The Cree 5" retrofit is already out. I've been using it with my customers. It's not inexpensive, but it really is great. I did get my hands on an LED module for low voltage halogen cans. It's bigger than an MR16, but that's fine, as there is room in the can. This one puts out about 60 lumens per watts- with a total of 8 watts of LED. So that's only 480 watts. The next generation, sometime in November, will be putting out at least 80 lumens per watt. If not 100 lumens per watt. Color temperature will affect the light output. But that's all you'll need for a normal kitchen. The only drawback is the does CRI. I'm not sure what the module will ultimately be. But I know it's not as good as Cree's. As for where to get a housing, go to a local lighting store. They should be able to take care of you better than any warehouse store.

Several comments 1. The typical operating temperature for Led diodes is much wider i.e. most should operate between -40 to +140 degrees celsius. Real example The max junction temperature for a Cree XM-L Led diode is ~ 150 celsius or 50 above the boiling point of water. 2. There is a wide selection of LED diodes on the market with a wide range of color, efficiencies, current drive, voltage, ... 3. A LED lamp's longevity is affected by how the lamp/ fixture designer design decisions for example- i. Over driving the current at the expense of lifespan. ii. Which LED components to use - more efficient vs greater max output vs cheaper (given the anticipated production run), ... iii. The quality of the other necessary components - capacitors, resistors, ... iv. The quality of the manufacturing process. SMT (surface mount technology) consistently beats the quality of manual soldering and individual wires. 4. Active cooling (i.e. - fan) is no longer used - not effective or cost efficient, prone to failure and reduces the overall efficiency. The use of the motherboard as a heat sink/ spreader is preferred. The Switch lightbulb utilizes an inert liquid and convection circulation to sink the heat produced. 5. The pricing will drop more when the the LED diode costs are reduced as well as when lighting device designers figure out how to reduce the BOM (bill of materials) cost and simplify the manufacturing process. FWIW, the L prize bulb is not competitive with the Cree bulb (or even the newer Philips LED bulbs) from both a manufacturing and end user consumer standpoint. 6. From an electrical standpoint, the E26 connector is no less efficient than a GU24/ bi-pin connector / wire nuts. 7. The more advanced LED deployments today are done in aircraft, automotive and custom home designs where cost is less of a concern. 8. For the rest, it will take a while before more and better fixtures/ lamps designed with LEDs in mind appear since most folks are used to the traditional glass forms ( bulb, tubes).

Katrina, I am very pleased with my new lighting. We installed canopy mounted spotlights. I much prefer the look to recessed lighting, and I like a minimalist fixture for an 8' ceiling. If you use a wide angle bulb (we had to order them) you can achieve excellent lighting. My fixtures are MP lighting canopy mounted spotlights with an aluminum finish (X01 C3 - 1 NS NA 1 - MC). They were expensive and we had to wait for them. Each fixture is connected to its own junction box. Currently they are lamped with wide angle Sylvania Tru-Aim Titan covered halogen (but they can be lamped with SORAA LED as well). We found the Sylvania to be much nicer than the equivalent Philips. The lamp (= bulb) is naked so you see colour from the reflective part on top and the Philips threw harsh pink lines on the ceiling. The lights are on dimmers so energy savings are possible there. Because of the wide angle of the halogen, we only needed six fixtures to light our small kitchen. For choosing ceiling lighting I was inspired by one of my favourite kitchens: Lauren Liess'. As you can see, drywall & painting remains to be done.

The original author no doubt has installed a type 1 hood with type 2 duct operating at type 1 capacity 1400cfm. Yes. I don't need full on commercial type 1. Per above we will not produce the amount of grease or smoke that requires a full type 1 system. HOWEVER, we like most residential, do need more than Type 2. We do produce some grease and smoke and some kind of baffle/filter is needed (or at least highly beneficial). The amount of stuff that I cleaned off our VAH and our current Accurex is a testament to that. So residential is perhaps realistically Type 1a (moderately heavy grease/smoke) and Type 1b (light grease/smoke) that are both less stringent requirements than full Type 1 (very heavy grease/smoke). Our need/desire for a commercial hood though had nothing to do with that but rather containment. Consumer hoods all have inadequate containment volume (as well as inadequate capture area). So really the only thing about this system that is 'commercial' is that I have a bigger empty box. We actually looked at using something like a Wolf and adding a 14" extension to the bottom of it to effectively increase its containment volume but in the end the cost to just have Accurex build a proper hood wasn't that much more expensive. That was my issue w/ the ignorance displayed by @Angela Bickford on numerous levels. A bigger empty box like ours does not create a need for greater MUA or greater exhaust CFM's but actually quite the opposite as having proper containment results in much better effectiveness with lower CFM's (which is what is really bad about consumer hoods not simply having proper containment volume). @catinthehat, as well as many others, actually have more rated CFM's than we do. Though we have a '1400 CFM blower' it is only used at 84% max or 1200 CFM but the larger blower is quieter at lower speeds and that is something that Accurex and CaptiveAire both do routinely to help reduce noise.