Also, if you have any input you want to share, please give me comments on what you learned about using recessed lights in the kitchen.
Thank you very much!

We use 100W floods in all the kitchen, DR, and LR hi-hats. They're on dimmers, but I rarely if ever dim the kitchen ones, just the ones in the other rooms.

Don't have much experience with other bulbs. When we had an electrician put in hi-hats in some of the rooms shortly after we bought this house, he put in halogen bulbs (90W?) , and we hated them--too concentrated a light, cast weird shadows everywhere, and they were hot. Immediately changed over to the incandescent floods and liked them much better.

HTH

Thank you Cat mom and Katie511. Please if anyone else has an input I would welcome it.
Cat Mom your comment about the "concentrated light" from the tiny Halogen bulb was very interesting.So the wider the light is coming from the can, the better for even kitchen lighting. And not needing to dim the 100watt bulbs in the kitchen also was interesting. Katiee you use 65watt and are happy with them, but I think that you have 8ft ceilings like me, if I recall correctly. Cat mom is yours higher?
I saw a chart the other day that for every 2ft increment down from a ceiling the foot candles will drop by half.
Although Cat mom is getting 1700 lumens and Katie is getting 1000 lumens when the light hits the counter the foot candles could be the same.
Katie I believe you commented the other day on another post I did, which I appreciate. So I could not understand why when I did a test with a 65 watt equivalent CFL that the light seemed too low. It just dawned on me that you are getting 1000 lumens per bulb if you have a incandescent and my CFL (65watt) was giving out 600 lumens. I am in the process of ordering the only two CFLs floods that will fit a 6" recessed can that produces 1100 lumens and try that. One I actually have to assemble by putting a flector sleeve over a spiral CFL and adding a lens, but the bulb is dimmable; the other is the GE genura (non-dimmable). Maybe I don't need to dim in the kitchen based on Cat mom.
Thanks for simulating my brain with your comments. It does help me figuire this lighting issue out.
Bob

Our LR, DR, Foyer, hallway....all got hi-hats (bedroom already had some), and those rooms/spaces all have normal height (8') ceilings. The halogen floods that were put in initially, cast those weird shadows; bright light directly under the recessed lights, and shadowy dark areas outside that immediate area. We just hated, hated the lighting from them. We've had 100W incand. floods in those ever since.

In the pre-reno LR and DR (flat 8' ceilings in both), the hi-hats were on dimmers, and we'd pretty much raised and lowered the brightness as needed or desired. While we usually hadn't needed the full power of the 100W in those rooms (pre-reno), 65W would have been way too dim for us. FWIW, we have three hi-hats in our hall bath, and use 65W bulbs there.

Our ceiling is vaulted in the the renovated kitchen and in our adj LR (we flip-flopped our LR and DR), so we have angled hi-hats in those ceilings. The electrician who installed those new hi-hats, put 85W bulbs in those, but we had him switch those out for 100W bulbs, which gave us the option of dimming or keeping full brightness (I think the 85's were just not quite as bright as we liked). When the kitchen was first completed, I think we had the switches set to slightly dimmed, but at some point raised them up to full, or pretty much full power, and it works for us.

Good luck!

I have 9' ceilings, 6" recessed lights and I have 75w incandescent floods. One dimmer switch for all, which I use often, since I like a lower light level in the kitchen when I am not cooking. I also have xenon undercabinet lighting, also on a dimmer switch. I really like the undercab lighting for task work (i.e. prep at the counter), since I think that the recessed lights don't reach into the counter due to my upper cabinets. For after-dinner coffee/conversation with DH, I turn off the ceiling cans, and just leave the undercab lights on at a dimmed level, which is very pleasant.

I have a '60's-era house, and the 6" cans were already there. When I did my kitchen reno, I considered replacing them with 5" cans, but didn't want to spend the money. But, IMHO, the 6" cans look a little dated. Smaller cans are more up to date, but if you go really small, like 4" cans, then you need more of them, and it's too many holes in the ceiling. There is nothing wrong with 6" cans that I have, and frankly, I don't even see them or think about them day-to-day, but as I said, smaller cans would look more contemporary.

Also, you didn't ask, but I thought I'd comment on the trim for the cans. The trim on the cans make a big difference in the glare level and the spread of the light. I like the Alzak trim by Juno in either Clear or Haze, but they are pricey if you have a lot of cans. I personally don't like black trim, which was originally in my kitchen cans, cause I think it looks like black holes in my ceiling, but some people prefer black trim because it eliminates glare. Just one more thing to think about!

We put in LED bulbs. We love the light -- it is the nicest light I have ever had in a kitchen. We used Cree LR6 12 Watt (65 watt equivalent) bulbs. There are 12 on three different dimmers (one for kitchen area, one for dining area, and one for over the sink). They screw into a regular can. Warning they are not cheap (roughly $90 / bulb) although they pay for themselves over time (they also last a really long time). My contractor thought I was nuts when we ordered them but now is recommending them to his clients because they throw such beautiful light.

Maria410, that's great to hear -- about the light they cast. Costco has LEDs for can lights (cost $10!) but they are only 45 watts. But a downward facing light, like a can light, is a perfect application for LEDs and it's what I really want to use.

Costco has a dimmable CFL that works really well in my recessed 6 inch cans.

If you are installing new fixtures, be sure to check the max wattage they can handle. My recessed fixtures only take 65.

My 12x12 kitchen has 5 six inch cans, 4 smaller halogens over the island and the sink area, 2 'eyelids' pointed at glass doors, all on dimmers. The kitchen is off the family room and I love dimmed lights in there at night for mood lighting.

