You might be able to go lower if you look around more. The environmental lights house brand light bars are available from other places. If you haven't included the power supply and connectors into the pricing, please do. It should be fine.

Low voltage requires the use of larger conductors since the current is higher than a comparable 120 V load. For a 20 watt bulb the current is ten times higher, so on a 120 V circuit it only requires ~0.17 amps (20 W/120 V) while a twelve volt 20 W bulb needs ~1.7 amps (20 W/12 V). Transformers do not have losses that high,and many of the 'electroni' transfomers are acytlly switching power supplies. They also can be pretty efficient. Low voltage also allows the use of more rugged filaments that can withstand the vibration from taking things in ans out of the cabinets immediately above the lights. Puck style lights are typically only 10 or 20 watts. You just use more of them to cover the counter. There proximity allows for good lighting. you can get 60 watt 12 V supplies for pucks that are rather small and easily concealed under the cabinet with the lights. Each one will power three 20 W pucks. Incandescent light get hot, LED and florescent not as much.

Be aware if you have granite and it has a shine to it. The colour of the fixtures will show up on reflextion. So if you get the white then it will show up white. We got the halogen since it came in black and we had them stain under the cabs the dark color of the cabs to hopefully minimixze the relection. I will tell you next week how it turned out......

Hi there, Here are my views/ experiences: 1) Low voltage bulbs generally project less heat than line voltage. They also last longer (even much longer, depending on the bulb). A 50 watt low voltage halogen bulb is a little brighter than a line voltage halogen bulb. Low voltage cans are available in smaller sizes than line voltage. The con is that low voltage is more expensive- there's a transformer to buy. But taking into account the smaller size, longer life (up to 20k hours vs 2k hours) less heat projection and brighter light, I always go low voltage when there is a choice. Now, if you have 30' ceilings, that's a different story. But for most homes, lv works great. 2) Not really. Kitchens are very task oriented. So the cans will be closer together over counter and other work areas to give good overlap and eliminate shadowing. But over walkway areas, they'll be farther apart. 3) Cable and rail halogens do offer a lot of flexibility. You can not only slide fixtures to move them, but add more very easily if needed. There is also a design issue. What do you want to see on your ceiling? I have rail in my hall, but recessed (3" low voltage) in my kitchen. Basically, every lighting design I do involves low voltage cans. As I'm in California, I'm forced to use LED for kitchens and bathrooms. Which are great units. But in a design sense, the low voltage allows for the smallest hole in your ceiling without sacrificing brightness or coverage. There are always exceptions, but for the most part, you can light up a room using the same number of 3.5" low voltage halogens as you would with 6" halogens. The light would be the same (if not better) and the overall heat in the room would be much less.