 110 degree or wider bulb throws light onto walls as well as floors. This is the cheapest fix and it is a bulb swap.
• Wall washing. Cans placed 2 to 3 feet out from a wall and aimed at it turn the wall into a large soft source, which is what makes a room feel lit rather than illuminated.
• A lamp. Any light source below ceiling height changes the character of a room more than a ceiling change can. The framework is in layered lighting.

And where the cans are simply in the wrong places - which happens constantly in kitchens and awkward rooms - the aimable alternative is track lighting.