As long as the electricians were here, I had them put some cans and eyelids in the family room to light art. I can't believe what a difference it makes in warming the room. Next time they come it will be to do the same in the living room.

Here's a second vote for the recessed LR6 LED lights with 2700K bulbs. I think they come in a higher Kelvin version, as well, but I wanted a warmer light. Though dimmable, I opted to go without a dimmer on the kitchen lights. They give a wonderful light that even impressed our electrical contractor!

I appreciate your replies. I have been rereading them to absorb as much as possible from your recommendations. A couple of comments:
Shannonplus2, you have renewed my interest in 5". I thought I could only go up to a r20 in 5" but after your post I found I could use r30s, so there is no reason to go with 6"...still checking this. You are the second person who mentioned Alzar. I really want to see them to understand why everyone likes them. The "clear" got me. Are you saying the highly refective is good. I tested one and found it really shot out the light, but I was using a pretty strong bulb.
Janwad, If I use a cfl, the watt (65) restriction doesn't really affect me because even a 100 watt CFL only uses 23 watts. The real issue is how much heat the ballast on the bottom of the bulb can take. In a can the heat , although a fraction of that produced by other bulbs (except LEDS) might become too high for the CFL. I tested the heat on 3 spiral CLF bulbs and compared them with the manufacture specs. None passed. The heat was not high, but it was too hot for the ballast. I spoke with bulb manufactures about this. One even told me to drill holds in the can at the top to get the heat out. Of course there should be no insulation contact. The bottom line is only CFLs that are authorized for recessed cans should be used. The can thermal switch might not trip because the heat is low but the ballast may stop working. I found 2 cfl bulbs that get the light I want that I will be trying, that are OK for recessed cans. One is $32 (and it is not dimmable; the other is a $23 dimmable. Both give 1100 lumens. Thanks for the info about the fixtures you have.
Maria and coffeehaus, thanks for the info about the LEDS.
Fern4, Sam's also now carries LEDs. Check the lumens and color. The Cree gives 650 lumens, can be purchased in standard 2700k and, my preference because of a white kitchen,the 3500k. The CRI is 92 which is amazing,it is supposed to go on instantly and is dimmable to 25% (but I don't know if it needs a special dimmer). But darn is it expensive, but it should last a very long time. Alot of manufactures are working on LEDs on. I may switch if the price goes down.
Here is a question to you Cree owners. It appears that the trim and reflector is built-in. Is that correct? That could save money which would help justify the bulb.
Thanks again for your posts.
Bob

About Cree:
Cree Demonstrates Prototype LR6 LED Downlight with 102 Lumens per Watt Fixture Efficacy
DURHAM, N.C., MAY 5, 2009 Â Building on its leadership in LED lighting, Cree announces it is demonstrating a prototype version of the LR6 LED recessed downlight that consumes just 6.5 W of electricity, resulting in 665 lumens, an efficacy of 102 lumens per watt and a power factor greater than 0.9. (note: They are now $88.50 online, free shipping, no tax.)

A very, very cool site (pull the leaver down on the first page):

unscrewamerica.org
Bob

We have 5" cans in the kitchen. I could only find 75w max fixtures. Wanted 100w. Can't find 75w bulbs tho. Also, I couldn't understand why our incandescent recessed bulbs weren't flush with the ceiling. Other people's recessed lights (that I noticed) were flush. Just today, we had to replace a burned out bulb. The replacement bulbs I bought (at WM) are larger around and deeper) than the originals we bought at Lowes. They DO fill the recessed hole and sit flush with the ceiling. I *think* they cast more light but I KNOW they look better.
Monica

Monicakm,
Thanks for the post. Did your original bulbs stick out of the fixture or did they lay inside the fixture?
The only way you are going to get a higher light output from a 75watt fixture is to go with a CFL like the expensive ($32) GE Genura. It gives 1100 lumens (check your bulb) and uses 1/3 of the energy and lasts, in theory, 4 times longer. But it is not dimmable.
Thanks,
Bob

Bob, the original bulbs (we just replaced the first one yesterday) were smaller around and shorter (laying inside the fixture). The new bulbs are larger around and taller which makes them fill the hole and sit flush with the fixture's rim. I like this look much better. I just didn't notice a difference in the recessed bulb sizes till I bought some replacements a few days ago.
I don't care for CFLs AT ALL. I'm doing my part elsewhere to reduce energy usage but I'm not giving up my incandescent bulbs and the lovely dimmable lighting they provide :)
Monica

Bob, re: Cree LR6...yes, the cost includes the whole enchilada, except the can housing which is nominal. Unfortunately, the choice in trim is limited. Fortunately for me, it fit our purposes just fine. Because of the cost, we only used them in our recessed fixtures where lights might be on a lot...kitchen and living room. We have recessed lights in other rooms in the house, but just used the standard floods, there. Friends do tell us that their incand. recessed lights seem to need replacing every few months.
If you decide to purchase LR6's, be sure to check with local lighting stores. I got them locally for a few $$ cheaper than anywhere on the web. So, if I have a problem with them, I have a local resource to call upon.

We use GE reveal bulbs everywhere, including recessed lights. The bulbs look a bit blue when not on, but when on, the colors in the room, i.e, paint, etc., look much truer than with ordinary incandescents. Don't know what I'll put in the new kitchen remodel that's to begin in a few months. We don't have any experience with halogen or LED's.