I'm getting a range hood made by a local metal shop, so lighting under it is up to me. I'm sold on LEDs, but it seems like under-hood lamps should be OK with a damp environment: nothing extreme, but imagine a pasta pot boiling away under it.

Should I be worrying about the trim, the bulb, or the recessed fixture? All three? E.g. there's "shower trim," there are recessed fixtures "listed" for damp, and LED bulbs "rated" for damp. (You'd think a glass lens, a tight gasket, and the steel of the hood be enough.)

If there's a choice, small is good -- the 3" miniature fixtures look very cool, but I don't know if they're up to the job.

Sadly, I don't think the local showroom will let me dismantle their hoods to figure out where the lighting components are sourced. I'm also mainly seeing halogens in that application.

They use standard E26 sockets. Since the lights are mounted in the front rather than at the rear, the lights are open.

Like brickeyee said, moisture is not so much of a problem.

In any case, most of the moisture / grease laden air is supposed to be sucked into the hood and trapped by the baffles/ mesh filters.

1. I am using LEDs, not halogens. I think the difference matters. Some LED lamps will fit some sockets that some halogen lamps use, but interoperability is not total. Moreover LED lamps made to provide a broader beam (say 40 degrees) typically have multiple emitters in a sort of cone shape -- it's a different kind of lamp from those tiny hot halogen bulbs with a reflector.

2. I really am serious about mounting them behind a gasket-sealed lens, at minimum, both to keep moisture out and to provide a surface that is easy to clean.

I don't want to argue about what are for me minimum safety and cleanliness standards.

My question was how to *achieve* those standards, given that the data on lighting hardware is pretty opaque.