No type of lighting offers more versatility for residential construction than recessed cans. One lighting catalog boasts of "a thousand options" to choose from. Unfortunately, this is a little overwhelming to sort through — which is why most of us go with whatever our electrician likes to install. The purpose of this article is to break down recessed lighting to its essential components and help you choose fixtures suited to a variety of applications. No matter who manufactures it, a recessed downlight is made up of three basic components: the housing, commonly known as a "can"; the trim, which includes the interior baffle or reflector and the ceiling ring; and what designers and engineers call the lamp, which
