There is surprisingly little difference in STC (Sound Transmission Class) ratings between commonly-used hollow core and solid doors. And those ratings are with sealed perimeters. Even STC ratings of 30 mean loud speech can be understood through the wall or door. Undercut a door and fit it loosely, and the "soundproofing" is mainly in your head. I know I sure swore by the solid core doors installed in my last home; of course, I also insisted on absolutely the tiniest undercuts--and based the results solely on what my ever-aging ears perceived. Solid core doors sure feel quieter. This post was edited by worthy on Wed, Nov 12, 14 at 20:34

Stopping sound transfer. 1. - some density 2. - complete air block More complete explanation: 1. At least one layer of dense material. 2. At least one layer of an air block, which could be the above, dense material, or could be foam. Goal is no air flow. So do not let outlets cut into your air block; you have to 100% seal all five sides of the box. Spray Foam is excellent for this. Do not use fiberglas insulation in the wall cavities for this project as it does not meet either criterion #1 or #2. Neither one. It can be used as a minor padding, if you happen to have a ton of it lying around waiting to be used somewhere. Sheets of the cheapest open cell foam are better however. Density: Double layers of 5/8" fire code drywall which is denser and heavier in its body than 1/2" drywall, will be more effective than double layers of 1/2". Density: Buying and installing cast iron for the stack makes sense here. All plumbers will confirm that it makes much much less noise than plastic stacks when water flows down it. Sealing plastic pipes with foam is a workaround, not what I'd call a solution compared to buying cast iron. If you do not put any padding in the wall cavity, you run the risk of letting the wall cavity reverberate like a drum under certain frequencies which cannot be predicted in advance. You may hear higher pitched sounds but not rumbling, for example. So prudence dictates adding some foam in there too. HTH -david

I also don't care for can lights but we do have 6 total in an open floor plan kitchen. They are supplemented by under cabinet lights and puc lights above the cabinets, plus pendant lights over the island. The link below has a before and after of our kitchen remodel (scroll down towards bottom of page) and the reason I put it in is so you can see the difference puc lights above the cabinets make. They are so inexpensive (5 costs about $30) and they really add a nice glow even when you don't want to have all the kitchen lights on. I really like the pendant lights on a dimmer switch so you can turn them up when cooking or down for ambiance. At night while we're in the adjacent family room, we'll usually keep the pendants, pucs, and maybe the under cabinet lights on. Over the kitchen table is a chandelier with 6 lights on a dimmer, again so you can crank it up or tone it down. We did take out one of the cans that was next to the chandelier since it looked strange there. Another source of light ambient light can come from inside cabinets with glass doors. You can install puc lights inside cabinets pointing down, but make sure to buy the right thickness of glass shelves for the weight it will hold and get cabinets professionally measured. These are great for storing glass ware since the light will shine right through. They're incredible in a narrow butlers pantry! A neighbor of mine took it one step further and had her cabinets custom made by a cabinet maker. She designed them to look like furniture, lining them with mirrors and added heavy duty glass shelves, plus seeded glass doors. Photos of this are on the same link under the custom cabinets tab, and she also used puc lights. She also took out the can lights and used a couple sets of old fashioned looking track lighting. Another thing to think about if you only have a few can lights and you want to give them a more old world feel is to buy a trim kit for them. I purchased some of these for our bathroom from Home Depot and they look like carved wood with about two inches of amber glass that curves inward. Also stove hood usually come with lights on it and ours is quite bright, with 2 each 20 watt halogen bulbs. One other thing that makes a huge difference is the colors you choose because warm colors will make the room feel brighter. For example: if you had dark cherry cabinets you would need a lot more light than someone who had cream colored ones. We had our kitchen cabinets painted a butternut squash color with a warm glaze over it, and also used warm colors on the walls and back splash. It made this kitchen with no windows really come alive. Here is a link that might be useful: Before and after kitchen remodel photos

You add trim to the top to fill the gap above the door. Mount at least one side with some screws so you can remove the trim to get the door off the track. A stop on the non-pocket side (or even two stops) will helo with noise here. Resource Conservation Technology (Baltimore, MD) has a number of brush and felt seals for weatherstripping that can also be used to help reduce sound transmission. Brush seals work best for stopping sound if the opening is as small as possible. You should be able to get the floor gap down to about 1/16 of an inch. If the floor is not level add a sole plate and level it to the door.