You've hit one of two problems - being blinded by bright LEDs where the face forward. The other is that the light doesn't spread as well if you have a plate as the LEDs are below the plate. If you can live with that and don't need to change the colour often go with it.
I don't think the colour changers will work with this setup though as they will be floating above where the LED normally sits with the LED shining it's true colour out from under it.